Citrus Heights strengthens its voice on school board

By Sara Beth Williams–
In a significant development for Citrus Heights, several members of the San Juan Unified School District Board of Education who represent portions of Citrus Heights were selected to take on positions of higher leadership on the board during a Dec. 17 board meeting.

Board member Ben Avey, who represents Trustee Area 6, was unanimously elected to be president during the meeting, replacing Pam Costa. The board also unanimously nominated Area 5 Trustee Tanya Kravchuk as vice president and Area 7 Trustee Manuel Perez as board clerk.

According to the San Juan Unified School District’s website, the clerk’s responsibilities include completing financial statements for the trustees, running payroll every two months, completing school budgets, maintaining detailed accounting records, attending all board meetings, and keeping detailed records of minutes.

Board member Zima Creason was initially nominated by Costa to serve as vice president, and subsequently as clerk, but both nominations did not receive a second from other board members.

Nick Bloise, who represents Trustee Area 4, was also sworn in as a new board member, alongside newly elected Area 1 Trustee Abid Stanekzai and Costa, who won re-election as Area 2 Trustee last month.

Trustee Areas 4, 5, and 6 have a portion of their representation boundaries covering some of Citrus Heights, while Trustee Area 7’s boundaries are entirely within the city limits of Citrus Heights.

Since 2022, the seven-member board has now seen five new members join its ranks. Creason and Costa have served on the board the longest of all current board members, with Costa elected in 2012 and Creason in 2018. The board expanded its ranks from five to seven in 2022, and also transitioned to by-trustee-area elections.