As the only incumbent in the school board race, Board President Diane Ferrucci is looking to continue her experience not only on the school board but also her extensive education background.

“I am well-qualified to continue in my position as a board member, having served multiple facets of education,” she said. “I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been an administrator, I also did some classes at the university level as well. Now, having served on the school board the last four years, it’s just a bigger breadth, but I think it’s real important.”

Ferrucci has worked in the field of education for 47 years. These included several years at Benicia Middle School, first as an English and history teacher and then as a vice principal.

“I’m also getting to see my students as adults and parents now, which has been pretty exciting,” she said. “It’s a great feeling as an educator to know you’ve helped to contribute to the fabulous people they’ve become.”

After 14 years in the Fairfield-Unified School District as an elementary school principal and District Office administrator, Ferrucci retired in 2014. However, she saw a need to continue serving in the field of education, so she decided to run for a seat on the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District. Ferrucci would be returning to the district where she taught, which her children attended and which her grandchildren are currently enrolled in.

“I had a tremendous interest in continuing to support education and programs for our students and making sure we stayed competitive and that our students have opportunities and choices when they left the school system,” she said. “I care about the quality of education, and I wanted to continue to foster that.”

Ferrucci won her election bid, managing to unseat then-incumbent Trustee Steve Messina. Since 2017, she has been serving as the board’s president.

Ferrucci is most proud of the work done on schools as part of the Measure S initiative. These have included the replacement of old infrastructure, upgraded playgrounds at the elementary schools and a new stadium at Benicia High School. She is also thrilled about the proposed remodel of BMS, which is slated to commence in 2019. Additionally, she is pleased with the support of teachers through professional development and coaching and new integrations of technology in classrooms that have taken place since she joined the board.

“We have upgraded our technology so teachers have better tools at their hands to support students, and we have been implementing a lot of STEAM programs into our schools in order to help bring our children into the 21st century,” she said.

However, Ferrucci said BUSD undergone its share of obstacles over the last few years. For her, the biggest challenge was the recent impasse over contract negotiations with the Benicia Teachers Association. A tentative agreement with the two parties was reached, but Ferrucci said the dispute caused a strained relationship between teachers and the district.

“It’s not where I would like it to be,” she said of the relationship. “My goal moving forward is to brainstorm ways to make it better. It’s caused a real divide, and that makes me sad because that’s not good for staff, it certainly isn’t good for children and it definitely isn’t good for the community.”

“We need to make sure we continue to work in a positive manner with all of our staff,” she added.

Another big concern for Ferrucci is financing the district.

“We are not like a lot of the surrounding districts that get extra money,” she said. “Even though the state is telling us we need to do and be responsible for many of the same mandates everybody else is being responsible for, we don’t have the extra funds to make that happen.”

Ferrucci said she is looking for additional programs to support funding and continuing to reach out to partners to find other ways to support schools.

Another top priority for Ferrucci is ensuring that schools are safe, especially with all the on-campus shootings across the country in recent years.

“I do not want our schools to be one of those statistics,” she said. “That is absolutely the last thing that I want to see happen.”

Ferrucci said teachers underwent a safety training before the start of the school year.

“I know it was very hard,” she said. “It was a very emotional training, but the more training you have the better you will respond in a crisis situation.”

Ferrucci said the district should examine whether or not the campuses are secure and making changes if necessary. She said the group that did the training did an analysis of all the sites, and the district is still waiting to receive. She also said the district is slowing down the spending of bond money to work on safety.

“The safety of our students and our staff is of primary importance,” she said. “If they don’t feel safe, we’re not gonna be able to move and have teachers be able to do the hard work that needs to happen.”

Other priorities for Ferrucci include providing a competitive salary and benefits package for teachers and ensuring the district remains solvent in the event of a recession.

Overall, she said, “I want to make sure we are offering our students a quality educational program.”

For more information on Ferrucci’s campaign, go to facebook.com/dianeferrucciforschoolboard.

The other candidates in the race are realtor Adrean Hayashi, Pittsburg Unified School District teacher Mark Maselli, Arts & Culture Commissioner Gethsemane Moss and retired elementary school librarian Sheri Zada. The top three vote-getters will serve on the school board. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.