Mark Maselli, a 25-year teaching veteran, wants more than to sit on the Governing Board of the Benicia Unified School District. He wants to bring a new attitude to the present school board.

“I never thought I’d be motivated to do this, but just watching the way things were being handled in the leadership and what I thought what a poor job was being done, I felt like I had to get involved,” he said. “Being in education my whole life and being an actual classroom teacher for 25 years, I think I bring a knowledge that you don’t always see when it comes to a school board position.”

Maselli began his teaching career in Stockton but for the last 24 years has been an educator at Hillview Junior High School in Pittsburg. He has taught everything from math to science to English to history to reading to electives to physical education, which he currently teaches.

“I’ve taught every subject at the junior high level,” he said.

Additionally, Maselli has also been on the bargaining team for the Pittsburg Education Association for 20 years and is a representative for the California Teachers Association’s State Council of Education.

“I have a lot of experience with school budgets for 17 years,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of training on school budgets.”

Maselli has also been living in Benicia since 1996, where he is the parent of a Benicia High School junior and a recent Benicia High graduate. Additionally, his wife Carleen is a Benicia High math teacher who was also president of the Benicia Teachers Association.

Maselli said he has been impressed with BUSD, namely its educators and parents.

“You have really awesome teachers, (and) you have very supportive parents who are very involved in their kids’ lives,” he said. “Having taught for 25 years, that makes all the difference in the world when you have parents who hold their kids to a standard and teachers who hold their kids to a standard.”

“I’m very happy with what’s happened with my kids,” he said.

However, he feels communication at the District Office level is in need of improvement, and that is why he chose to run.

“I just didn’t like the way it was being run,” he said. “You have to have all the stakeholders in the district involved in decision-making, and it seemed to me that the decision-making was being made on one end— the administrative end— and the teachers and parents and other groups were being left out of the decision-making process.”

Maselli hopes to improve the labor situation. He noted that following a yearlong impasse between the district and BTA over contract negotiations, the parties were able to reach an agreement following a fact-finding hearing. However, it still needs to be ratified by the teachers union. If the agreement is not ratified, then teachers could strike.

“There’s no reason for that,” Maselli said. “The group that’s currently in power seems to look at the teachers as an afterthought and that they should be happy with whatever they get. I think you have to engage the groups and the teachers and talk to them and come together with a settlement. There’s no reason it should be like this at all.”

Maselli noted the state has a surplus and more money is going toward education, thus he feels BUSD should refocus its spending priorities.

Overall, Maselli hopes to be able to settle a contract and bring all parties together. With his experience in curriculum and bargaining, he believes he will be a good fit for the school board.

“It’s time to bring everyone to the table and fix the contention in the district so that everyone’s on the same page and there’s not infighting,” he said. “When you’re fighting against each other, you’re not able to be focused on the job at hand.”

For more information on Maselli’s campaign, visit his Facebook page at facebook.com/maseeli4busdboard/.

The other candidates in the race are incumbent school board President Diane Ferrucci, real estate agent Adrean Hayashi, Solano County Office of Education Community Engagement Director Gethsemane Moss and retired school librarian Sheri Zada. The top three vote-getters will serve on the school board. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.