Area 4 West Contra Costa Unified School District board member Demetrio Gonzalez-Hoy Q and A

What will your top three priorities be as a school board member?

My top three priorities will continue to be supporting the people who work directly with our students, improving outcomes and opportunities for every student, and ensuring our schools are safe, welcoming, and financially stable.

My first priority is really about the classroom. I was a classroom teacher in WCCUSD, my wife is a teacher, and I have spent most of my professional life working with educators. I firmly believe that one of the best investments we can make in our students is making sure they have great teachers, paraeducators, counselors, nurses, librarians, classified staff, and other caring adults around them every day. We cannot say students are our priority while continually asking the people who work directly with them to do more with less. Recruitment and retention, competitive compensation, manageable workloads, professional support, and a positive workplace culture all directly affect what students experience in school.

That also means protecting programs that students depend on. This past year, I fought to preserve elementary music, restore staffing at Kennedy High School, and scrutinize proposed reductions and contracts to ask a basic question: Does this make sense for students, and are we protecting the people and services closest to them? As we make difficult financial decisions, I want us to continue pushing resources as close to the classroom as possible.

My second priority is improving student outcomes, particularly for students whom our system has historically underserved. That has been one of my priorities since before I was elected. As a former English learner myself, I know how transformative it is when a student has educators who see their potential and give them the support they need. We have to continue focusing on English learners, Black students, students with disabilities, foster and unhoused youth, and students experiencing poverty—not by lowering expectations, but by giving them the additional resources and opportunities necessary to meet high expectations.

That means strong academics, early literacy and math support, multilingual education, community schools, mental-health services, special education services, arts and music, career pathways, college access, and intervention before a student falls through the cracks. Equity to me has never meant giving every school exactly the same thing. It means understanding what students need and directing our finite resources accordingly.

My third priority is making sure students are safe physically and emotionally and want to come to school. Safety includes secure and well-maintained campuses, but it is much broader than that. A student who is being bullied, experiencing racism or harassment, struggling with their mental health, afraid because of their immigration status, or who does not feel accepted at school is not experiencing a safe school.

I want WCCUSD to be a district where every child knows there is an adult who cares about them, where educators have the support to respond when children are struggling, and where families trust us with their children. If we can create excellent classrooms, support the people doing the work, and make students feel safe and connected to their schools, a lot of the other things we are trying to accomplish become possible.

What should be done to stabilize the school district’s finances?

Fiscal stability has been one of the most difficult issues we have faced during my time on the Board, and I think we have learned that there is no single solution. We need to control spending, make better long-term decisions, increase revenue, improve enrollment and attendance, and advocate for a state funding system that recognizes what it actually costs to educate students today.

One area where I have pushed particularly hard is contracting and outsourcing. This year, I helped lead the work to bring back our Contract Review Committee because I felt the Board needed to take a much closer look at how much we were spending on outside contracts, whether services were being duplicated, whether contractors were delivering the results promised, and whether some of that work could be performed better and more sustainably by our own employees.

That review was important because contracting can sometimes make sense, particularly when we need specialized expertise that we do not have internally. But contracting should not become the default because we have allowed our own internal capacity to disappear. In several areas, we have been paying outside providers while struggling to hire and retain district employees who could provide those services and build lasting institutional knowledge within WCCUSD. We looked at opportunities to rebuild internal capacity, including areas such as security and student support services, and required greater accountability and reporting around certain contracted services. That needs to continue.

We also need stronger position control so that the number of employees we are budgeting for matches the positions we actually authorize and hire. We need realistic multi-year projections, transparent budgeting, responsible use of one-time funds, and regular reviews of programs to determine whether the money we are spending is actually producing results for students.

But I strongly reject the idea that we can simply cut our way to financial stability. At some point, repeated reductions begin damaging the very reason the district exists. That is why revenue has to be part of the conversation as well.

Locally, I strongly support Measure V, the renewal of our existing parcel tax. It is not a new tax; it continues the existing 7.2-cent-per-building-square-foot assessment and generates roughly $10 million annually for programs and services for WCCUSD students. Losing that revenue would create yet another significant hole in our budget and put important student programs at risk.

Statewide, I support Proposition 3 because California cannot afford to lose billions of dollars in ongoing revenue that helps fund public education. Proposition 3 would make permanent the voter-approved higher income-tax rates on the highest earners that currently help support schools and other public services.

