Contra Costa County Board of Education Election Preview: Race for Area 3 Seat is an All-Martinez Affair

Current and former MUSD trustees face off for spot on county board being vacated by another Martinez resident; also, the debate over whether one candidate should be identified as a teacher

The race for the Area 3 seat on the Contra Costa County Board of Education pits former and current members of the Martinez Unified School District Board of Trustees to fill the seat being vacated by another Martinez resident who is favored to win election to the California Assembly.

Vicki Gordon, who previously served on the MUSD and Contra Costa Community College District boards and ran unsuccessfully two years ago for county clerk-recorder, is running against Yazmin Llamas, who won election to her first term on the MUSD board in 2022.

Whoever wins will replace Anamarie Avila Farias, a former Martinez council member who is completing her first term on the board and is the Democratic Party nominee and favorite to win the District 15 seat in the California Assembly. Avila Farias is backing Llamas in the election.

In addition to Martinez, the Area 3 seat on the county board covers Bay Point, Clyde, Crockett, Hercules, Pacheco, Pleasant Hill, Pittsburg, Port Costa, Rodeo and parts of El Sobrante.

The County Board of Education works with the elected county schools superintendent, Lynn Mackey, to oversee the Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE). CCCOE serves multiple functions in local public education, such as providing direct educational services to students whose needs can’t be sufficiently addressed by their home school districts; as well as oversight and support services to schools and school districts throughout the county, including budget approval and fiscal support.

Vicki Gordon

Gordon worked as a Martinez teacher in the late 1980s and early 1990s before returning to MUSD as a substitute teacher in August. The question of whether she could or should identify herself as a teacher on the official election ballot and in her official candidates statement has emerged as a subplot in the race (see article on that topic following this one).

Gordon has significant financial and organizational support in the race, including from the Pittsburg Unified School District teachers union, which has given her $2,500. In all, Gordon had raised over $20,000 in contributions to fund her campaign as of Sept. 21, mostly from her husband Scott, an attorney, and his legal practices, and reported over $11,000 in expenditures (the next campaign finance filing deadline is Oct. 24). Her endorsements include the California Teachers Association and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

Yazmin Llamas

Llamas, meanwhile, had reported no contributions as of Sept. 21 and $1,350 in expenses. She works in real estate finance. In addition to Avila Farias, she has the backing of Mackey and current County Board of Education President Michael Maxwell.

Gordon said that, as the daughter of a teacher, she was motivated to run for the county board seat “from my lifelong passion and dedication to education and student success.” In addition to over two decades of combined experience as a MUSD and Contra Costa Community College District trustee, she points to her experience serving on the MUSD Bond Oversight Committee and as chair of the West Contra Costa Unified School District Redistricting Commission (disclosure: I also served with Gordon on the WCCUSD Redistricting Commission).

“My experiences have prepared me well to hit the ground running and be able to get up to speed very quickly,” she said.

Llamas said that, as the daughter of a father who arrived in the United States from Mexico in the 1960s as a farm worker in the federal Bracero Visa Program, her motivation for running for the board seat is “simply to give back to our community.”

“My parents raised me with the virtue of living ‘in contribution,’ ” said Llamas, noting that she didn’t speak English when she started elementary school. “They were firm believers of helping those in need.”

Gordon said her top qualifications to serve on the board are “my direct experience and knowledge of governing a school district for 15 years and a community college district for eight years as well as my training and experience as a classroom teacher; my wide community/governmental relationships and networks; and my years of leadership/advocacy and communications skills.”

Llamas said her top qualifications for the board seat are holding a Bachelor of Art in Education and Ethnic Studies and a Master of Public Administration from UC Berkeley; working with at-risk, special education and English learner students in local school districts; and being a mother with children currently enrolled in Martinez public schools and at Diablo Valley College.

Gordon said her top three priorities if elected are expanding access to programs for county students “that will increase the knowledge and skills for success in college, careers and technological fields”; increasing “fundamental programs for skills in reading, math and science”; and leading and advocating “for compensation that will attract and retain quality teachers, which impacts student success.”

Llamas said her top three priorities if elected are promoting student achievement; expanding wellness and behavioral health support for students, teachers and families; and ensuring financial transparency.

Gordon said the biggest thing that distinguishes her from Llamas is her decades of experience in the education field and service on public education boards, including the “unique experience” of serving on a commission that “dealt with setting boundaries for local school board races, ensuring that all voices in the community are represented.” She added: “I am the only candidate that comes fully equipped to do the job from day one and the one that can continue to do the work of effective governance as well as represent the constituents of Area 3.”

