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The race for seats on the Contra Costa County Board of Education — including the one representing voters in the San Ramon Valley — is in full gear ahead of the general election as candidates prepare for a forum later this month.
All three Area 4 candidates, along with those for areas 2 and 5, are set to discuss their platforms and answer questions submitted from the public in an Oct. 18 forum hosted by the 32nd District PTA and moderated by the League of Women Voters.
The race for Area 4 – which includes Danville, San Ramon, Alamo and Blackhawk – has attracted two challengers to incumbent Mike Maxwell.
Cheri Calcagno, a college healthcare educator, and veteran special education instructor Anaité Letona are vying to unseat Maxwell, whose current term is up at the end of this year.
Maxwell, a Danville resident, was first elected to the county Board of Education in 2014, with the seat being his first and only elected position.
Letona and Calcagno would be holding their first elected positions, should either one of them be chosen to replace Maxwell this November.
Maxwell’s background includes a term as president of the Pleasant Hill Rotary Club from 1988 to 1989, where he was also named Rotarian of the Year in 2002.
He began serving on the Board of Managers at the Pleasant Hill YMCA in 2012, and serves as campaign chair for the organization Invest in Youth.
He’s also worked for the national YMCA, the San Francisco Giants, and Monte Vista High School, where he attended.
In addition to her tenure as a health educator and college instructor, Calcagno has a background volunteering in several roles at public schools in the county, including as a room/team parent, class liaison for fine arts and music, and as a sister school coordinator, aimed at facilitating cross-county programs between schools.
On top of her work in educational settings, her volunteer work includes CityServe of the Tri-Valley.
Letona, a parent and volunteer in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District during her daughters’ time in local school, has served on PTAs of the schools they attended and with the local Council of PTAs.
She is currently in her 10th year as a special education educator. In addition to volunteer work in the San Ramon Valley, Letona was a founding member of the Pleasanton Unified School District’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force.
The three candidates are set to discuss their platforms and relevant issues via Zoom on Oct. 18. More information and registration are available here.
Editor’s note: A prior version of this story incorrectly listed the name of the 32nd District PTA. Embarcadero Media regrets the error.
