After Contra Costa County Board of Education denies appeal

By Phillip Balistreri

The speech I wrote out for my children’s interdistrict transfer appeal hearing on 09/08/2026 provides all the details.

“Good morning. My name is Phillip William Balistreri, and I am the father of Emerald Marie Balistreri and Sierra Rose Balistreri. My reason for being here today is to respectfully request that the board approve our appeal of the interdistrict transfer denial Byron Union School District has issued, so that my children can remain at the school they are currently attending, Vintage Parkway Elementary School in the Oakley Union School District.

For economic reasons, my family and I moved from Oakley, to Discovery Bay over the summer. These cities are less than 15 minutes away from each other, and my wife and I chose Discovery Bay because it was close enough to continue sending our children to Vintage Parkway. The staff at Vintage Parkway told us they would love for Emerald and Sierra to continue coming to their school and informed us how to get the process going to make it happen. We thought submitting the transfer form through Byron would be more of a formality, as our children were already enrolled in Oakley and had been assigned their classes. To our surprise, the Byron Union School “District denied our request under Education Code § 48307(b), which, to my understanding, has to do with average daily attendance and school funding.

“After we learned of this decision, it was huge let down, as my wife received the email while she was in the middle of back-to-school night with our children, meeting their new teachers at Vintage Parkway. Byron also contacted the Oakley School District and told them to unenroll our children from Vintage Parkway immediately so they could start their new classes at Point of Timber Elementary School, a school neither of the girls have ever been to.

“After my wife and I did some research, we respectfully asked Oakley Union if our children could continue at Vintage Parkway under Education Code § 46603, which allows the girls to attend Vintage on a temporary basis until the appeal is settled. Oakley Union graciously accepted our request, and our children have been attending their scheduled classes at Vintage Parkway for the time being, and they have been loving the school year so far.

Emerald is eight years old and is currently in third grade. She is a very bright young girl with a lot of ambition for someone her age. When she grows up, she says she’s going to be a rocket scientist, but she’s also going to study giant snails in Papua New Guinea, and she’s going to be an animal doctor. My wife and I have informed her that if this is her goal, her performance in school is very important. Despite our advice, in the past it was difficult getting her to adapt to a classroom setting, but the staff at Vintage Parkway created an environment where she could thrive, and she is thriving now.

“She is currently enrolled in leadership, and in an extracurricular garden club at Vintage Parkway with a science field trip to Big Break planned in October, which she is very excited for. She has excellent scores in reading and math now, where before it was a struggle to get her to focus on her work without getting emotional or overwhelmed. She is also a very popular girl, with many friends at Vintage Parkway. It would be detrimental for her current success to remove her from the school she has always attended, and this isn’t just my opinion. There have been many studies done that show that removing a child from their school and placing them in another consistently shows dips in English and math scores, and added stress that my daughter just doesn’t need.

“Sierra is five years old and is currently attending kindergarten. She also did preschool in the Oakley Union School District and transitional kindergarten at Vintage Parkway. Her new kindergarten teacher just so happens to be the same kindergarten teacher my daughter Emerald had when she was five years old, and Emerald helps Sierra get to her class every morning. Sierra is also a very bright girl who is very athletic. She loves the monkey bars and prides herself on being the best at them in the whole school. She loves to boast about how she gives monkey bar lessons at recess and is teaching the other kids how to get better. So far she has been magnificent in school and has gotten awards for her kindness and understanding. Sierra loves her school and all of the friends she has in her class, and is looking forward to her fieldtrip to the Smith’s Family farm Pumpkin Patch with her whole class. She was also extremely excited to find out she had the same class as her best friend, Luna. Sierra is an inspiration to her class and a warm light who would be missed if she were to stop attending Vintage Parkway.

“We understand Byron has funding and enrollment limits, and these concerns are not weightless. But we are asking you to let two students who are already placed, already succeeding, and already attending Vintage Parkway stay there. Oakley Union has already demonstrated their willingness to host our children, and keeping them in their current school is the best choice for their educational success. Please keep this in your considerations when making your decision today. I appreciate you taking the time to hear me, and I would gladly take any of your questions now. Thank you very much.”

