Special Election Fight Sends Martinez Unified School District into Turmoil

Petition challenging appointment for vacant seat leads to finger pointing, ill will and board meeting drama; teachers union president addresses 2022 endorsement of MAGA campaign donor

A previous version of this article contained an error. It should have said that there had been six previous appointments before Brittany Ayala’s to fill board vacancies since 2001, according to information provided by the district, none of which led to a special election. Also, although no appointments before Ayala’s had been challenged in recent history, there was a special election in 1977 over the filling of a board vacancy.

By Craig Lazzeretti and Tom Lochner

The Martinez Unified School District is engulfed in turmoil over what’s shaping up to be a bitter fight to fill a vacant school board seat, with competing groups organizing around a special election that has upended the board’s January appointment.

On the same week that members of the district’s teachers union showed up in large numbers to a school board meeting to speak about their dedication to students and the community amid a growing furor over who and what is driving the June 17 special election, supporters of Brittany Ayala turned out for a rally and march from City Hall to the district offices to denounce the petition that terminated her appointment to the vacant Area 3 seat after only two board meetings. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Ayala was the only minority on the board of a district in which more than 30% of the student body identifies as Hispanic.

As it grapples with millions of dollars in budget cuts and begins the search for a new superintendent, the school board will be forced to function with only four members until some time this summer.

Mary Rittenhouse, co-president of the teachers union (Martinez Education Association), addressed the MUSD board (and the listening public) on March 10 in what appeared to be part of an orchestrated effort to counter lingering negative fallout over the union's endorsement of a perceived MAGA supporter in the 2022 school board election. MEA has already endorsed its former president, Brenda Leal, who was passed over for the January board appointment in favor of Ayala, in the upcoming special election.

MEA President Mary Rittenhouse speaks at the March 10 school board meeting.

That candidate, longtime Alhambra High cheerleading coach Marcy LeBoeuf, had contributed to WinRed, the primary fundraising platform of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. LeBoeuf eventually lost the 2022 MUSD Area 3 election to Yazmin Llamas, but the MEA stayed silent after the campaign contributions — several of which went directly to Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign — came to light.

Speculation has now centered on what role members of MEA played in the petition that terminated Ayala’s appointment and triggered the mail-only special election that is expected to cost the school district at least $43,000 amid a growing budget crisis. Ayala was appointed unanimously by the remaining four trustees to the seat, and both she and Leal attended the March 10 and March 24 board meetings as spectators. Several MEA members also have been in attendance at recent meetings. Ayala and Leal were the only two candidates who filed to run in the special election.

Rittenhouse, whose school job is librarian at Alhambra High, was followed to the podium by her co-president, John Muir Elementary third grade teacher Mary Hardesty, and more than a dozen other teachers, who expressed their dedication to their students and their love of the community before signing off with the statement, "I am MEA" (some cited the union's full name in their signoff).

None of the speakers mentioned Ayala or the upcoming election for the Area 3 seat.

When news of the endorsed candidate's donations to WinRed came to light, said Rittenhouse, "it sparked a wave of emotion across our community: confusion, anger and a sense of betrayal." The backlash led to the resignation of the MEA leadership of that time, Rittenhouse continued, and so she was asked to step up. She had no background in politics, and no desire to be a politician, she said.

A screenshot from the Federal Elections Commission shows contributions made by 2022 MUSD school board candidate Marcy LeBoeuf to Donald Trump and other MAGA causes. MEA endorsed LeBoeuf in the race and stayed silent after the contributions came to light.

Hoping to overcome the stigma that came with the union's support of "a candidate who associated with a group that did not share our same values," Rittenhouse, unsure how to address that stigma, at first remained silent, but that was a mistake, she said.

"Misinformation began to take root," Rittenhouse said. "The false narrative of MEA being aligned with MAGA festered in our community. And there are people who choose to use this narrative against us, claiming that we only think for ourselves, and that students are not our top priority.

"But that narrative is false and does not reflect the true MEA," Rittenhouse continued.

"We are your educators. The people who inspire, guide and support students every single day. Many of us are your neighbors here in Martinez, and what unites us is our unwavering commitment to doing what's best for our students. And that's why it is so disheartening to hear how some people — people who don't even know us — have chosen to misrepresent us. The accusations. The finger-pointing.

"Even more disappointing is seeing members of our own school board allowing these harmful narratives to persist — and at times even contributing to them." she said.

She did not identify the school board members that she accused of tolerating harmful narratives.

"Yet despite all of this, we continue to show up. Every single day we put our students first. Because that is who we are."

"So tonight, I ask you: I know who MEA is. Do you?"

Five days after the board meeting, a couple dozen supporters of Ayala, including several elected officials, gathered at City Hall and marched a few blocks to the district offices, decrying the move that ousted her from the board. Some have also questioned Ayala’s qualifications for the board seat, suggesting they pale compared with the 30-year teaching experience of Leal, who recently retired from the district, and critiqued her performance during the candidate interviews held in public before the board prior to the appointment.

