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Longtime local educator Steve Maher has confirmed that he will not be running for third term on the Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees, which means this last graduation day was his last time shaking hands with all the high school seniors across town.
But while he said it was a bittersweet moment, he felt like it was time to step down from the board and allow for someone new to take over.
“I certainly have enjoyed being on the board,” Maher told the Weekly. “It’s just time.”
Maher has been heavily involved in PUSD for more than 50 years. He said he started teaching at Harvest Park Middle School and has since gone to teach at three other elementary schools in Pleasanton before becoming principal of three elementary schools and two middle schools.
After retiring in 2010, Maher decided to run for the school board in 2016 because, back then, the district was constantly turning over new superintendents — at one point he said they went through four in two years — and he wanted to see some stability.
Maher was then reelected for a second term in 2020, PUSD’s last under at-large elections, and he has served both as the vice president and the president on the board during his tenure. His seat was subsequently assigned to Area 4 when PUSD converted to district-based trustee elections.
When Superintendent David Haglund joined following Maher’s first year as a trustee, Maher said he began to see that stability and added that even though Haglund is also set to leave in a couple of months, he still sees a more stable school district compared to before.
However, this doesn’t mean he’s 100% done with helping out in some way.
Maher said he still plans to stay on the building site committee for the athletic and performing arts facilities reconstruction project funded by Measure I bond dollars. He even said he wants to join either the budget or bond advisory committee so that he can stay connected with what’s happening at the district.
That way he can still be actively involved and do more behind-the-scenes efforts without all the additional work that comes with being a trustee.
“Last week I had nine promotions and four other meetings,” he said. “That takes a toll after a while.”
However, it isn’t the dozens of meetings and events that made Maher want to not run again this November. He also said he wasn’t leaving because of some notion that things are not going well at the board or district — Haglund’s departure was also not a reason.
Maher said he wants to have time to see two of his grandchildren play high school sports and for he and his wife to visit the rest of his grandchildren who are scattered across the U.S. in different colleges.
But he also said that after 54 years of serving the district in so many different capacities, it’s time to take a step back.
“I have no other reason other than it’s time,” Maher said. “I’m 78 … it’s time to let somebody younger, with fresh ideas, come on board.”
