School closure threats manufactured by political consultants paid $300/hour by AUSD

Alameda, Calif. – Proponents of a fair and progressive parcel tax to support Alameda schools released today documents and a timeline showing how Oakland-based political consultants Erwin & Muir, who have worked on every AUSD parcel tax ballot measure since 2008, and who AUSD paid $300/hour, sat on the Alameda Unified School District’s Master Plan Advisory Group, and performed public relations work for the District designed to scare voters into support parcel taxes, under threat of massive school closures through a doomsday plan known as “Plan B.”

Despite the threats crafted for AUSD by Erwin & Muir, and the failure of a parcel tax ballot measure last year, no schools have closed.

This year, the Alameda Unified School District is again threatening school closures unless their latest parcel tax measure, Measure A, on the ballot March 8th, passes. The District is again citing threats of school closures under “Plan B” and the Master Plan that Erwin & Muir helped craft.

“The Draconian plan of school closures the Alameda Unified School District says it will have to implement if Measure A fails is a fraud. This plan, known as ‘Plan B,’ was not written by educators or even the school district’s accountants but crafted by political consultants whose only interest was to give the district a political tool to scare people into voting for Measure A,” said Leland Traiman, Secretary for the Committee Against Measure A in Alameda.

Below is a timeline of Erwin & Muir’s handiwork in crafting the fraudulent school closure plan:

• 2008 – Then AUSD Superintendent Ardella Dailey starts paying political consultants Erwin & Muir $300/hour.
• May, 2009 – Erwin & Muir begins invoicing AUSD for work on master plan.
• June, 2009 – AUSD Superintendent Kirsten Vital issues AUSD master plan update process newsletter, wherein she identifies political consultants Maggie Muir and Maureen Erwin as members of her Master Plan Advisory Group. Nowhere in the newsletter does she admit that they are political consultants doing work for AUSD at $300/hour.
• June, 2009 – AUSD hires AUSD Trustee Mike McMahon’s daughter, Becky McMahon, as a web designer. Becky joins her mother as an AUSD employee.
• July, 2009 – Superintendent Vital issues a $64,000 “open” purchase order to Erwin & Muir with no written contract, and no AUSD Board of Trustees review or approval.
• August, 2009 – Erwin & Muir issues a $14,000 invoice to AUSD for website redesign.
• December, 2009 – Erwin & Muir issues invoice to AUSD for work on master plan.
• February, 2010 – AUSD issues master plan, with doomsday “Plan B” if parcel tax does not pass.
• March 1, 2010 – Superintendent Vital justifies $300/hour expense with Erwin & Muir as a cost-saving measure.
• May 26, 2010 – Erwin & Muir issues invoice to AUSD for $10,757 for mailing over 41,000 pieces of Measure E campaign literature disguised as a “newsletter.”April/May, 2010 – AUSD says that 11 schools will close if they don’t raise $14 million with Measure E parcel tax.
• June 22, 2010 – Measure E fails at the ballot box. No schools close.
• July, 2010 – AUSD begins planning for new parcel tax, citing master plan and “Plan B” doomsday scenario, saying schools will close without a parcel tax.
• December, 2010 - AUSD says that 5 schools will close if they don’t raise $12 million with Measure A parcel tax, even though State of California school finances are no better.
• January, 2011 – Erwin & Muir being working as campaign consultants for “Yes on A” campaign to pass Measure A. AUSD and “Yes on A” campaign cite the Master Plan and “Plan B” doomsday scenario as a reason to vote for Measure A.
• February, 2011 – Erwin & Muir and “Yes on A” campaign bully and intimidate Alameda Journal editor Connie Rux into pulling an op-ed piece from the newspaper that exposes Erwin & Muir’s role in creating the fraudulent master plan.

The Committee Against Measure A in Alameda has published supporting documentation, and a selection of the many invoices sent to AUSD by Erwin & Muir since 2008 here: http://www.alameda-no-on-a.com/erwin-and-muir-master-plan-b.pdf

About the Committee Against Measure A in Alameda:  The Committee Against Measure A in Alameda is a group advocating for a fair and progressive parcel tax for Alameda schools, combined with honest restructuring in line with the calls for school restructuring from President Obama and California Governor Jerry Brown.