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William Kuo, the widower of former Dublin Unified School District trustee Catherine Kuo, was unanimously selected to fill his late wife’s seat as the representative for Trustee Area 3, after a lengthy interview process at a special board meeting on Tuesday night.
At the end of 2-1/2 hours of opening and closing statements, public comment, a couple of question-and-answer periods and deliberation, William Kuo was appointed from among three applicants to the Area 3 seat, which has been vacant since his wife was fatally struck by a car at Fallon Middle School in March.
In his closing statement to the board, Kuo said he shared his late wife’s “passion to serve” their family’s community, and called her impact on him “profound.”
“One may wonder why I applied to become a trustee after losing Catherine just eight weeks ago,” Kuo said. “It’s a decision made with a lot of thought and deliberation. I witnessed her passion and dedication to our students with her being the Area 3 trustee. Her impact on me was profound. I share her same passion to serve.”
Many community members voiced their support for Kuo’s appointment during the public hearing, as well as one of the candidates during their closing statement, and had also emailed the board urging them to appoint Kuo.
“Through this process, it’s clear that William comes to us with a wealth of knowledge, expertise and genuine support from our community,” Board President Dan Cherrier said. “As we continue to move through critical projects in our district, William will play a vital role in ensuring our future success. We look forward to working with him to continue this work for our students, staff, and families. ”
District officials described Kuo in a statement as “a dedicated Dublin parent who has volunteered as a class parent, chaperone, and auditor for the Dougherty Elementary School’s Parent Faculty Club reviewing their year-end finances.”
A resident of Dublin for more than 20 years, Kuo works as a development operations and systems engineer. He has a son and daughter that are currently enrolled in DUSD. In addition to a bachelor’s in molecular cell biology from UC Berkeley, Kuo holds a master’s in business administration from California State University East Bay and earned a doctorate in dental surgery at UCLA.
Kuo was sworn in immediately following the board vote Tuesday evening. His provisional appointment comes a week after the board unanimously approved the appointment of new DUSD superintendent Chris Funk, and is effective through the next regularly scheduled school board election in November 2022.
The board had previously decided to fill the midterm Area 3 vacancy via an application and appointment process, rather than call a special election. Real estate broker John Wu and Oakland school district employee Taji Brown were the other two candidates that applied for the seat.
