Panec takes lead on school board
By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

SET TO SERVE—A new slate of officers was chosen by the Oak Park Unified School District Board of Education last week. From left, Clerk Jan Iceland, President Marie Panec and Vice President Cindy Vinson. Each will serve a one-year term.

The incumbents on the Oak Park Unified School District Board of Education were sworn in to another four-year term last Tuesday.

No challengers filed to run in the November election for the three openings, so incumbents Cindy Vinson, Marie Panec and Mary Rees will continue in their posts for another four years. The other trustees, Jan Iceland and Jim Kalember, each have two years left on their four-year terms.

In addition, board members appointed Marie Panec as board president, Cindy Vinson as vice president and Jan Iceland as clerk, all for one-year terms.

This is Panec’s second term on the board and first as its president. A Moorpark College biology department chair and professor, Panec has two children at Oak Park High School. Panec has lived in Oak Park since 1986.

Oak Park district superintendent Dr. Tony Knight called Panec “a model board member.”

“Marie cares deeply about the students and the employees whom we entrust those students to,” Knight said. “She works hard with the entire board to provide direction and leadership so that our schools remain world class.”

Most board members in other school districts take a $200 $400per-month stipend, according to Panec, but in Oak Park all of the board members are volunteers, accepting no pay.

“Doing what is best for the kids is what it is all about,” Panec said at the Dec. 12 meeting.

The biggest immediate challenge facing the district is the condition of its aging school buildings and facilities, according to Panec. The failure of the H6 school facilities bond measure to pass in November means schools will not receive muchneeded funds for repairs and upgrades, she said.

In anticipation of rain predicted last weekend, maintenance workers covered some school roofs with plastic for protection from leaks into classrooms. Teachers were advised to move desks and furniture away from areas known to leak, Panec said.

“This is ridiculous,” she said.

The board faces the challenge of getting people “to listen and care about the state of the schools,” she added. Information has been sent out to the community in the form of fliers, on the district website, through local newspapers. Only a few people have shown up at some forums that have been held, Panec said.

“Still, people say they don’t have information,” Panec said. “Facilities support what goes on in the classroom; they also affect morale, which influences what goes on in the classroom.”

Other challenges are to maintain the quality of district programming and address spiraling special education costs, and at the same time retain funds to meet statemandated reserves.

“In order to maintain programming it is essential that we are able to maintain our funding base,” Panec said.

She credited Knight with an excellent job of developing and implementing an enrollment management plan by attracting interdistrict students to “fill the empty seats in our classrooms.”

Panec said she also has personal goals for the district. She’d like to see an improved foreign language program, possibly at the middle school level, and an improved career technical education program at the high school. She would also like to go beyond California for educational ideas.

Ultimately, it is the teaching staff that makes schools successful, Panec said, which is why the district is so supportive of professional development.

“I, and the rest of the board, believe that it has really paid off in terms of the continued improvement of the quality of our programs,” Panec said.