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SCCSBA President's Message

By Carol Presunka (Cambrian SD)

Happy 2025!  Hope you all had an enjoyable, relaxing  time off.  2025 is starting off with a busy SCCSBA calendar!  

Hopefully you were able to attend our January lunch and Learn on Best Practices in Board Policy.  Josh Daniels - CSBA Chief, Policy and Governance Technology Services - gave a brief overview of GAMUT and our fellow board members provided great insight as usual.

Our New Board member workshop is on Saturday, January 25th where there will be both a superintendent and board member panel answering questions. Everyone is welcome to attend, both new and incumbent board members.  

At our January 22 SCCSBA evening meeting, we will be hearing about equity vs equality.  Robin Avelar La Salle from Orenda will be helping us understand the difference.  

Have you visited our new website yet? I know SCCSBA does a lot but until you see it in writing, you don’t appreciate all that is done.  If you are interested in getting more involved in the organization, check the website under advocacy.  LAC is looking for committee members for next year.  SCCSBA Officers will be up for nominations soon too, as well as Delegate Assembly.  SUCCESS, our committee for unhoused students, is always looking for interested trustees.  Check it out!

In March, it’s our Legislative Brunch.  The committee is busy booking our local, state and federal representatives to come and answer your questions. This is a great time for board members to advocate for education.  If you have any questions you’d like answered, you can submit them in advance to Executive Director Bonnie Mace (execdirector@sccsba.org).

Thank you again for all you do, both on a local level and beyond.  We couldn’t do it without you!

New SCCSBA Website at www.sccsba.org

We are excited to announce that we have a brand new website at www.sccsba.org

Learn more about our events, training opportunities, resources and advocacy on our website.

A big thanks to our website team of Trustees Aine O'Donovan, Isabel Jubes-Flamerich, John Horner, Carol Presunka and Chris Norwood.

Saturday, January 25 - FREE New Board Member Training

We are holding a New Board Member Training on Saturday, January 25 from 9-11:30 AM at the Santa Clara County Office of Education. This training is FREE to all board members. It will provide resources and information that are specifically relevant to Santa Clara County, and so it will be very useful especially to new board members joining districts in our county. If you are a current board member and would like to attend this training, we welcome you to come too!

Please register at this link: newboardmembertraining2025.eventbrite.com

Wednesday, January 22 - SCCSBA Evening Zoom Meeting

Our next SCCSBA Evening Zoom Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 22 from 7-8:30 p.m. The featured topic will be Equity vs. Equality. Our featured guest speaker will be Robin Avelar La Salle who earned her PhD in education from Stanford University and is the co-founder and CEO of Principal’s Exchange (now known as Orenda Education), a technical assistance organization with 20 years of history partnering with schools and districts that serve struggling students. 

Please check your email inbox for the zoom link. All trustees are invited, and no RSVP is needed.

Friday, February 7 - SCCSBA Networking Lunch

Our next networking lunch will be held on Friday, February 7 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at Aqui, 201 E Campbell Ave, Campbell. It's a fun time to share conversation and good food with colleagues from across the county. All trustees are invited to this no-host lunch, and no RSVP is needed.

Thursday, February 13 - SCCSBA Lunch and Learn on Zoom

Please Save the Date for our February 13 SCCSBA Lunch and Learn on Zoom from 12-1 p.m. Our featured topic will be the Governor's January budget and potential impacts on education. All trustees are invited to attend, and no RSVP is needed.

Wednesday, February 26 - SCCSBA Evening Zoom Meeting

Our February Evening Zoom Meeting will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 26. Our featured topic will be Going Green: Economics vs Environment. All trustees are invited to attend, and no RSVP is needed.

Saturday, March 8 - SCCSBA Legislative Brunch

Our popular annual SCCSBA Legislative Brunch will take place on Saturday, March 8 from 9 AM to Noon at the Fremont Union High School District Office Board Room (589 West Fremont Avenue in Sunnyvale). John Fensterwald, of EdSource and formerly the Mercury News, will be facilitating the panels with our legislators again this year. Our speakers will include county, state and federal legislators. Our keynote speaker will be State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond. Please register at this link: legislativebrunch2025.eventbrite.com

Milpitas Unified School District

MUSD receives $2M grant to boost Career Technical Education Pathways

A $2 million Career Technical Education Incentive Grant, facilitated through the California Department of Education, has been an unequivocal windfall for Milpitas High School’s Extension at the MUSD Innovation Campus - the centerpiece of the district’s career pathways development initiative.

And it nearly didn’t happen.

