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Superintendent Diego Ochoa bringing together teachers, students, administrators, community members. decision makers, to discuss the San Mateo-Foster City School District.
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Become A Board Member: Navigating the Process, Personal Stories, and Empowering Communities
In this special episode of the oneSMFC podcast, Board Clerk Maggie Trinh and Board Trustee Gene Kim join Director of Communications Diego Perez to offer valuable insights into the Board Trustee Area 3 vacancy. Together, they walk the community through the district's transparent and thoughtful approach to selecting the newest board member.
If you’re interested in applying and live within one of the eligible school neighborhoods, check out the details below to learn more about the process and how you can get involved!
The San Mateo-Foster City School District is accepting applications for appointment to the Trustee Area 3 vacancy. Please contact the Superintendent’s Office at (650) 312-7348 to request an application packet. You may also email Superintendent Ochoa at diegoochoa@smfcsd.net. Applications can be found online by visiting www.smfcsd.net.
Any person is eligible to be a member of the Board of Trustees if he/she is:
- 18 years of age or older
- a U.S. citizen
- a resident of the SMFCSD Trustee Area 3
- a registered voter
- not legally disqualified from holding a civil office
A person is disqualified from holding any office upon conviction of designated crimes specified in the Constitution and laws of the state. (Government Code 1021) An employee of a school district may not be sworn into office as an elected or appointed member of that school district’s governing board unless and until he or she resigns as an employee. If the employee does not resign, the employment will automatically terminate upon being sworn into office. (Education Code 35107)
The complete application and any supporting materials must be received via email or in the Superintendent’s Office at the San Mateo-Foster City School District office located at 1170 Chess Dr. Foster City, CA, no later than 5:00 p.m. on December 6, 2024.
Open Board Position - Trustee Area 3
The current board vacancy seat is in Trustee Area 3 with a 4-year term. The following schools are located within the area boundary:
- Borel Middle School
- Baywood Elementary School
- Highlands Elementary
- Meadow Heights Elementary
- San Mateo Park Elementary School
Interested candidates may view the Board Trustee Seats in the Trustee Area Map to view the 5 Board Trustee Areas and their associated neighborhood schools (Printable PDF Board Trustee Seats in Trustee Area Map). If you reside within the boundary of Trustee Area 3, you are eligible to apply if you meet the additional requirements listed above. [Click here to access the PDF printable and fillable application.]
It is anticipated that the Board of Trustees will interview applicants and make an appointment on December 12, 2024.
Interested in learning more? Check out our recent On the Road to Year 3 Annual Report!
And I think, as I mentioned earlier, especially growing up as a child of immigrants and Trustee, trin knows, I got a little emotional in that meeting as well. It just really struck me that we were doing so much to reach every constituency that we serve.
Speaker 2:Educating these kids in a safe and joyful and rigorous academic environment, but a psychologically safe one.
Speaker 1:In many ways. When I first became a trustee, I viewed my role as elevating those voices.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone and thank you so much for joining us today on the One SMFC podcast. This is a program where we invite students, parents, community members and, in today's very special episode, two of our wonderful board members. My name is Diego Perez and I am the director of communications for the San Mateo Foster City School District and I'm so happy to have you both joining us today. Can you please introduce yourself and we'll start with.
Speaker 2:Hi, I'm Maggie Trin. I am a lawyer outside of the board. I have about a year and a half of service on the board and I am in area four.
Speaker 1:Hi everyone, this is Gene Kim. I'm the trustee for area five. I'm also an attorney and the parent of two daughters who attend schools within the district, and I was first appointed back in December of 2023 and just recently elected this past November.
Speaker 3:Happy to have you both and just want to say thank you so much for taking the time of your day to join me here today to be able to provide an opportunity to our community, our parents, who want to tune in and have interest in applying for the current open vacancy seat in trustee area three, and that's what this episode is about. We want to just provide information for folks who may be interested in applying and I really just want to ask right away what's one thing you love about being a part of the San Mateo Foster City School District's Board of Trustees?
Speaker 2:One of the things I love most about being part of the SMFCSD community is the different personalities that I see at all the different schools. We have such a diversity of kids from all over the world. Actually, we have a lot of newcomer students who have been here for under a year and you know it's really great to be able to see how these different communities are welcoming towards the new students and, you know, letting them settle into their new home. So I'm really proud to be part of such a welcoming district.
