The Berkeley Daily Gazette documented the rising tensions between the school district and its certified employees (those with credentials) and the Berkeley Educators Association (BEA) and Superintendent Foster before the election, those tensions manifesting in the school board tabling an agreement about working conditions of certified employees until after the election and Superintendent Foster dismissing the BEA’s recent survey of principals.

In a thrilling 3-2 vote that saw Director Mary Jane Johnson switching to the other side (to table the agreement) at the last minute, the school board decided to take more time to work out the implications of endorsing the agreement, putting it aside until after the election.

Within the same meeting, Superintendent Foster addressed the Berkeley Educators Association’s (BEA) recommendation that “four principals be fired or placed under conditional service,” with the majority of those principals being black males.  To hearty applause, Superintendent Foster stated his intention to “ignore the BEA’s recent survey…he would go ahead full steam in disregard of the BEA principal evaluation unless the school board told him otherwise.”