Youth commissioner Kelly Mokashi announces run for Pleasanton school board

Longtime educator Kelly Mokashi, who also sits as an adult member of the city of Pleasanton Youth Commission, announced plans this week to run for the Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees in the November election. Mokashi is the first person so far this year to officially declare their candidacy for the five-member school board.

The parent of three children attending PUSD schools, Mokashi said in a statement that she plans to “leverage” a quarter decade of experience as an instructor, writer and education consultant, in the role of Trustee.

“I stand for governance policies that will ensure learning environments are safe and flexible, regardless of the delivery method, while cultivating meaningful social and emotional peer and student-teacher interactions for our children,” Mokashi said.

A former consultant for Pearson Education, Mokashi has worked closely with school and district leaders throughout the country to improve educational programs, using assessment data to make key decisions. Mokashi said, “Change is hard for everyone, but it can also cultivate new opportunities for our students that will be beneficial for everyone in our school community, especially when all stakeholders are involved with the change process.”

An advocate for e-learning and hybrid learning models that are “foundationally solid”, and supporter of ongoing professional development for teachers, Mokashi said “students desperately need varied instructional strategies that can effectively engage them virtually, while at the same time establishing valid assessments and maintaining a high level of rigor, tailored to meet the demands of our students’ personal learning needs.”

Mokashi also wants to expand the availability of “the successful programs and initiatives that are thriving in some of our schools” to the entire district. With the state making large cuts to education budgets, Mokashi said she believes that it’s “essential to be a collaborative team member of the board, while engaging with all stakeholders to ensure sound financial decisions are made in the best interest of the students, because ‘our students come first,’ in the line of our educational priorities.”

In addition to her current role as a youth commissioner, Mokashi has also served as the executive director for a nonprofit dedicated to supporting international adoptions of orphaned children with Down syndrome. She also led the formation of Reece’s Rainbow Adoption Support, which benefits adopted orphans with special needs, and served as its board president.

“Every child has unique individual needs. One of my priorities is to ensure innovation, creativity and inquiry-based learning is not pushed to the wayside, especially during these challenging times,” Mokashi added.

Mokashi is also outspoken on other local issues, including supporting the ban of vaping and selling flavored tobacco products in Pleasanton “to protect the health of our youth.” She also penned a guest opinion column for the Weekly last year about the Downtown Specific Plan, and is co-fundraising chair for local Boy Scouts Troop 911.

Mokashi holds a bachelor’s degree in art education from Simpson College, a master of education, supervision and administration from Rutgers University, and a master of education, curriculum and technology from Houston Baptist University.

Three PUSD Trustees are slated to term out at the end of this year — Board President Steve Maher, Trustee Jamie Yee and Trustee Valerie Arkin, who is currently running for a seat on the Pleasanton City Council.

The general election will be held November 3.

To learn more about Mokashi, visit www.VoteKellyPUSD.com.