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Grace Mah Is New President of County Education Board

Mah, who was re-elected Nov. 6, represents Palo Alto, Los Altos and Los Altos Hills under the redrawn districts of the Santa Clara County Board of Education. Michael Chang is now vice president.

 

The following information was provided by the Santa Clara County Office of Education:

The Santa Clara County Board of Education has elected Grace H. Mah as president for the coming year, and Dr. Michael Chang as vice president.

The unanimous vote at the board’s Wednesday meeting followed the induction ceremony for four board members: Leon Beauchman, Joseph Di Salvo, Anna Song and Mah, all of whom maintained their seats after the November election.  (Darcie Green, who was appointed to the board in October, was inducted on Nov. 7.)

Mah was nominated by Julia Hover-Smoot, who had been vice-president.  In her remarks, Hover-Smoot explained that she would not accept a nomination to be president because of time constraints.

Also at the meeting, the board approved a countywide charter petition for Summit Public School: Denali, and made changes to its 2013 meeting schedule, including adding a meeting on January 23.

Mah was appointed to the board in 2007, and first won election in 2008. Previously she was a board member of the Palo Alto Family YMCA. She also has been a parent volunteer at Hoover and Ohlone Elementary Schools in Palo Alto, serving on school site councils.  She succeeds Joseph Di Salvo, who was board president the past two years.

Chang was elected to the board in 2010. He is a faculty member, department chairman and founder of a leadership institute promoting civic education and student success at De Anza College. He has served as a council member and two-term mayor of Cupertino, and board member and president of the Cupertino Union School District.

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mtnview_parent April 12, 2013 at 03:06 am
The only problem with the charter school is that they cause more problem than they solve. TheyRead More want to close Covington, then Blach. So, they don't provide flexibility at all. They keep going to court. This is a case were the remedy is worst than the disease. The original idea is that we have to be creative with the 10th site. Land is scarce, and most likely, we cannot provide the same facility than other school within the district. People are not happy about being moved from their school (with good reason I feel) Solution: provide an inspiring project. May be an immersion program, or a more academic program, or maybe a program to help english learner from K-3. If we don't innovate with a more flexible program, we might just need to redraw the boundaries every 5-7 years. Nobody can foresee the future, but you can build flexibility.
Mitch Caldwell April 11, 2013 at 11:36 pm
Maybe offering a magnet school could help with stability? It can balance out enrollment at otherRead More schools so that attendance boundaries do not have to be redrawn. Isn't the charter school doing that for the LASD district right now?
mtnview_parent April 11, 2013 at 10:36 pm
I saw you had a good discussion on the definition of a neighborhood school. But beyond theRead More definitions, I would like to ask why does palo Alto school District and Cupertino School district have a mix of neighborhood school and some choice school. Those are two high performing district right next to us. Can a choice school be an excellent way to stop the highly disruptive attendance boundary change ? People say I am for statu quo, that I am against change. I feel that family and children need stability, that is why we don't change spouse at the pace the BoT change the attendance boundary. People who want some stability at home (and their school) do make a reasonable request.
Karen Janowski April 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm
And you can join the Drive Less Challenge that starts today and runs for the next two weeks. JoinRead More any time during the 2-week period. Check it out at www.DriveLessChallengeLA.com. Try out some alternative transportation, like bicycling or walking (or even carpooling with other families) with your kids to school, bike to the grocery store for those one or two items or walk to the local coffee shop instead of driving. Take the train on a weekend adventure to San Francisco or light rail to San Jose. It's a good opportunity to try something you might not have done before. Have fun with it!