The Livermore resident and recent Granada High School graduate announced his candidacy for a seat on the Livermore Unified School District (LVJUSD) Board of Education in November.
“I’ve been a student in this district for over 10 years,” Hayden Sidoon said in his campaign. “It is critical that we elect a recent graduate, someone who has recently been directly impacted by school board decisions, and finally have a school board trustee who understands the student’s perspective and can truly advocate for our students.”
Sidoon said he hopes to address issues such as outdated textbooks, mental health support and COVID-19 protocols that he believes the school board has not adequately addressed. The main motivation, according to him, was the district’s attempt to conduct a well-being survey of students.
“The school district thought it would be a good idea to have wellness checks that were supposed to be done every Wednesday during a 10-minute classroom period,” Sidoon said. “One of those polls included a video from a highly political media organization that had absolutely no place in public schools effectively telling students dealing with stress and mental health issues to suck it up. Fortunately, my teacher turned off the video and continued with the class, but I found it very disturbing, as I’m sure many other students did.’
Sidoon is also ambivalent about the school board’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Besides the sudden transition to distance learning, the school district provided very little support to teachers who had to adjust their lesson plans to accommodate distance learning, as well as to students who faced deteriorating mental health, lack of educational motivation, and reduced social skills and opportunities,” — Sidoon said. “I felt the effects of that and it was clear that no one was getting the support they needed.”
Sidoon, who graduated from Granada in the early 2022 trimester, is currently studying political science at Las Positas College. He has been active in local campaigns in 2020, focusing on social media and voter outreach, and is currently an intern for the California Assembly. He is also a campaign worker for Dublin councilor Sean Kumagai for the Assembly.
