January is School Board Recognition Month
During January, ROP joins every U.S. school district in
honoring its board members. North Orange County ROP is
governed by a seven-member board from the five districts
that have signed a joint powers agreement so students from
their districts can take ROP classes in other districts and
have the credits count in their own home schools.
Honoring board members only one month out of the year
doesn’t really do justice to the ROP Board members. For
very little pay, these elected officials act as the
policy-makers for all our children’s educational
institutions. Elected by popular vote to represent the
people in their school districts, they are appointed by
their boards to serve on the North Orange County ROP Board.
Collectively, they have 70 years of experience on the ROP
Board.
Board president Marilyn Buchi became an ROP board
member in December, 1985, two years after her election to
the Fullerton Board. Active in California School Boards
Association locally and statewide, Marilyn was honored with
the Marian Bergeson Community Service Award in 1997, and the
Maureen DiMarco Award in 2002. She also served for a year
as president of the California School Boards Association.
Karin Freeman, vice-president/clerk, represents the Placentia-Yorba Linda
Unified School District Board on the North Orange County ROP
Board. She has served on the ROP Board since December,
1990. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the
Orange County School Boards Association.. In 2005 Karin
was presented with the Marian Bergeson Community Service
Award. Karin is very active in her community as well.
Robert
Hathaway, now retired, has been a math teacher (his last
career), and also an engineer and an attorney. Bob has
served on the Fullerton Board for 24 years, and has been an ROP board member for 17 years. Bob is an active member of
the Fullerton community, particularly the Fullerton Rotary
Club.
Katherine Smith has served on the ROP board for for
13 years. Elected in 1996 to the Anaheim board, she also
waged a campaign for State Superintendent of Schools. She
is a proud recipient of the George Washington Honor Medal
from the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Meg Cutuli, the Los Alamitos Unified School District
representative, was elected to the Los Alamitos Board in
2002, and appointed in November, 2004, to the ROP Board. Meg
is the 2009-2010 vice-president of Programs of the Orange
County School Board Association. She has also served on the
executive board of directors of the Fourth District PTA.
Joe Rollino, the Brea-Olinda Unified School District
representative to the Board of Trustees, has served on the
ROP Board since December 2008. He was elected to the Brea
USD Board ten years earlier, in 1998. Joe, a well-known
businessman in Orange County, is very active in the Brea
Lions’ Club, and also serves as a director of the Brea
Lions’ Scout Foundation.
The
newest ROP Board member, Jordan Brandman, was elected
to the Anaheim Union High School District Board in February,
2008.
He has been a policy adviser in the Governor’s Office for
the Secretary of Education; a legislative aide in the
California State Assembly; and director of Workforce
Development for the Orange County Business Council.
Currently, he is a director for Michael Brandman Associates,
an environmental planning and consulting firm. Jordan is
very active in the community.
Thank you, ROP Board, for your dedicated service and care
for the students of North Orange County.
ROP Showcased on Three Campuses
in January
CGSs have been
holding ROP Showcases and Career Fairs on campuses
recently. Some, like Beth Thomson at Sunny Hills
High School, combine eighth grade open house night with an
ROP Showcase, because many parents are interested in classes
ROP has to offer their children during their high school
careers. In January, Anaheim, Sunny Hills, and Troy High
Schools held events meant to acquaint students, staff and
parents with ROP classes. Thanks to all the CGSs for their
hard work in orchestrating the events and to the instructors
and students who put up awesome displays of student work at
the events.
LVN Class Boasts Thirty-six
Graduates
Thirty-six students graduated in the December 2009 LVN class in
a matriculation ceremony at the St. Joseph Convent Auditorium in
Orange. Class president, Stephanie Hardison, was the
valedictorian and was also named the most contributing student,
and also earned the clinical and academic excellence award.
Melissa Wolfe-Mateos won the $200 Claire Porter Scholarship, and
Madonna Cortes won the $200 Florence Nightingale Award.
Thanks, ROP!
ROP
staff members are very generous—the holiday gift card drive for
the Orangewood Children’s Foundation netted close to $600 in
gift cards for foundation teens. Two drives for members of our ROP family in need netted quite a bit of cash for each of the
recipients. This generosity of heart is what makes ROP staff
very, very special. Thank you, everyone. You are the best.