Supporters of Brittany Ayala gather at the district offices on Saturday.

Ayala is a UC Berkeley graduate and MUSD parent who has held college adviser-related positions at the university since 2020, according to her resume, including her current role as a community college transfer specialist. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs at Saint Mary’s College.

With supporters chanting “Let her in!”, Ayala addressed the topic of her qualifications head on in her remarks to supporters in front of the district offices.

“Some community members have made assumptions about who I am, what experience I have, and whether I’m qualified to serve on the school board. But I’ve learned that what people assume about me is irrelevant. And perceptions don’t change facts,” she said.

“The fact is that I have dedicated my life’s work to helping students — especially those overlooked by an unequal system — receive the education they deserve.”

She then took the crowd through her life story, attending schools in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District, “where I witnessed the gaps that leave far too many students behind”; being inspired by her Mt. Diablo High history teacher, Jenna Rentz, “who recognized something in me that I hadn’t seen in myself yet,” and whose encouragement “shaped the way I saw education as a tool for empowerment.”

She recalled becoming a mother at age 17 and being told “that my future was over.” “I pushed forward because I knew that education was the key to giving my son a better life.”

Brittany Ayala speaks to supporters on Saturday in front of the MUSD offices as City Councilman Greg Young looks on.

She transferred from Diablo Valley College to UC Berkeley, earning a bachelor’s degree in political theory and Chicano Studies. Ayala said her work as a transfer adviser has allowed her to help “students from all backgrounds gain access to the resources and support to succeed.”

She said she is running to reclaim the seat to which she was appointed “because this district should be a place where every student, every family and every leader — no matter where they come from — feels like they belong.”

Many of the people who spoke after Ayala, including state Assemblywoman Anamarie Avila Farias, Contra Costa County Board of Education trustee Yazmin Llamas (who held the Area 3 seat before Ayala’s appointment) and City Council member Greg Young (the first African American member of that body), spoke of the importance of representation and diversity among leadership positions in a city has long been dominated by white politicians.

Avila Farias, who was the first Latina councilwoman before her rise to the state Legislature, had sharp words for so-called “white allies” in Martinez who claim to support principles of diversity, equity and inclusion but find reasons to pass over minority candidates for elected office.

“You’re not our ally when you want to shut us down, when you say we’re not qualified,” she said. “We grew up here. We’re third generation. We went through the public school system. This is very personal to us. We deserve to have a seat at the table; we deserve to have a voice in our education system.”

Young told Ayala to “keep your head up, stay the course and continue to fight because representation does matter. Representation provides hope for these young people.”

One such young person was a Mexican-American student from Alhambra High who grew emotional describing the racism and hatred she has endured on campus, saying she knows fellow Mexican-American students who have lost motivation in school, and that students of color need more support.

“Thank you, Brittany, for trying to represent us and so many students at MUSD, little ones, older ones. We need you,” she said.

Karina Erbland, a longtime member of the Latino community and former MUSD parent, said, “We’ve never had representation. We need to be represented. We’ve been here. We never left. It’s time to have our people represented.”

While district demographics data show that more than 31% of district students identify as Hispanic, only 17% of district staff are Hispanic. While 43% of district students are categorized as white, nearly 70% of district staff are white.

Mayor Brianne Zorn, an MUSD parent, also thanked Ayala for stepping forward to serve the district by applying for the board opening. She noted the growing diversity on the Martinez City Council, which up until a few years ago had long been an all-white body, as well as the city’s new Diversity and Cultural Commission, and spoke about her support for bilingual education as a “super power” that should be cultivated in schools.

“When you win your election, I hope you increase Spanish representation at the youngest levels,” said Zorn, the city’s first directly elected woman mayor.

Trustee Logan Campbell also attended the rally, wearing a t-shirt that read “Team Brittany,” though he didn’t speak. Campbell made the nomination to appoint Ayala at the January school board meeting.

While Ayala had plenty of support from current elected officials at Saturday’s rally, two former MUSD board members — Jonathan T. Wright and Mark Hughes, both white men — have spoken in support of the special election at recent board meetings.

At a special board meeting on March 3 to approve a mail-only election for the seat, Wright, who served on the board from 2016 to 2021, questioned Ayala’s qualifications for the seat while defending organizers of the election drive against attacks of being affiliated with MAGA.

He praised Martinez educators for their leadership in supporting students, and followed with an explanation of what motivated the petitioners to call for the special election.

"They did it because your appointment of an underqualified applicant in a highly suspect process forced them to exercise their rights under the law," Wright said. "Because they have agency. Because this is a democracy. Because they think your decision lacked merit.”

Wright's characterization of Ayala as underqualified prompted some pushback from board member Courtney Masella-O'Brien. She said she had seen all of the applicant resumes from the past several board appointments, which, with the exception of Ayala's, did not lead to a petition calling for a special election.