“After I spoke, Byron Union was allowed to present its side. The superintendent got on a soapbox about how transfers like our family’s request damage small districts. She said she had approved about 80 transfers like this, that she cares about children, and that this was where she was going to make a stand. She also said that if the board approved my appeal that day, she would have me come back every single year because she would deny our application again the next year.

“The county board ate it up. They were sympathetic to the district’s funding argument and treated my daughters’ educational needs as an afterthought, and even that is giving them to much credit because there wasn’t a single mention of my children’s educational needs made outside of my own arguments. They completely ignored it. When the board asked if I would be willing to come back every year and do this again, I said, ‘For lack of a better word, I would describe that as petty. But I am not here representing a district. I am here representing my daughters. They are what matter to me, and if I had to come back here every year to do what is best for them, I would.’

In hindsight I thought: why am I the one expected to respect the rules, while this superintendent is openly saying she would not respect the board’s decision and would keep fighting my children attending the only school they have ever known?

‘The very next day — today, September 9, 2026 — my girls were ripped out of their school. Oakley told us they are no longer allowed at Vintage Parkway because of the board’s decision. ‘Enroll in Byron or educate them somewhere else,’ T Amaral from Oakely Union School District said. It is no longer Oakley’s concern. Right in the middle of their classes, with field trips scheduled and a life at Vintage Parkway already underway, it was taken from them so Byron could protect its count.

“Oakley had agreed to keep them during the appeal under Education Code 46603 because they were already enrolled and assigned there, but their tune completely changed after the hearing. According to the board, it was the first time that code had been used in one of these hearings; some members had to have it explained to them in the room. Byron and the Contra Costa County Board of Education did not like that. Byron’s superintendent said the rule needs to be revised. They are very attached to the rules until the rules would let two young girls keep attending the only school they have known. The board made a point of saying they do not make the rules, they only enforce them. Then they ignored what 46603 had already shown: Oakley was willing, and the girls were already there.

“The board dismissed my daughters’ educational needs in favor of a funding concern that was never shown, in any detail, to harm Byron’s schools. Continuity is listed in their own appeal criteria (AR 5117.1 G6). Their written decision cites only G14: we failed to meet any listed criteria. They never explained why continuity did not count.

“That is the system. Funding and politics first. Two small girls who just wanted to stay in the school that already wanted them don’t matter at all. I will not put my children in a system that works that way. We are homeschooling. I am sending this because the public should see how these decisions are actually made.

“If Byron’s superintendent wants to stand on the soapbox that interdistrict transfers damage small districts, then I am standing on the soapbox that putting funding ahead of kids damages small children. As I left the meeting I stopped, turned around, and asked if I could say one last thing. I told them the reason California’s schools are at the bottom is because of this right here. Then I left the room heartbroken for my girls.”

Attached is the board’s final letter. IDT Appeal_Final Decision-Balistreri

Board’s Decision, No Further Appeal, Only Court Action

“Thank you for taking the time to read this.”

In a letter to Balistreri, his wife, Jennifer Burns, Byron Union School District Superintendent Crystal Castañeda and Oakley Union Elementary School District Superintendent Jeff Palmquist, Matt Wayne, Assistant Superintendent, Student Programs in the Contra Costa County Office of Education wrote, “An Interdistrict Attendance Transfer Appeal was heard by the Contra Costa County Board of Education at a meeting on September 8, 2026. Action on the appeal was as follows:

Action: Denied

Basis of Decision: AR 5117.1 – G14: Failure to qualify for any of the listed criteria shall result in denial of the appeal.”

According to district staff, videos of interdistrict transfer appeals meetings are not video recorded as they are conducted in Closed Session.

When asked if there is another level to appeal the Board’s decision Balistreri said, “The only appeal grounds we have going forward is legal action if there was some kind of discrimination. From everything I’ve found, they are well within their rights to deny this. I just think it’s wrong to rip my kids out of their schools when it’s funding concerns. That’s all they care about at the end of the day. They don’t care about the kids, their education or what they’re going through. That was not brought up once in the meeting other than in my speech and comments.”

“For the future people need to look at this and redesignate their priorities,” he added.

Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.