While partisan divides clearly exist on “non-partisan” city council races, when it comes to school boards all that matters is that candidates and electeds share a goal for outstanding public education. In that spirit, the IUSD board appointed Ira Glasky to the school board to complete the term of Gavin Huntley-Fenner. We applaud the choice.
Here’s the IUSD Press Release:
Ira Glasky, an attorney and a member of the district’s finance committee, was selected Thursday to serve the remainder of Dr. Gavin Huntley-Fenner’s term.
The appointment was made by the four sitting Board of Education members who are now Glasky’s colleagues, following a series of interviews with four finalists for the open seat.
In addition to his work with the Finance Committee, Glasky has been a member of the Northwood High School Athletic Boosters, and he sat on the school site councils at Sierra Vista Middle School and Canyon View Elementary School. He was also active with Canyon View’s PTA.
Glasky has a bachelor’s degree from USC and a law degree from Loyola. He currently has two children enrolled at Northwood High.
After Huntley-Fenner announced his intent to resign effective Nov. 21, the rest of the board opted to complete his term by way of an appointment, rejecting the more costly option of a special election. A total of 13 hopefuls submitted applications by the Nov. 8 deadline, and board members reached consensus on four finalists a few days later.
The other finalists were Betty Carroll, an attorney and member of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation’s Board of Trustees; Hugh Hewitt, a law professor, broadcast journalist, lawyer and author who previously sat on the IPSF board; and Cyril Yu, a deputy district attorney who chairs the City of Irvine’s Green Ribbon Environmental Committee.
Glasky’s term expires in about a year, though he could run as an incumbent in the November 2014 election.
The Board of Education is the chief policy-making body for the Irvine Unified School District. Each of its five members are elected by Irvine voters to serve four-year terms.
Yea, I laughed a bit at Hugh Hewitt being referred to as a broadcast journalist too.
On the first round of voting, Glasky scored votes from Lauren Brooks, Sharon Wallin and Paul Bokota. Michael Parham cast a ballot for Hugh Hewitt. With a majority secured, a second round of voting went to Glasky unanimously.
Ira and his wife Michele are active in multiple school and community organizations. Michele is the president of the Northwood High PTSA and the Glasky’s were key volunteers in a number of parent/school organizations at CanyonView Elementary, Sierra Vista Middle School, and Northwood High. Ira served as president of the Northwood Pointe Flash team in the Irvine Swim League. Ira is also a former AYSO coach. Both the Glasky’s are regulars at any IPSF event and it’s impossible to go to any event in Northwood without running into one of them. He’s a pro-education moderate Republican and I am proud to call Ira and Michelle my neighbors and friends.