"To say that the one the board made this time is not qualified is just simply not true, and I'm disappointed to hear that," Masella-O'Brien said. "I stand by her (Ayala's) appointment. I hope she runs. I hope she does well."

She added that she respected the right of voters to call for a special election to fill the vacancy, a sentiment echoed by other board members. There had been six previous appointments before Ayala’s to fill board vacancies since 2000, according to information provided by the district, none of which led to a special election.

That reflects the trend for other school districts in Contra Costa County that have filled board vacancies with appointments over the years.

“We are not aware of another special election being called in response to an appointment to a school district board,” said Helen Nolan, assistant registrar at the Contra Costa County Elections Office.

Wright, a labor organizer and union official, was appointed by the MUSD board in January 2016 to the seat vacated by the resignation of Denise Elsken, who had come under fire for comments suggesting that students at heavily Latino Las Juntas Elementary School could do without air conditioning at school more easily than those at John Swett Elementary, which is heavily white, because they were more accustomed to heat living in homes without air conditioning.

At the time, according to the resume he submitted with his application, he was the lead representative/organizer at the International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees Local 21, AFL-CIO. Wright, whose resume listed a bachelor’s degree from now-defunct New College of California, resigned from the MUSD board in 2021, less than a year after winning re-election, citing a conflict of interest with his current job.

Unlike Ayala, Wright did not have a child in the school district at the time he was appointed to fill the 2016 vacancy.

Campbell also addressed the appointment of Ayala on March 3, saying that the board had “two very good people” to choose between but that he preferred someone “free of any biases or influences,” apparently referencing Leal’s long involvement in teacher union politics and contract negotiations with the board.

“That’s not to say everyone’s experience wasn’t valuable or that they didn’t bring a lot to the table … but we all have been influenced at some point or another or bring our own biases.”

The board currently includes one former MUSD teacher and MEA member, Anne Horack Martin.

Former board member Mark Hughes also dismissed the notion that MEA is affiliated with MAGA politics at the the March 10 board meeting, and said he intended to support Leal in the election. “I’m looking forward to a vigorous, transparent election, and may the best person win,” he said.

While several speakers (including Craig Lazzeretti) criticized the special election at the Feb. 24 meeting, public commenters who addressed the issue on March 10, with the exception of Lazzeretti, voiced support.

"Having read the applications and resumes of the two candidates, it is clear to me who will receive my vote," said Katie Pitts, who described herself as an Area 3 voter and teacher in the Lafayette school district. "The students of Martinez deserve to have a board member who has extensive classroom experience and deep knowledge of the ins and outs of how public school districts in California can, should and do run."

Martinez Junior High School teacher Meghan Nicolella, who identified herself as Mexican, said the amount of “misinformation about the special election percolating on social media is staggering,” and dismissed claims that it was being driven by racism. She also said 89% of the supporters of a special election were community members, while 11% had MEA connections.

"DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) and equity is incredibly important, and therefore it makes sense for someone to come in with a background knowledge of the district to ensure success for all students and to continue to lessen the standards gap across many sites," she continued, in apparent reference to Leal.

As of Wednesday, both Ayala and Leal had pulled papers with the county Elections Office to run for the seat but neither had yet been qualified.

Craig’s take: I enlisted freelance writer Tom Lochner to help compose this post, as I have strong feelings about this topic and plan to actively support Brittany Ayala for the school board seat in Area 3, where I am a registered voter. With Lochner’s assistance, I have strived to provide both sides of this heated controversy in a fair and balanced manner. As a former MUSD parent and community activist, I was offended that the Martinez Education Association endorsed a candidate who supported the MAGA movement in 2022 and have regularly criticized the union for that endorsement in the years since. While I respect and honor genuinely held political differences on a range of policy issues, I also believe that a fundamental respect for democracy, facts, diversity, equity and individual rights — including the rights of historically marginalized groups — is at the core of what any public school system should stand for, and I believe the MEA betrayed those values through its 2022 endorsement — particularly in choosing to stand by the endorsement even after the MAGA campaign contributions came to light. This is particularly important in light of incidents of racism and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination that have been documented in MUSD schools in recent years. I also believe that MEA has too often placed its own financial interests ahead of students and taxpayers, including during last year’s contract dispute that ignored the realities of the district’s budget crisis and in which it publicly attacked district officials for exercising fiscal responsibility, creating unneeded strife within the district community at a time of crisis in public education when students need all educators working in unison for their well-being after the trauma of the pandemic (the board has approved cumulative raises of 26% for district staff, including MEA members, over the past four years). I have made these views known during public comment at board meetings. They do not reflect my opinion of individual MUSD teachers, many of whom I have come to know over the years and greatly respect for their dedication to students, or labor unions in general, which have and will continue to play a vital role in advancing the interests and well-being of working-class Americans and creating a fair economy. But I believe that any union — like any institution involved in political activity — must be judged ultimately on its actions, and the MEA’s actions over the years, including its members’ apparent role in terminating Ayala’s board appointment despite her clear qualifications for the position, have greatly disappointed me.