The Monterey Peninsula Unified School District is proud to join more than 1,000 local educational agencies (referred to as school districts or county offices of education) representing more than 5,000 school board members in California in recognizing the contributions of school board members during School Board Recognition Month in January 2024.
We are grateful to our MPUSD Board of Trustees for their commitment to service. A resolution proclaiming January 2024 as School Board Recognition Month will be adopted to honor the work of MPUSD's Board of Trustees.
NOTE: Board Member Maiaika Velazquez's video is currently being produced. It will be posted soon.
About MPUSD's Board of Education
MPUSD’s seven-member Board of Education representing the communities of Marina, Monterey, Seaside, Sand City and Del Rey Oaks, prioritizes the academic, social-emotional, physical and mental health needs of students, and has made a steadfast commitment to serving our community each and every day.
MPUSD school board members include Jeff Uchida (Trustee Area 1), Tom Jennings (Trustee Area 2), Dr. Bettye Lusk (Trustee Area 3), Maiaika Velazquez (Trustee Area 4), Jessica Hare (Trustee Area 5), Dr. Amanda Whitmire (Trustee Area 6), and Veronica Miramontes (Trustee Area 7).
School Board Recognition Month History
Citizen oversight of local government is the cornerstone of democracy in the United States. School board members are locally elected public officials entrusted with governing a community’s public schools. The role of the school board is to ensure that school districts are responsible to the values, beliefs and priorities of their communities.
School boards fulfill this role by performing five major responsibilities: setting direction, establishing an effective and efficient structure, providing support, ensuring accountability, providing community leadership as advocates for children, the school district and public schools.
These five responsibilities represent core functions that are so fundamental to a school system’s accountability to the public that they can only be performed by an elected governing body. Authority is granted to the board as a whole, not each member individually. Therefore, board members fulfill these responsibilities by working together as a governance team with the superintendent to make decisions that will best serve all the students in the community.
School Board Recognition Month was initiated in 1995 by the National School Boards Association, 2024 marks the 29th anniversary of School Board Recognition Month, and more than 1,000 educational agencies in California representing more than 5,000 school board members will honor and recognize the significant contributions of school board trustees and their work to meet the academic, social-emotional, physical and mental health needs of students; and
Board members are the elected representatives and vital link between the school district and the community. The board sets the foundation and vision for the district, directs resources where they are most needed, and ensures accountability to the community by monitoring progress toward goals. Their end goal, of course, is to support and elevate student achievement.