Beyond individual ballot measures, however, California needs to have a larger conversation about what adequate school funding looks like. The cost of providing special education has grown enormously especially since COVID. So have the costs of mental-health supports, transportation, healthcare, utilities, technology, facilities, and attracting and retaining a qualified workforce in the Bay Area. The state cannot continually add expectations and responsibilities to local school districts without ensuring that the funding keeps pace.

Fiscal responsibility and advocacy for more school funding are not contradictory. I believe we have an obligation to taxpayers to spend every dollar responsibly and an obligation to students to fight for the resources necessary to give them the education they deserve.

What should the school district do about declining enrollment?

Declining enrollment is one of the most serious long-term challenges facing WCCUSD because enrollment is directly connected to our funding, staffing, programs, and the number of schools we can sustainably operate. But I don't think the answer can simply be, “We have fewer students, so let's keep cutting.”

We have to understand why families are leaving WCCUSD or choosing not to enroll in the first place, and what would make them choose us.

Some factors are outside of the district's control, but many are not. Families make decisions based on the quality of the school their child will attend, the programs available, school safety, academic outcomes, communication, whether they feel welcomed and listened to, and whether they believe their child's needs will be met.

So enrollment has to become everybody's responsibility. We should have a real enrollment and retention strategy for the district and for individual schools. When a family enrolls a child in kindergarten, our goal should be that they are so happy with their experience that they never consider leaving WCCUSD.

That means investing in the things families are asking for: strong neighborhood schools, dual-language immersion, career technical education, Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment opportunities, music and arts, athletics, strong special education services, libraries, after-school opportunities, safe campuses, and excellent teachers and staff.

We also have to address disparities between schools. Families should not feel that they need to leave their neighborhood or the district altogether to access a certain course, program, or quality of education. I have consistently believed that a student's ZIP code should not determine the quality of opportunities available to them.

We also need to get much better at telling our own story. There are incredible things happening in WCCUSD every day. We have amazing educators, talented students, innovative programs, beautiful rebuilt and modernized campuses, career pathways, dual immersion programs, Middle College, arts and music, and many other opportunities. Too often, families hear about what is wrong with WCCUSD but not what is working.

Finally, we have to listen to families who have left. I would like us to regularly ask families who transfer out of WCCUSD why they made that decision and use that information rather than speculate about it. Declining enrollment should be treated not only as a budget problem, but as feedback from our community that we need to understand and respond to.

What are your thoughts on the curriculum used and the courses offered in district schools?

I believe every student deserves a rigorous, relevant, culturally responsive education that prepares them for whatever they want to do after graduation whether that is a four-year university, community college, a trade or apprenticeship, the military, public service, or going directly into a career.

There has sometimes been a false choice in education between academic rigor and culturally responsive education. I don't see those things as being in conflict. Students should master reading, writing, mathematics, science, history, and critical thinking, and they should also see themselves and their communities reflected in what they study. They should learn perspectives different from their own and develop the ability to analyze information, disagree respectfully, and think critically.

As a former teacher and an immigrant who entered American schools as an English learner, I also care deeply about multilingual education. Being bilingual or multilingual is an asset, and our schools should treat it that way. I want us to continue strengthening dual-language programs, English learner services, and opportunities for students to earn the State Seal of Biliteracy.

At the secondary level, I want students to have far more opportunities to discover what they are passionate about. That includes AP classes, dual enrollment with local colleges, computer science, ethnic studies, visual and performing arts, world languages, Career Technical Education, internships, skilled trades, health careers, engineering, public service pathways, and other programs connected to real careers.

CTE is particularly important to me because college and career readiness should mean exactly that. We should never communicate to young people that a four-year university is the only respectable definition of success. A student who graduates prepared to become an electrician, nurse, teacher, engineer, firefighter, carpenter, entrepreneur, computer programmer, or mechanic should all be viewed as success stories.

We also need greater consistency across the district. Students at one high school should not have dramatically fewer opportunities than students at another simply because of where they live. When we review course offerings, staffing, and enrollment, equity in access should always be part of that conversation.

What are your thoughts on the use of technology in schools?

Technology is an incredibly powerful educational tool, but I don't believe technology for the sake of technology improves education. The teacher and the relationships inside the classroom still matter more than the device.

