The Santa Cruz County School Boards Association (SCZCSBA) offers a professional and public forum for the elementary, high school and unified school district Boards of Trustees in Santa Cruz County. On behalf of all public school students in Santa Cruz County, the collaborative efforts of the Association will include a focus on education advocacy, professional governance, and policy recommendations. Working with the California School Boards Association (CSBA), the Association seeks to build partnerships with member school districts to support educational excellence for all children in our diverse communities.

I’d like to add my encouragement that you all try hard to make this meeting. It will be exciting to visit SLV & share in their pride of their new library. Also- we will be electing new officers. As much as I have enjoyed serving as your President for 2 years, it is time for me to assume a role of less leadership, more support for keeping this group going. In these incredibly challenging times, collaboration & communication are essential to our continued success in providing stellar community schools, at the same time keeping an eye on how we can continually improve & grow with these techno-times. It really is stimulating to share in each district’s successes, perhaps learning along the way how to introduce new ideas to our own.

Best & a Happy 2012!

Judy

Welcome to 2012!

It’s a new year and time for elections to leadership positions in the Santa Cruz County School Boards Association.  As we enter our third year of active existence (after a year of due diligence and hard work!), we are looking to maintain the amazing opportunities the Association has provided.

As we continue to fine tune our focus areas and direction, the Association has delivered the extraordinary opportunity for members to get to know each other, understand our unique positions representing 10 districts across the County, share experiences and expertise and have a good time!

Stay tuned to this space for an update from the incoming president of the Association (to be voted on THIS WEEK at our January 19^th meeting).  And please come with ideas and issues you’d like us to tackle in the coming months.  It’s going to continue to be ugly on the education front, but if we continue to work together to deliver the best possible education we can for our 40,000 public school students, we will weather the storm.

Congratulations are in order for our very own George Wylie and Rachel Dewey-Thorsett, who are the new Delegates for sub-region 9A, representing Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties. George and Rachel both ran for the open seat, vacated by Allison Niday. However, another trustee in San Benito County did not win re-election to her board in the middle of the two-year term. Chris Ungar, Director for Region 9 (Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties) appointed Rachel to that vacant seat. She will be required to run for re-election at the end of this year.

Delegates represent all elected trustees at the state level and guide CSBA in its policies and overall direction. The Delegate Assembly meets twice a year and includes more than 250 representatives from all 21 public school districts and County Offices of Education. Our local representatives for Region 9 also include Barney Bricmont, Live Oak and Arnie Levine, COE.