The General Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8 and in Riverbank there is one board seat open for Riverbank Unified School District Area 2. There are also two seats open on the Riverbank City Council.
On the ballot for the Board of Trustees race are DeLayne Coker, a retired transportation coordinator and parent, Katie Wedge.
The Riverbank News reached out to Coker and Wedge for a Q&A but only Wedge responded to the request.
KATIE WEDGE
Why are you running for the Riverbank Unified School District Board?
I’ve got two kids in the school district and I’ve been very active with the schools, supporting the teachers, students, parents, and I just want to continue that into the school board. To be able to really just support the students more than what I can just as a parent, volunteering at the schools and to be an advocate for the parents that may not feel like they have a voice and to continue to help support the teachers and staff at the school district. Education is very, very important to me. I’ve volunteered a lot doing like parent engagement through the parent networking center at the school, for the district and I want to continue to build on that to continue doing the parent leadership and the parent involvement that I’ve started with the networking center. And I feel like on the board I can do that even more and be that advocate for the families and the community.
How long have you been in Riverbank?
A little bit over seven years.
If you do get voted in on the board is there anything specific that you want to change or are looking to do?
I don’t want to change anything. I think our district is fantastic. I want to help grow the district with the vision that they have and just really give a vision as a current parent. Give that knowledge as a current parent of what I feel is important in education. Communication, I feel like could definitely have some improvement. I don’t want to change anything though. I just want to help see them in the future grow even better than what they already are.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am a mom of two and I am a previous US veteran, a US Navy veteran and I have lived in the Central Valley most of my life. I grew up here in the Central Valley and so after the military I did come back kind of to my roots to have this small-town atmosphere that we pride ourselves in especially here in Riverbank and the surrounding areas. And so, I just really want to put that out there that you know, I wanted to come back to this area to be able to raise my kids in this community.
CITY COUNCIL
There are two Riverbank city council seats up for grabs in District 1 and District 3, but both candidates for those seats are running unopposed. City Council District 1 has incumbent Luis Uribe running unopposed and District 3 was occupied by Cal Campbell, who is not running for reelection, which leaves former councilmember Leanne Jones Cruz running unopposed. Mayor Richard O’Brien, Councilmember Rachel Hernandez, and Councilmember Darlene Barber-Martinez are not up for reelection this year as their terms expire in November 2024.