Llamas says what distinguishes her is her experience as a mother of school-age children during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that she is “very familiar with the struggles and setbacks that transpired during this terrible period.” Additionally, she highlights her current role as a school district trustee engaged in the various challenges facing students and the societal and technological factors forcing public education to evolve, along with a familiarity with “the economic struggles that many of our families are currently facing and our school budgets issues.”

Learn more about Gordon and her campaign at https://www.vickigordon2024.net

Learn more about Llamas and her campaign at https://yazmin4boe.com/

 The following related article on the Contra Costa County Board of Education race was reported and written by freelance writer Tom Lochner. It is made possible through the financial support of paid subscribers and other donors to the newsletter. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 a month or $50 annually if not already to fund more local news coverage of Martinez.

By Tom Lochner

Is Vicki Gordon a teacher, as her campaign signs proclaim?

The question has become something of a subplot in Gordon's campaign for election to the governing board of the Contra Costa County Board of Education on Nov. 5.

The answer? Depends on when you asked.

Today, it would be "Yes."

Two months ago, it might have been "No." Or, "Not yet."

But by the time the county's Voter Information guides for the Nov. 5 election went to print around mid-September — with the words "teacher" stricken from her candidate statement — Gordon was in fact a teacher. 

She is employed as a substitute teacher by the Martinez Unified School District effective Aug. 29, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Services Janelle Eyet said in an email.

Gordon's self-description as "teacher" and "educator" in the official Candidate Statement she originally submitted prompted an elector (a member of the voting public) to petition the Contra Costa County Superior Court on Aug. 20 to order county elections chief Kristin Connelly to remove the words. That elector, who was represented by a Sacramento law firm, is Lynn Mackey, the elected county superintendent of schools, who works with the very board that Gordon is running for. Mackey has endorsed Gordon's opponent Yazmin Llamas, both candidates have said.

Mackey had not responded to emails seeking comment by the time of publication of this article.

On Sept. 4, the court ordered Connelly to "strike and refrain from using in (Gordon's) Candidate Statement for the November 5, 2024 election for Contra Costa County Board of Education, Board District 3, the false and misleading phrase 'As teacher and educator.'" The phrase had led off the second paragraph of Gordon's statement; that paragraph now begins with "I am the most qualified and experienced candidate." The court also barred the word "Educator" as Gordon's ballot designation, which now reads "Community Volunteer."

Sept. 4, the day the court issued its order, was also the county Elections Division's print deadline for ballot materials for the Nov. 5 election. That left Gordon insufficient time to file an appeal, she said.

Eyet said she could not disclose how many times Gordon has worked as a sub since she was hired, explaining, "Employee attendance data is a part of the personnel record and is considered confidential." Gordon provided a list of seven substitute teacher assignments she said she performed between Sept. 13 and Oct. 9 — six of them at John Swett Elementary and one at Morello Park Elementary.

Gordon's road to getting hired as a teacher was actually several months in the making, starting around May or June, when, she said, she gathered all of her professional development requirements to apply for a teaching job. The interviewing process took longer than she expected, she said.

"This is a made-up controversy," she said of the brouhaha over her calling herself a teacher and educator.

Gordon is no newcomer to the field of education. She was a teacher in Martinez Unified from August 1988 to August 1993, according to her LinkedIn page. But most of her career in education has been in the boardroom. 

She was a MUSD board member from November 1997 to December 2012; and a member of the Contra Costa Community College District Governing Board from December 2012 to February 2022, according to LinkedIn.

In November 2022, she ran for the post of Contra Costa County clerk-recorder, losing in a runoff to Connelly, the current office-holder.

Gordon also is no stranger to election-related controversy, notably in relation to campaign signs. In June 2022, during the four-candidate race for county clerk-recorder that would eventually propel her into the November 2022 runoff, Gordon was involved in a dispute over the removal of an opponent's campaign sign. 

"Gordon was taking a sign from a Pleasant Hill property when the homeowner confronted her," the East Bay Times reported in a June 28, 2022 editorial. "Gordon apologized repeatedly and left the sign. She later said it was on the shoulder of the road leaning against a retaining wall, which she thought was improperly in the public right of way. She said she wanted to return it to the opponent before it was confiscated.”

The homeowner, however, said that the sign "was firmly stuck in the ground in the planter area of her property above the retaining wall," the editorial continued. Gordon eventually said her action to remove the sign was "a terrible mistake," according to the editorial.

Follow Martinez News and Reviews on Facebook and Instagram