LVUSD’s War on Working Parents: Morning Meetings Silence Public Voice
The Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District has found the perfect way to avoid accountability: schedule important board meetings when the taxpayers who fund their operations can’t attend.
The October 23rd regular board meeting, called for 9:00 AM on a Wednesday morning, represents the latest assault on public participation in a district already reeling from budget mismanagement, facility neglect, and administrative bloat. While most working parents were dropping their children off at school or heading to their jobs, LVUSD’s board conducted business behind a veil of manufactured inaccessibility.
A CALCULATED STRATEGY TO SILENCE DISSENT
This isn’t incompetence—it’s intentional. The district knows exactly what it’s doing when it schedules critical meetings during working hours. They’ve seen the passionate testimony from Junction Avenue parents about unsafe bathroom conditions. They’ve heard the outcry over special education class relocations. They’ve witnessed the community anger over teacher layoffs while administrative salaries increased.
Their solution? Make sure those voices can’t be heard.
“It’s almost like they’re trying to avoid us,” said Maria Santos, a working mother of two LVUSD students who has repeatedly tried to attend board meetings. “I can’t take time off work every time they want to make decisions about my children’s education. It feels deliberate.”
She’s right. It is deliberate.
THE TYRANNY OF INCONVENIENT TIMING
The October 23rd meeting agenda included labor negotiations with all five employee unions, personnel disciplinary actions, and superintendent performance evaluations—exactly the kind of high-stakes discussions that demand public oversight. Instead, the board conducted these sensitive matters while parents were at work, unable to witness how their tax dollars are being managed.
Compare this to successful districts across California that prioritize evening meetings, weekend workshops, and multiple participation options. Livermore’s approach stands in stark contrast to basic democratic principles of transparency and accountability.
WHO BENEFITS FROM EMPTY CHAMBERS?
When public meetings become private affairs due to inaccessible scheduling, who wins? Certainly not students, parents, or taxpayers. The beneficiaries are administrators who prefer to operate without scrutiny, board members who avoid tough questions, and a system that has grown comfortable making decisions in isolation.
The district’s pattern is clear:
- Budget crisis discussions: Morning workshops
- Teacher layoff decisions: Weekday meetings
- Facility neglect at Junction Avenue: Limited evening sessions
- Administrative salary increases: Buried in consent agendas
THE COST OF EXCLUSION
This systematic exclusion of working families has real consequences. When parents can’t attend meetings, they can’t:
- Challenge questionable budget priorities
- Advocate for facility improvements
- Question administrative spending
- Hold board members accountable for their votes
- Provide input on policies affecting their children
The result is governance by a small group of insiders while the broader community remains voiceless and uninformed.
DEMOCRACY DIES IN DAYLIGHT MEETINGS
The October 23rd meeting’s 9:00 AM start time sent a clear message: your input isn’t wanted. While Trustee Christiaan VandenHeuvel attended remotely from the Netherlands—apparently having more flexibility than local working parents—the district made no effort to accommodate the schedules of the families they serve.
This represents a fundamental betrayal of public trust. School boards exist to serve the community, not to hide from it behind convenient scheduling barriers.
DEMANDING BETTER
Other districts have found solutions:
- Evening meetings as the standard, not the exception
- Weekend workshops for major policy discussions
- Multiple meeting formats to accommodate different schedules
- Live streaming and recorded sessions for broader access
- Community input sessions held at convenient times
Livermore could implement these changes immediately if they wanted genuine public participation. Their refusal to do so reveals their true priorities.
THE CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY
Working parents in Livermore deserve better than governance by exclusion. They deserve:
- Regular evening board meetings
- Advance notice of scheduling changes
- Multiple opportunities for public input
- Transparent decision-making processes
- Board members who prioritize accessibility over convenience
The October 23rd meeting represents everything wrong with LVUSD’s approach to public engagement: important decisions made in isolation, community voices silenced by design, and democratic principles sacrificed for administrative convenience.
THE BOTTOM LINE
When school boards meet while parents work, democracy fails. When public meetings become private affairs through inaccessible scheduling, accountability dies. When community input is systematically excluded, trust erodes.
Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District’s pattern of morning meetings isn’t a scheduling quirk—it’s a deliberate strategy to govern without interference from the people they’re supposed to serve.
It’s time for working parents to demand evening meetings, weekend workshops, and genuine accessibility. It’s time to reject governance by exclusion and insist on democracy by design.
Your children’s education is too important to be decided by a handful of people meeting while you’re at work.
The next time LVUSD schedules a 9:00 AM meeting to discuss your tax dollars and your children’s future, ask yourself: Is this really about serving the community, or avoiding it?
Tom Wong is an independent investigative reporter and conservative watchdog focused on government accountability and fiscal responsibility in public education. Contact him at tom.wong.reporter@protonmail.com for tips about government waste and lack of transparency.
Source: LVUSD October 23, 2025 Regular Board Meeting Agenda
