Dublin School Board Member Calls It Quits After A Decade

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DUBLIN, CA — After more than a decade of meetings, budget workshops, planning for a new high school and advocating for academic excellence in the Dublin Unified School District, Dan Cunningham called it quits as a trustee in a surprise announcement during the school board’s regular meeting last week.

A trustee since 2008, Cunningham had helped guide the district through a period of explosive growth in Dublin that saw student enrollment double, requiring the addition of new schools and planning for a second high school to handle the influx of students.

Offering no other explanation for his departure, which was effective March 1, Cunningham simply told his fellow Trustees he’d “enjoyed being active in the community and working to make where I live a better place for everyone,” but believed “the time has come for me to pursue other endeavors.”

However, in an interview with Patch, Cunningham said there was nothing clandestine about his mid-term departure although it may have caught some off guard.

“I’m not a person that goes around telling people what I’m thinking about,” he said, and told Patch he felt it was time to “concentrate on my family and business,” explaining that his decision was made after talking to his family and several friends.

Cunningham, a strong advocate for the district’s music and athletic programs who took a special interest in raising the quality of overall education, said during his tenure he had seen Dublin High School transformed to the point where it was “now one of the best high schools not only in the Tri-Valley but also in the State of California.”

Cunningham was deeply involved in the planning for a new high school and said he’s confident the remaining trustees will bring the project to completion. The biggest challenge for those he left behind, Cunningham said, was growth. “There’s been a ton of growth and it’s not stopping.”

Amy Miller, school board president, in a statement, said Cunningham “truly made a difference for students and always based his decisions on what he thought was in their best interests.”

But Cunningham’s service as a Trustee wasn’t without controversy. An effort last year to recall Cunningham failed to obtain enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Organizers of the campaign claimed had failed to take actions to build a second high school or work to eliminate overcrowding in the district, despite the fact Cunningham had voted to spend $100 million for construction of the district’s second high school. Another complaint revolved around an exchange with a parent during an October 2017 board meeting, something Cunningham said he regretted.

The recall campaign was headed by Bobby Khullar, an employee of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency who ran unsuccessfully for a Dublin City Council seat last November.

Cunningham’s resignation creates a second vacancy on the board, leaving just a bare quorum to conduct business. Former Trustee Joe Giannini, who was elected to the board in 2016, resigned last October and Niranjana Natarajan, a financial analyst, was appointed to serve the remainder of his term, but her appointment abruptly ended after the Alameda County Office of Education received a petition to nullify the appointment.

A special election has been scheduled June 4 to fill Giannini’s vacancy and it is unknown yet whether the position vacated by Cunningham will be filled at the same time.

Related:

• New Dublin School District Trustee Forced To Step Down