Historic East Bay Education Candidate Forum Recap

On Wednesday, October 5th, Rocketship California’s East Bay parent leader community made history by hosting the first-ever education candidate forum. Over 500 families gathered virtually to learn more about the candidates for open seats on the Contra Costa County Office of Education (CCCOE) and the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) school board.

Joining us for the event were Candidates Justin Brown, Dominique King, and Annette Lewis. Unfortunately, Candidate Derek Carson II was only able to join us for a few minutes, and Candidate Mary Rocha had to cancel after initially accepting our invitation.

The parent-led event focused on issues important not only to Antioch and Concord, but to parents across Contra Costa County. Pandemic learning loss, school choice, the achievement gap, college and career pathways, and more were discussed in the 60-minute event. Parents from Rocketship East Bay public elementary charter schools as well as parents from partner public schools and community members filled the virtual event space. Each candidate answered multiple questions and heard parents share their personal testimonies about living in Contra Costa County and the issues they face ensuring their children receive a high-quality education.

If you missed this forum, you can watch the full session here! You can begin listening to a series of two-minutes responses at the 40:00 mark

You can also view recordings of the event in Spanish here, and Vietnamese here.

“Concord and Antioch are home to vibrant and growing communities. Tonight, Rocketship Delta Prep and Rocketship Futuro Academy families have joined forces to demonstrate our power to advocate for a better future for our children’s future, our community, and our cities,” said Naas Kabil, a volunteer parent leader at Rocketship Futuro Academy in Concord. “We’re a powerful community dedicated to being civically-engaged in our cities. I am so excited that Rocketship parents organized this event to not only hear from our candidates but for them to hear from us.”

Published on October 24, 2022