Speaker 1:I think for me personally, one of the things I love most about being in the San Mateo Foster City School District is just seeing the level of innovation that we put into education. I think parents here are constantly surprised by the way we learned when we were growing up in school maybe 20, 30 years ago and how much that process has evolved so that we can improve on the way we teach reading or the way we approach different types of issues in our classrooms. Just recently, actually, the superintendent and I had a chance to meet with Governor Newsom about some of the work that we're doing to restrict cell phone usage in classrooms, and there's so much that we're doing here in our district that is innovative and forward-looking, and the fact that our community, our parents, our staff and everyone else is so involved in that process it just makes it very interesting both as a parent in the district and as a trustee.
Speaker 3:And it's so interesting also to note that you both have your own professions, of course, outside of being a trustee. This is kind of where we bring in the conversation of how we engage with our public, how we engage with families, how we engage with other. There'd be partners from the city, from the county.
Speaker 2:Explain what a trustee does and why it's so important for a school district to function.
Speaker 2:I see this role as a governing role and also a policy and direction setting goal, but ultimately it's in partnership with the other board members, with the superintendent, with the district staff and the school site staff as well. Ultimately, nothing that we decide will make any difference unless people on the ground embrace it and move it forward, and I really think of this as the biggest group project you can imagine. You know, educating these kids in a safe and joyful and rigorous that. To me, the most important thing of being a trustee is being open to feedback from the community, whether it's from families or from neighbors who are annoyed at something beeping on school grounds, or you know just anyone in the community who has a stake in in the education system, which is pretty much everyone to some degree. So sometimes we hear things about how we can do better and I always appreciate that feedback because to me it means that someone cares, that someone wants to push things forward and make the system better for everyone in some way or another.
Speaker 1:I would echo a lot of what Trustee Trinh said there.
Speaker 1:I think at our core, our base responsibilities do relate to governance and compliance and also setting direction on issues like our curriculum or how we approach discipline and a lot of things that affect the day-to-day life on our sites.
Speaker 1:But I think, beyond that, what's interesting about being a trustee is that we are elected directly by the families that we serve, and so in many ways we try to be closer to that community.
Speaker 1:We're much more answerable directly to those families and to those voters, and so in many ways when I first became a trustee, I viewed my role as elevating those voices, I think, elevating a lot of perspectives that are out there in the community that may not be in the decision-making rooms when those conversations are happening. But also for me personally, as a child of immigrants and as somebody who grew up not speaking English initially, I think there are a lot of families in our district who don't have the opportunity to come to board meetings, who don't come to the listening sessions, who don't reach out to us over email, and we want to make sure that their experiences and their challenges are also part of these conversations. And so for a lot of the trustees, we bring not only our professional expertise as attorneys, accountants, business owners, people who've been involved in education policy in the community, but also our own experiences previously as students and as parents, and help to hopefully guide the way our district functions based on those lived experiences.
Speaker 3:So what I'm hearing a lot is never in isolation. It's more of okay. If we have this feedback from a parent, how can we amplify it further to hear from the voices that normally don't go to board meetings? And this is why a podcast exists, right For families who are on the go that just tune in and have an interest in learning more about how it is that board governance works here in the San Mateo Foster City School District. What does it take to be a trustee? Are there any rules, eligibility requirements? Who would like to give us the answers to those on what is the eligibility to be a trustee?
Speaker 2:On one level, it's actually fairly simple. There are a few legal requirements, which is that a trustee must be 18 years of age or older, a US citizen, a resident of the trustee area, in this case trustee area three. They have to be a registered voter and not legally disqualified from holding a civil office. The way that you can be disqualified is there's a list of specific crimes. So it's fair to say, if you haven't been convicted of those specific crimes, we you know, shouldn't be any issue. Additionally, an employee of the school district can't be sworn into office as an elected or appointed member of that school district's governing board until they resign. So that's one thing for people to keep in mind if they currently work for the district.
Speaker 1:And then, for this specific vacancy, the applicant has to live in trustee area three, which includes Burrell Middle School, Baywood Elementary School, Highlands, Meadow Heights and San Mateo Park Elementary School. The full map with the specific district lines will be available on the district website and on communication that we'll be sharing.
