An incumbent who has served more than 20 years on Fresno Unified’s Board of Education is in the race to represent the Sunnyside region, an area that spans from Jensen to Shaw Avenue to the district’s southeast.
Valerie Davis has represented Trustee Area 3 since 2004, having also served as clerk and president during her tenure. Davis was born and raised in Fresno, is a Bullard High School alum and has worked for Fresno Unified in multiple roles since the age of 18, including as a teacher’s aide and a teacher for music, intersession Kindergarten and first grade.
Davis declined to sit with Fresnoland for an interview.
Challenger Riley Talford is a veteran with experience in teaching as a substitute teacher and coaching basketball at Fresno Unified. Talford has also represented the Fresno chapter of the Service Employees International Union Local 521 for more than a decade.
Riley Talford
Job: Supervising juvenile correctional officer for Fresno County Probation, SEIU 521 Fresno County Chapter President
Age: 54
Residency: Lives in Fresno
Key Endorsements: Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez, Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi, Fresno Teachers Association, Central Valley Progressive PAC, Fresno County Democratic Party, SEIU Local 521
Having served in the US Navy for almost seven years as a cryptologic technician Talford has been a resident of Fresno for over 20 years, working as a substitute teacher at Edison Bethune Elementary and co-coaching basketball at Edison High School. He is a current board trustee for the Fresno County Employees Retirement Association and has been chapter president of SEIU Local 521 for over 11 years.
What are your priorities for the position?
Talford wants to cut unnecessary administrative positions and prioritize teacher voices, saying the district needs to give educators flexibility and the opportunity to give insight into the needs they see in students and the classroom.
“We gotta listen to what they have to say and make sure they have seats at the table and can be a part of discussion and decision-making on what happened instead of just being told what to do.”
Focusing on teachers and implementing more of their ideas can improve student performance and help cut costs on outside consultants improve student performance. Talford also wants to safeguard special education programs from any cuts to protect students with disabilities.
How will you improve district communication to be more open, accessible and able to foster trust with the community?
On top of using social media more aggressively to get messages to more parents, Talford floated the idea of planning smaller meetings at school sites to give community members a better chance to hear and respond to district decisions.
“Every parent doesn’t have time to see your one advertisement, they just don’t, I’m just being honest.”.
He explained that consequential decisions, like the changing of centrally funded bus trips or magnet school bus stops, need to be discussed in smaller meetings before trustees convene to make a decision.
“It takes time out of a trustee’s life, I get it, I understand it, but you took the job,” Talford said, adding “so maybe I have one less party I get to go to, but I can go to this important meeting.”
How do you want to address the district’s current levels of enrollment, average daily attendance and chronic absenteeism?
Talford noted that while FUSD weighs campus closures, he thinks they should also be planning how to replace them with campuses that are more centrally located and offer opportunities to students to attract families back.
“It’s not about managing through a cut and deficit, but how do we move things forward?”
He also referred to the cutting of centrally funded school trips, saying that cuts impacting students don’t do the district any favors in getting students to look forward to going to school. If students are excited to attend, Talford said, then the district can tackle enrollment, ADA and chronic absenteeism.
Talford also said he’d like to explore how to bring resources that bring stability to families and students to help with factors outside the district’s control, like housing and food for hungry families.
How will you approach labor negotiations for the district?
Talford said he wants to be candid with labor unions to find ways to serve staff without impacting students, saying that there are already too many issues affecting employees’ rising costs of living.
“Nobody should have to work two jobs to live in their community, that impacts kids [too].”
How will you support special education students?
Apart from wanting to keep cuts away from special education completely, Talford also said he’d like to see more support in classrooms to provide students with disabilities focused instruction in smaller groups.
What is your approach to cuts at the classroom level?
Talford wants to keep cuts far from the classroom.
He also said that cutting from classrooms in the short term would not prevent school closures from low student enrollment. He said the district needs to figure out how to attract families back to FUSD schools.
“I’m not putting off something 10 years down the line, I’m not looking to be a 22-year public servant as a trustee.”
Do you have any plans to invest in the district’s athletics?
Talford did not specifically outline any plans to invest in athletics, saying that he instead wants to hear from community members first about what their school sites need.
Who is funding them?
Campaign documents show that Talford’s campaign received the following donations.
- UA Local 246 Plumbers and Pipefitters Cope Committee – $3,000
- Fresno Teachers Association PAC for Education – $10,000
- North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters POWER PAC – $5,000
- Valley Forward Action Fund – $1,572.60
- Service Employees International Union Local 521 Independent Expenditure – $35,000