We should be asking what educational problem a technology is helping us solve. If it helps a teacher differentiate instruction, gives a student with a disability greater access, allows an English learner to communicate, connects students to information or courses they could not otherwise access, or prepares young people for the workplace they are entering, then it can be extremely valuable.

Artificial intelligence is a perfect example. AI is not going away. Our students will enter colleges and workplaces where these tools are common, so simply pretending they don't exist would fail to prepare them. We should teach students how to use AI responsibly and ethically, how to verify information, how to recognize bias, and how to distinguish between using a tool to enhance their thinking and using it to replace their thinking.

At the same time, I think schools need to be much more thoughtful about the negative side of technology. Excessive screen time is a huge concern for me. Social media has created significant challenges around bullying, mental health, attention, and misinformation. Student privacy and cybersecurity are also increasingly important. Unfortunately, the excessive use of technology has actually led to more issues at school and at home, in some instances it has led to mental problems for kids…

And we have to listen to our teachers. A new program or platform may look great in a presentation, but if it creates additional work without improving learning, we should question whether it is worth the investment. Technology decisions should include the educators and students who are actually going to use the technology.

Ultimately, I want students leaving WCCUSD not just knowing how to operate technology, but knowing how to think critically about it and use it responsibly.

What should be done to ensure that our campuses are safe?

When I talk about school safety, I always start by saying that there are several kinds of safety: physical safety, emotional safety, environmental safety, and a student's sense of belonging. All of them matter.

Physical safety means our buildings need to be secure and well maintained. Emergency systems need to function. Staff need appropriate training. Schools need clear emergency procedures, and the district needs strong coordination with cities, first responders, public-health agencies, and other partners.

It also means continuing to modernize our facilities. I am proud that during my time on the Board we have continued major investments in schools throughout our community, including projects involving Richmond High, Kennedy High, Stege, Lake and other campuses. Students and educators deserve buildings that are safe, modern, clean, functional, and worthy of them.

The recent environmental concerns at Kennedy High School were also an important reminder that school safety includes things we cannot necessarily see. When there are questions about environmental contamination, air quality, water, or facilities, families deserve accurate information quickly. We should rely on qualified independent experts and regulatory agencies, make testing results public, explain what those results mean in understandable language, and never minimize a concern simply because communicating about it is uncomfortable.

But physical safety is only part of it.

A child who is afraid to come to school because they are being bullied is not safe. A Black student experiencing racism is not safe. An LGBTQ+ student being harassed is not safe. An immigrant student who is terrified that their family could be separated is not going to be able to focus on algebra. A student experiencing a mental-health crisis needs adults and services around them before that crisis becomes an emergency.

That is why counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, restorative practices, community schools, mental-health supports, and trained school staff are all part of school safety.

We also need consistency when incidents occur. When students or families report racism, harassment, discrimination, bullying, threats, or other serious behavior, they deserve to know that the district will document it, investigate it, communicate with them, and take appropriate action. I have pushed for stronger implementation and accountability around our anti-racist policies for exactly that reason.

For me, the basic test remains simple: Would I feel comfortable sending my own daughters to this school every day? Every family deserves to be able to answer yes.

What should the school board’s relationship be to the superintendent?

I believe there needs to be a strong and professional relationship between the Board and superintendent, but it also needs to be a relationship with clear roles and real accountability.

The superintendent manages the district. Individual Board members should not be directing employees or trying to run individual departments. The Board's responsibility is governance: establishing policy, setting goals and priorities, adopting the budget, monitoring outcomes, representing the community, and hiring and evaluating the superintendent.

But respecting the superintendent's role does not mean that the Board becomes a rubber stamp.

I think one of the most important responsibilities of a Board member is asking good questions. If staff recommends spending millions of dollars, we should understand why. If student outcomes are not improving, we should ask what is changing. If a goal was established, we should receive data showing whether it was accomplished. If something is not working, the Board needs to be willing to say so.

The superintendent should also be able to tell the Board when we are wrong or when something we are asking for is operationally unrealistic. That honesty needs to go both ways.

My preferred relationship is one built on trust, communication, accountability, and productive disagreement. There will be times when I disagree with a superintendent, another Board member, an employee group, or a community member. Disagreement is not dysfunction. In fact, healthy disagreement often leads to better decisions when people are willing to listen to one another.

Where boards get into trouble is when disagreements become personal, when individual trustees try to manage the district themselves, or when accountability disappears because everyone is afraid of conflict.

We should be able to challenge one another, make a decision, and then continue working together the next day with the focus remaining on students.