Speaker 3:So anyone that lives around the schools just mentioned, if you are a neighbor to Burrell, if you're a neighbor to Baywood and you live within the areas, you are eligible to apply, of course, if you meet the requirements that our trustee mentioned earlier. I'm just curious to know the experience you both had. I mean, you kind of went through a similar process with an appointment, whether it be interview, publicly responding to the board in front of everyone watching. I'm just curious to know your experience and would love for you guys to share just some of those feelings, emotions, what you did to prep, if anything you'd like to share.
Speaker 2:Sure. So I was actually quite hesitant to apply for this position. A few friends and relatives saw the opening and encouraged me to apply for this position. A few friends and relatives saw the opening and encouraged me to apply, knowing that I had been active with the PTA and was very that I was a really strong proponent of public education. So I would say without those people's encouragement it's unlikely I would have applied.
Speaker 2:I think that some people are not comfortable being in the public eye. I certainly am one of those people and ultimately what won out was the desire to participate in shaping the school district to a higher degree than I could really accomplish at the school level. It was definitely a new process for me and I wrote out my application, thought about why I was applying and just submitted it. I wasn't sure if there were going to be a lot of people who had applied. We certainly hope that there will be a lot of people who apply so that we can have the best possible select the best possible trustee, select the best possible trustee.
Speaker 2:I would encourage anyone who is feeling unsure to really think about what it is they're hoping to accomplish. Is there something that they hope to see? Some kind of transformation in the school that they want to see that we're not already working on, or even if we are already working on it. I think having five members of the board who are strongly aligned helps us a great deal in making this the best possible school district and the best possible experience for all of our students. And I recognize that you know, not everyone is quick to put their name in the in the list, but I think we need you and if you're out there and listening to this and need a little bit of encouragement to apply. The application process is quite easy and the interview process that I went through was a little. You know, I was a little bit nervous. I'll admit that I was a little bit nervous, but ultimately it's a conversation between us and the applicant, just to see we're trying to find out more about who you are as a person and why you care.
Speaker 1:I think part of the reason that trustee Trent and I are here for this podcast is both of us have this shared experience where we were appointed to partial terms as trustees before subsequently being elected to a full four-year term, and so when I applied, I went through a very similar process. We had to fill out applications, our information was publicly released, we had to discuss our qualifications and our vision for the board publicly in front of the board and in front of the community, and go through a series of rounds of questions to explain different parts of a background, how we thought we could contribute to the board. Specifically, I think, when it comes to running to be a trustee and, to be honest, any public official, I think I understand a lot of the hesitation and concerns that people have. Frankly, no one is doing this for the compensation or for the credit. I think there is a lot of extra work. At the bare minimum, we have a few meetings a month and a few events, but beyond that, if you want to be a truly effective trustee, it does help to have relationships in the community, to be visible, to have relationships at the sites and with parents and others, which can take time, and then also, especially as a new trustee, I probably spent many extra hours in the first six months of my term just learning all of the different lingo. I was unfamiliar with learning about different budgetary items, how the California education budget works, and so it can be very intimidating in that way.
Speaker 1:At the same time, if you look at our board, historically, we've had a lot of people come from very diverse backgrounds. My personal background was in education policy, but that's actually very rare. A lot of folks are parents or people who have been involved, who are successful professionally but may not have been involved in government or policy previously, and in many ways, their perspective is still very helpful. As Trustee Trinh said, I think it helps if you have a sense of what you would like to see the district do. But even if you are largely aligned with what the district has been doing, there are a lot of things that we agree on at the high level, but when it comes to implementation, when it comes to specific strategies, when it comes to engaging with smaller communities, it's always helpful to have diverse perspectives in the room, and so we would highly encourage anyone who is passionate about public education, about our schools and about really helping our district to move forward, to put their name up for consideration, and we'd love to have that conversation with you all.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for sharing that with you all. Thank you so much for sharing that. Of course, this is a position that, once you are appointed for, you do have the opportunities to engage in different community. Just one last question for you both. Given now that you've been in the district for two years, what is one event that you can highlight that was the most memorable that you think? If I can go back and live there again, For that moment I'd do it again.