Despite short notice of and unforeseen challenges in the application process, MHS Principal and Chief Innovator of New Campus Programs Greg Wohlman, along with colleague and MHS Lead Digital Business Academy Teacher Andrea Hutchison, secured the seven-figure state funding considered a game-changer in the enhancement and expansion of MUSD’s Engineering Academy Program.

“The short timeline and up against the odds motivated me more,” said Principal Wohlman, who worked in tandem with Hutchison to submit MUSD’s application by the CDE’s deadline even after a late-night computer glitch erased more than half of the information and data needed to win over the decision-makers. Click to continue reading

Cupertino Union School District

Trustee Phyllis Vogel's Retirement

Trustee Phyllis Vogel is retiring as a Trustee and the President of the CUSD Board of Education. To honor Trustee Vogel's six decades of dedication and service to education, the offices of Congressman Ro Khanna, State Senator Dave Cortese, State Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, the City of Saratoga, the Santa Clara County School Board Association, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, Fremont Union High School District, and the Cupertino Educational Endowment Foundation each has prepared a Commendation for Trustee Vogel.

Trustee Vogel began her career as a teacher in 1963, joined the Cupertino Union School District in 1969, and spent the rest of her career at the District, having held the positions of:

·        Elementary school teacher and Teacher on Special Assignment at Stevens Creek Elementary School

·        Resource Teacher at Instructional Services

·        Principal of John Muir Elementary School and Portal Elementary School

·        Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services

Trustee Vogel’s career highlights include teaching in the innovative Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow and opening Murdock-Portal Elementary School as an alternative school choice for CUSD families. She retired from CUSD in 2005.

In 2007, Trustee Vogel was elected to the CUSD Board of Education, bringing with her decades of educational leadership experience as well as a deep knowledge of education funding policy and advocacy work to the Board. Trustee Vogel is committed to the promise of high-quality public education and believes deeply that every child deserves resources, support, mentorship, and love.

During her time on the CUSD Board, Trustee Vogel has been:

·        a key voice for the District’s proactive planning for CUSD’s long-term solvency and stability, the shift to Basic Aid funding, and building up the reserves

·        a leading advocate for bringing evidence-based, cognitive-science backed reading instruction, screening, and intervention to the District — work that puts CUSD at the forefront of school districts in the state addressing a comprehensive literacy plan for all students

·        during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic shelter-in-place, worked tirelessly to lead the District and community through a constantly changing landscape of public health orders, transitioning CUSD into one of the highest quality distance learning in the region, and bringing staff and the District’s most vulnerable students back to CUSD campuses safely, in-person, by the fall

·        took on the challenge of leading some of the most difficult community conversations the District has ever faced with grace, inclusion of all stakeholder voices, and always with care for the safety of every student and staff member

·        worked with Board colleagues to weigh and tackle critical issues for the District’s future, including actively engaging with the entire community around steeply declining enrollment and taking the hard but necessary action to consolidate schools to maintain the highest quality education and learning environment for all students in CUSD, and securing an excellent and highly regarded Superintendent to lead the District into the next chapter

Sunnyvale School District

Sunnyvale School District bids fond farewell to Board Member Nancy Newkirk after 29 years of service

Board member Nancy Newkirk has stepped down after 29 years of service. She has been a dedicated board member since 1995. During her service, she attended approximately 609 board meetings, helped oversee five bond measures, helped oversee the establishment of both the Juntos and Fairwood Programs of Choice, and supported renovations, modernizations, and improvements at all 10 schools. Her son and daughter are proud alumni of the Sunnyvale School District. We are so grateful to her for her commitment to serving the Sunnyvale community for nearly three decades and we wish her the absolute best in her retirement! Her final board meeting was on December 12, where she was celebrated and recognized by legislative representatives, community members, family, and friends. 

MetroED

SVCTE Student Indigo Gentry Takes the Cake in Competition

Silicon Valley Career Technical Education (SVCTE) center Culinary Arts student Indigo Gentry from Santa Teresa High School in the East Side Union High School District wowed the judges and captured second place in the prestigious California Restaurant Foundation's Holiday Bake-Off Competition!

Indigo’s creation was a white swan cake delicately crafted with fondant feathers, shimmering pearl sprinkles, and swirls of creamy vanilla buttercream; the cake embodied elegance and holiday cheer.

This accomplishment is a testament to Indigo’s creativity, skill, and dedication—a shining example of the talent nurtured in SVCTE’s Culinary Arts program.

Congratulations to Indigo for making SVCTE proud and showing that hard work pays off!

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