The board of trustees appointed Jim Ott to the open board seat Tuesday night in a unanimous vote after spending more than three hours interviewing the five candidates who applied for the position.
“I think Jim has more knowledge about the school district and community over a long period of time and has been involved in many different ways, which is why I would vote for Jim at this point,” said Trustee Juanita Haugen shortly before moving to appoint Ott.
Ott is filling the seat left vacant by Gloria Fredette, who resigned April 1. The trustees voted to appoint a new member to the board, rather than hold a special election or leave the seat empty, and Ott will hold the seat through the November elections, until December 12 when the elected member will be sworn in. Ott said during his interview that he plans on running for the seat in November.
“I saw this as an opportunity to step into the school board as someone without an agenda,” Ott said. “There are challenges the district has, and I applaud the district for saying, ‘yes, we’re doing great, but let’s do better.'”
The appointment is provisional for the first 30 days when community members have the chance to petition for a special election by presenting the board with signatures from 1.5 percent of Pleasanton voters.
Ott is the president and CEO of UNCLE Credit Union and a 20-year Pleasanton resident. He has two daughters in Pleasanton schools, one in fourth grade and one in eighth. The trustees said Ott’s experience with finance and his role as a parent in the district made him an ideal candidate.
“I think this is a chance for us to balance the board with some parents with students currently in the district,” said Trustee Weaver. “I feel that’s something that we’ve been missing.”
Ott said he sees listening to constituents, synthesizing information to make the best decisions, and spreading information about the district’s good work as his top priorities. He added that he would be an advocate for education issues at all levels of government.
“State and federal issues on education affect us,” he said.
Providing greater resources for English Language Learning students and improving vocational programs are two areas where he said he’d like to see the board focus more attention, and hopes to do so as a new member. Not shying away from controversial issues, Ott discussed the defunct plans for the senior project, saying he thought it was a great idea, but understood the board’s decision to abandon it after hearing such strong community outcry. He said it’s important for the board to show a unified voice when making decisions and emphasized the spirit of collaboration.
“It’s good to show diverse views coming together as a team,” he said. “I see both sides of a lot of issues–it comes from seeing lots of discussions–and I don’t make decisions quickly.”
In addition to his work in finance, Ott is also an adjunct English lecturer at Las Positas College, a position he’s held for 10 years, and has been active in that community. He served on the Las Positas College Strategic Planning Committee and is a founding member and chairman of the Las Positas College Foundation, an organization that has raised more than $385,000 for the school. His fundraising skills have also been put to use with the Pleasanton Partnership in Education Foundation where he has served as president, board member, treasurer and committee chair, and he is a founding member of the Ryan Comer Scholarship Committee, which provides scholarships to Amador and Foothill high school students.
He is active in the community, serving as Pleasanton’s second poet laureate, writing a semi-monthly column for the Tri-Valley Herald, hosting and creating “In a Word” on TV30, serving as a board member for the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce, and being involved with the Rotary Club of Pleasanton North.
Chris Grant, Gabe Kralik, Tanya Ludden and Richard Martoglio were the other applicants. Holly Bash had also applied, but withdrew her name the day of the interview, saying she was concerned she would not be able to meet the time commitment.
Trustee Pat Kernan sat out of the interview process citing his business relationship with Kralik as a conflict of interest. He did listen to the interviews in the audience and joined in the discussion and voting at the end after it became apparent that Kralik was not in contention.
Ott will be sworn in during next week’s board meeting.
