MV Officials Chosen for Statewide Leadership in Education

In an unusual aligning of the stars, leadership at several statewide education organizations for this year is falling to three Moreno Valley Unified School District officials. Superintendent Dr. Judy D. White has been named president of the California Association of African-American Superintendents and Administrators (CAAASA); School Board member Jesus Holguín, currently president-elect of the California School Boards Association (CSBA), will serve as CSBA president come December; and Chief Business Official Mays Kakish will become president of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Business Services Council on July 1. CAAASA helps unite education leaders to find solutions to problems affecting California children of color. “I’m all about solutions,” explained Superintendent White. “And African-America and Latino students, especially our young men, are facing some difficult challenges that need solutions. There are no expendable children.” CSBA is a non-profit advocacy association, bringing together nearly 1,000 school district and county offices of education governing boards. “CSBA represents the views of governing boards and forges relationships with state and federal policymakers and educational organizations that allow members to have a stronger voice in important decisions regarding public education,” said President-elect Holguín, “It also provides governance teams with high-quality advocacy, policy and educational tools making school boards more effective which directly improves education for students.” The ACSA Business Services Council advises the ACSA regarding issues facing public school district budgets and promotes a comprehensive professional growth plan for new and aspiring business administrators. “We are keenly aware that we work each day with public funds,” said Kakish. “We have a civic responsibility to be good stewards, to live up to the highest code of ethics and professionalism and make sure that the public’s money is used to serve the very best interests of students.” “Moreno Valley Unified is especially active in influential statewide education organizations,” said MVUSD School Board President Tracey B. Vackar. “But to have three of our own leaders take leadership positions at CAAASA, CSBA, and ACSA Business Services Council all in the same year speaks volumes about the high quality of leadership we’ve attracted to our school district.”