What will you do to make sure families get accurate and meaningful information about what is happening at the district level and in our schools?

This is an area where I think WCCUSD still has significant room to improve.

One thing I have learned on the Board is that there can be an enormous difference between making information available and actually communicating it.

Technically, information may exist somewhere in a Board agenda, presentation, budget document, or district webpage. But if a parent needs to know where to look, understand educational acronyms, read hundreds of pages, and watch a five-hour Board meeting to understand a decision affecting their child's school, we have not communicated effectively.

Families deserve information that is timely, accurate, understandable, multilingual, and accessible in different formats.

For major decisions, I would like the district to communicate the basics very clearly: What is happening? Why is it happening? Who will be affected? When will it happen? What options were considered? How can families provide input? And where can they get additional information?

This is especially important during a crisis. When we do not communicate quickly and honestly, a vacuum develops and social media fills it with partial information, rumors, and sometimes misinformation. We will not always have every answer immediately, and I think it is perfectly acceptable to tell the community, “We don't know yet, but here is what we know, here is what we are doing to find out, and here is when we will update you again.”

I also believe Board members themselves have a responsibility to communicate. I have tried throughout my service to use social media, community meetings, school events, direct conversations, and other platforms to explain complicated issues in plain language and make myself accessible.

Being transparent does not mean only communicating good news. In fact, transparency matters most when the news is difficult.

And communication has to be multilingual from the beginning, not as an afterthought. WCCUSD serves one of the most diverse communities in California. Families should not receive less information or receive it later because English is not their primary language.

Ultimately, communication is about trust. People are much more willing to work with a school district through difficult decisions when they believe we are giving them the complete picture.

How will you improve the school district’s process for getting meaningful input?

One of my frustrations with traditional community engagement is that institutions sometimes decide what they want to do, create a presentation explaining it, hold a meeting, and then call that “community input.”

That isn't meaningful engagement.

Trust is built through listening and action. If we genuinely want community input, people need an opportunity to influence a decision early enough that their input can actually change the outcome.

That means engaging people before the recommendation has already been finalized. It means going to school sites instead of expecting every parent to come to the district office. It means surveys, town halls, student forums, employee meetings, virtual opportunities, multilingual meetings, community organizations, parent groups, and other ways for people to participate.

It also means recognizing who is missing.

The people who have the time and resources to attend a three-hour meeting on a Tuesday evening matter, but they do not necessarily represent everyone. What about the parent working two jobs? The family that primarily speaks Spanish? The high school student? The classified employee? The parent of a student with a disability? The newcomer family who may not understand how school district governance works? We need to intentionally create ways for those voices to be heard too.

Student voice is especially important to me. We make enormous decisions about young people and then sometimes treat students as an audience instead of participants. They experience our schools every day. We should be asking them what is working and what is not.

I also believe our labor partners need to be involved earlier in decisions that directly affect employees and classrooms. Teachers, paraeducators, classified employees and other staff frequently know where a proposal will succeed or fail because they are the people who will actually have to implement it. Consultation should happen while decisions are being developed, not after they have essentially been made.

And finally, we have to close the loop.

When hundreds of people take the time to fill out a survey or attend a meeting, we should come back and say: “Here is what we heard. Here is what changed because of your feedback. Here is what we could not change, and here is why.”

Otherwise, people eventually stop participating because they understandably believe their input doesn't matter.

How can community members reach you?

Accessibility has always been important to me. I don't believe being elected to the School Board means that people should only be able to speak with me for two minutes at a microphone during a Board meeting.

I regularly talk with parents, students, teachers, classified staff, labor leaders, community members, and people who simply have a concern about something happening at their school. Sometimes I can help directly, sometimes I can connect someone to the right person, and sometimes my role is simply to listen and better understand an issue.

People should also know they do not have to agree with me to contact me. Some of the most useful conversations I have had as a Board member have been with people who disagreed with a decision I made. I may explain why I voted a certain way, they may change my perspective, or we may still disagree at the end—but people deserve to be heard.

Community members can reach me through my district email at dgonzalez@wccusd.net, through social media, at Board meetings and community events, or through my website. My district Board page also lists my public phone number, (760)500-7044.

I try to be present throughout the community, not just during election season. Now that this election is behind us, that is actually even more important to me. The campaign may be over, but the responsibility of representing people continues every single day. Thank you very