News

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) strongly opposes a petition to create a new school district in the Northgate area of Walnut Creek, which the State Board of Education plans to consider on Wednesday, July 13. MDUSD’s position is bolstered by the California Department of Education (CDE) staff recommendation that the State Board deny the petition because it fails to meet the conditions legally required to allow such a division of the District. Mt. Diablo Unified also includes Concord, Clayton, Pleasant Hill, Pacheco and portions of Lafayette, Martinez, Bay Point, Pittsburg and unincorporated areas in Contra Costa County.

Specifically, the CDE finds that:

• The proposal will result in an inequitable division of property and facilities of the original district; and

• Any increase in school facilities costs as a result of the proposed reorganization will be significant and not incidental to the reorganization.

“In addition to failing to meet all of the minimum conditions for approval, the CDE did not find any compelling local educational needs or concerns that would be addressed by the unification proposal,” according to the staff report. “Further, the proposed unification would remove the most affluent area of the Mt. Diablo USD in order to create a smaller, less diverse, more affluent school district.” Based on this analysis, the CDE recommends that the State Board “disapprove the petition to form a new unified school district from the Northgate portion of the Mt. Diablo USD.”

The Contra Costa County Committee on School District Reorganization previously denied the petition in 2017 after community members in the Northgate area of the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) submitted it to the Contra Costa County Superintendent of Schools on February 23, 2017. The petitioners appealed the county decision, seeking to form a new school district that would include the following schools and their attendance areas: Bancroft Elementary, Valle Verde Elementary, Walnut Acres Elementary, Foothill Middle, and Northgate High schools – all located in Walnut Creek. The new district would not include Eagle Peak Montessori, an MDUSD approved charter school within the proposed district, or Oak Grove Middle School and Ygnacio Valley High School, which are located within the new district’s proposed boundaries, but serve students who live outside of its boundaries.

The County Committee on School District Reorganization found that the petition failed to meet many criteria necessary for approval. Instead, the county committee found:

• The petition would result in an inequitable division of property and facilities of the original district;
• The reorganization of the districts would not preserve each affected district’s ability to educate students in an integrated environment and/or would promote racial or ethnic discrimination or segregation;
• The proposed reorganization will not continue to promote sound education performance and/or would significantly disrupt the educational programs in the affected districts;
• Any increase in school facilities costs as a result of the proposed reorganization would be significant and not incidental to the reorganization; and
• The proposed reorganization would not continue to promote sound fiscal management and/or would cause a substantial negative effect on the fiscal status of each district affected by the proposed reorganization.

MDUSD values its ability to offer the best quality education to all its students in educational environments that center on inclusion and promote respect, collaboration and creativity. To that end, the MDUSD Governing Board, with the support of District employees, students and the greater Mt. Diablo community, passed a resolution formally opposing the petition on appeal, finding that the outlook on the underlying data make each of the failed criteria even less viable in 2022. In addition, the Mt. Diablo Education Association (MDEA) teachers’ union and Teamsters Union have each also passed resolutions in opposition to the petition.

"I am extremely proud and fortunate to lead the Mt. Diablo Unified School District," said Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark. "In 2017, the County Committee on School District Reorganization rejected the petition to create the Northgate Unified School District, finding it

failed to meet many key criteria necessary to approve such a petition. On July 13, 2022, the State Board of Education will hear the appeal on the 2017 decision. Just as in 2017, the petition

does not meet the criteria required to approve such a change. I want to thank the community members, employees and students who oppose this secession for their efforts to communicate

with the State Board of Education."

MDUSD Board Member Cherise Khaund, who represents the Northgate area of the District and is the parent of two District students, added:

"I agree with the California Department of Education (CDE) recommendation that the State Board of Education should disapprove the petition to form a new Northgate school district, and with their concerns about how this proposal would remove the most affluent area of the Mt. Diablo USD to create a less diverse school district. The diversity of Mt. Diablo school district is one of the things that drew us to enroll our children here, along with excellent programs such as Dual Language Immersion, International Baccalaureate, and Autism magnet programs. I don't want my own or other Northgate area students to lose access to all of this, nor do I want to see the Eagle Peak Montessori School lose its longstanding charter. Together we can continue to build excellent educational opportunities for all students."

Contra Costa County Supervisor Karen Mitchoff, who represents the MDUSD attendance area, submitted this statement to the State Board of Education in opposition to the petition:

"I am the County Supervisor who represents District IV in Contra Costa County, and this issue pertains to students living in the cities of Clayton, Concord, Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek, all of which are in District IV, as well as students in other communities which are part of the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. I am also a product of this school district having attended grade, middle and high school in Pleasant Hill. I recall when Northgate High School was built and know many of my teachers moved to the new school once it opened.

I have long been opposed, and frankly appalled by the elitism shown by those who support this application, to carving out a special area from the MDUSD. I met with some of the proponents several years ago and let them know it was not the right thing to do and affected more than the students within the area proposed for this 'new' school district. The stated reasons by those seeking this are spurious at best and downright mean at worst.

Please uphold the decision of the Contra Costa County Committee on School District Reorganization and deny this appeal.”

Many MDUSD supporters plan to express their opposition to the petition via phone during the State Board of Education meeting live webcast, or via email before the meeting.

For more information, please see: https://www.mdusd.org/northgatepetitionupdate.