Erick Bell Wins Alameda's Open AUSD Board Seat

The Alameda Unified School District board voted 4-0 on September 22 to appoint accountant and educator Erick O. Bell to the seat Jennifer Williams left vacant, and he'll be sworn in October 13.

• Who: Erick O. Bell, an Alameda CPA who teaches accounting at Las Positas College and UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business
• Vote: 4-0, September 22, 2026
• Replaces: Jennifer Williams, who resigned from the board in mid-August
• Sworn in: October 13, 2026
• Term: Through November 2028, the rest of Williams' term

Who is Erick Bell?

He's an Alameda accountant with his own firm who also teaches at Las Positas College and Haas. Bell holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Cal State Hayward and a master's in accounting from Golden Gate University. He's chaired the Accounting Career Awareness Program and has served on the boards of an Oakland charter school and Alameda Youth Basketball. He lives in Alameda with his wife and two kids. In a statement AUSD posted after the vote, Bell said his commitment to education is "100% driven by my personal experience of the difference a solid education can make in the life of a kid who is underperforming, but not forgotten."

Why did the AUSD board have an open seat?

Jennifer Williams resigned from the board in mid-August, and the district opened applications for the seat with a September 11 deadline. Superintendent Pasquale Scuderi said the district received a strong pool of candidates, telling the board, "we appreciate the outpouring of interest in this position, and we were impressed with the many types of expertise these applicants offered." Board President Ryan LaLonde called it "not an easy decision, in part because we had so many qualified candidates," adding that the board is extending "a warm welcome" to Bell and looks forward to "learning from his experience and perspectives over the coming two years."

What happens next for AUSD?

Bell takes the oath of office on October 13 and serves out the remainder of Williams' term, which runs through November 2028. That means Alameda voters won't decide who holds this seat long term until that election, giving Bell just over two years to build a record before he'd need to run to keep it. You can find the district's full announcement, along with other board updates, in the Pulse's education coverage.