New school board officials elected in Chico

Gary Loustale will join incumbents Eileen Robinson and Kathleen Kaiser on the school board for Chico Unified School District.

Butte County voters elected three members this year on Nov. 4. Though four were officially listed on the ballot, Cynthia Van Auken decided not to run and did not participate at the CUSD Candidate Forum Sept. 25 at City Hall.

Kathleen Kaiser. Photo by CUSD.

Loustale's background includes experience as a businessman in information technology, chairman of the Measure E committee and a career technology education and advising for the Butte County Office of Education.

Kaiser, who is serving her third term on school board, is also a faculty member and academic statewide senator at Chico State.

“As a board member, I feel like it’s my job to try to see that Chico lives up to its very best," Kaiser said at the candidate forum. "That’s going to take the best from all of us, because we don’t have the money we need. But I think we have the inspiration and the dedication.” 

Eileen Robinson. Photo by CUSD.

Robinson has been a board member the past four years and been involved with the district for 42 years in various roles as a volunteer, employee and committee member. She continues to advocate increasing student physical and emotional health and has also worked on coordinating special education programs with general education classes.

"Providing the best educational opportunity for all students is the number one goal of Chico Unified," she said at the candidate forum. "And I support that goal."

All three newly elected, or re-elected, board members bring different perspectives from their professional backgrounds to their position on the board, which will be valuable for Chico and its schools.

Every candidate mentioned a focus on implementing common core and moving forward with the renovation plan the district started drafting in 2012 and for which recently approved design plans at its middle schools.

“We know we have to change for the common core, for our student body,” Kaiser said at the candidate forum. “We’re moving to middle schools, we’re building new facilities and we’re restoring our current facilities.”

Loustale added his perspective on the Local Control Accountability Plan, for which he had a chance to attend a few community meetings.

"I think it's new-chartered territory. So that means we have to go forward on something we haven't done before," he said at the candidate forum. "And so we need to look and see and review each year, which is what LCAP wants us to do; they want us to review, make sure that we're on the right track."

The board also includes members Elizabeth Griffin and Linda Hovey, both elected in 2012.