Accomplishments

Thanks to the hard work of District staff, MCSD is looking at building a new school in north Merced where we need it most.  If approved by the full Board, the site will likely be selected from one of three locations:  northwest corner of M St. and Arrow Wood Dr., southeast corner of Paulson Rd. and Dunn Rd., and southwest corner of Cardella Rd. and Kansas St.

Throughout my terms, I represented MCSD on the Joint Powers Authority stewarding tax dollars and fees collected from the construction of the Moraga neighborhood southeast of Yosemite Ave. and McKee Rd.  I pushed to make the Authority more efficient, strengthened the legal foundation for our collaboration with Merced’s high school district, and put MCSD in position to access its estimated $6 million share of the accumulated proceeds.

In 2014, MCSD surprised all of us by shifting many families away from their neighborhood elementary school.  That decision affected your property values.  MCSD took strong steps toward common sense elementary attendance boundaries by opening Peterson to families living near Merced College, returning students from the Moraga neighborhood to Chenoweth, and alleviating enrollment pressures at Rivera.  With the addition of at least one new school, I believe MCSD will be in a position to return much of Merced to its neighborhood school.

In 2019, I challenged our Board to stop ratifying a “next project up” mentality at MCSD.  The Board Facilities Subcommittee on which I serve now works closely with the District’s outstanding administrative team to make sure facilities investments serve priority needs of students and teachers.  Because of that effort, MCSD is moving towards equipping 100% of its classrooms for 21st Century learning, building new health and wellness centers, and so much more.