Speaker 1:So since becoming a trustee, I think we've had a chance to be a part of a lot of great events individual side events, celebrations, a lot of the great work we've done around community schools, presenting one of those large ceremonial checks that we've always seen other folks do, ribbon cuttings for our new buildings. It's all been a really great experience and just really exciting to see what we're doing for our community and for the students in our district. But for me personally, actually one of the most powerful experiences I had as a trustee happened about a month into my term. Trustee Trin and I went with Superintendent Ochoa to meet in a church basement with a group of parents in our district and we had a two-hour meeting entirely in Spanish with an interpreter. And I think, as I mentioned earlier, especially growing up as a child of immigrants and Trustee Trin knows, I got a little emotional in that meeting as well.
Speaker 1:It just really struck me that we were doing so much to reach every constituency that we serve and that we're dealing with these parents who were very concerned about changes happening in district, wanted to understand what we were doing and the fact that we were spending that time on a Friday night going down there in the community, having this very one-on-one conversation about all of our goals and vision and getting that kind of alignment in our community.
Speaker 1:It just made me very proud as a trustee, but also, again, as somebody who grew up with immigrant parents who often felt like they were on the outside looking in when it came to education and didn't understand the decisions that were being made. It just shows how far that we've come, that we can then have that kind of conversation but also the trust of the community as we move forward, and many of the folks that we met with that night are still folks who show up to all of our events. They're very plugged in. They're helping to guide the direction that we're taking moving forward, and so, instead of being the type of decision-making body that just kind of does what we think is right, we always go out to the community. We make sure that we have their trust and support as we move forward, and, I think, especially when it comes to something as important as public education for our kids. I love that approach and it stuck with me pretty much my entire term.
Speaker 2:I remember that meeting as well and I also found it personally meaningful.
Speaker 2:The thing that sticks out to me is the community school celebration that we held to celebrate the community schools grant that was being provided to five of our schools.
Speaker 2:I had participated as a parent at some of the community schools meetings at our neighborhood school and I just saw how hard the district worked to make sure that everyone who had a voice and an opinion about the direction of the school was there.
Speaker 2:There was a lot of outreach that was put into that, a lot of resources put behind that effort and I just really want to highlight a that celebration, because you know a lot of what we do day to day and a lot of what our educators do day to day does not come with celebration. It's their job, obviously, but I think we also need to celebrate our wins when we get them. Sometimes we have setbacks and it doesn't come naturally to me to, you know, kind of spread the the good news of what we're doing, I think. But it is really important that the people in the community know what we're doing, how it's benefiting kids, and that they know that we're out there working, and you know, each and every day to make the lives of these kids better yeah, I'll just say that serving as a trustee in this district has really been an honor and opportunity of a lifetime.
Speaker 1:I'm glad I'll be able to continue to do so with whoever does join us on this board, and so much of it is not just because of what we're doing here in the district office, but at each of our sites, with each of our families.
Speaker 1:It's just a a really amazing community to be able to represent. I would also add on that we know the conversation both at the state and national level is that there are a lot of challenges ahead in education, whether it comes to budgetary or policy challenges, and so if we can find somebody in the community who, again, doesn't need to be an expert in this subject, doesn't need to have always aspired to hold this position, but does care about the future of our kids, of our schools, I think it would be great to have someone like that, because we are going to be faced with a lot of challenging decisions ahead. We are going to have to figure out what we can prioritize and how we can create this best future for our students, and if that's something that you're passionate about, if being a part of this process is something that you're interested in. We would love to have you and we'd love to talk to you.
Speaker 2:Again, I'll just reiterate. I'll just repeat that it's okay if you're not totally sure what you are getting yourself into. I think that this is a role in which you don't have to have any formal experience in education policy. The fact that you are engaged in the community and engaged with the school district already is enough, right. I think we want to have people who are paying attention to what's happening at their schools.
Speaker 3:I would encourage you to apply, even if you're not sure about what you're getting yourself into thank you so much for joining us on the one smfc podcast for our community listening here today. You will have all of the resources to apply in the description of this episode. You can find the applications at the district office at 1170 Chess Drive, Foster City, and we'd be more than happy to provide them for you. Thank you.