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With the vast majority of ballots tallied as of last Friday, it’s now clear that Cheryl Cook-Kallio will remain in her seat as the Alameda County Board of Education Area 7 trustee for another four years.
“It is wonderful to be in a great position to be reelected to a second term as the Alameda County Board of Education Trustee for Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin and Sunol,” Cook-Kallio told the Pleasanton Weekly last week.
Her statement came two days before the June 12 update from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office, which had her with 79.54% (43,037) of the vote. The latest total reflected just over 414,000 votes — only 1,800 uncured ballots are left to be processed.
Cook-Kallio’s opponent, Sangeetha Shanbhogue, trailed far behind the incumbent trustee almost immediately following the initial Election Day numbers. As of last week’s update, Shanbhogue — a Tri-Valley parent and homemaker — had 20.46% (11,068) of the vote.
“Turnout this primary exceeded expectations and that is good for our democracy,” Cook-Kallio said. “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve. It is wonderful to be able to apply what I have taught thousands of students here in Alameda County.”
This will now be Cook-Kallio’s second term with the Board of Education. She was first elected to the seat in 2022.
Cook-Kallio is a retired Fremont teacher who specialized in high school civics. She previously served on the Pleasanton City Council, the Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation Board of Directors, the California Civic Learning Task Force Advisory Board and the Teacher Advisory Board for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s iCivics Foundation.
Some of the priorities she ran her campaign on this year included expanding the teacher residency program and the paraeducator certification programs; improving the county’s alternative education; continue holding charter schools accountable; and improving dialogue between school districts and their respective Board of Education trustees.
