Page One

After serving eight years on the Berkeley Unified School Board, Pamela Doolan has decided that she won’t run for a third term this fall. 

“With my fourth and last child graduating from Berkeley High this year and having been a volunteer for the Berkeley public schools for the past 26 years, I will consider this early retirement,” she told colleagues and the community during Wednesday night’s board meeting. 

Doolan was one of two board members whose terms are up in November. Board President Joaquin Rivera, who is completing his first term on the board, is expected to run again. Each term is for four years. In her comments, Doolan emphasized that her decision was not linked to the “unpleasantness” of the ongoing contract negotiations with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers. 

“I fully expect negotiations to be completed sooner rather than later and certainly well before elections,” she said. “However, that will take goodwill from all parties involved.” 

While some of her votes in recent months could be defined as controversial – particularly her advocacy of moving the school district away from its race-aided student assignment plan – she is considered highly popular at many school sites because of her hands-on involvement. Doolan, who was first elected to the board in 1990, said that she will remain active as a volunteer in the school district. 

“I might even come to open mike and pester the school board,” she quipped.