Shortly after returning to her hometown of Newport Beach in 2003, my wife Mary and I began actively serving in a variety of roles to provide support to the children and families in the Eastbluff and CDM school communities. After nearly twenty years, we believe we are heavily invested in healthy child development in our local area.
During that same time, we have been parents of students in the Newport Mesa school district. Our three sons are all Corona del Mar High School graduates (2010, 2013 and 2020) and we are extremely grateful for the leadership that helped guide them throughout their time in our school system. As a family, we look back fondly on the strong sense of community, the challenging and robust academic environment, and the impactful faculty and staff mentoring our sons experienced as Sea Kings.
With the retirement of veteran NMUSD School Board Trustee Karen Yelsey, we are all faced with the significant challenge of identifying the right member of our community to assume this vital servant leadership position. As Karen has demonstrated effectively over the past 16 years, her successor needs to be selfless, value others, be humble, inspire and listen, be trustworthy and care deeply about his or her role and responsibility as a School Board member.
The conversation around this particular elected position should simply be about which candidate is the best qualified to oversee the education and development of the most precious resource we have in our community – Newport Mesa’s future generations. Electing someone to a critical oversight position in public education without them having significant experience and understanding would be unfair and unwise.
As CDM parents, we believe that Lisa Pearson is extremely well-qualified to advocate for our children and to ensure that our school system continues to represent the values, beliefs and priorities of the entire CDM school community.
Lisa and her husband have more than twenty years of experience raising their children in Newport Beach and educating them within our school district. That is necessary and valuable experience for someone entrusted to oversee the entire process. As a parent, teacher, and former PTA president, Lisa has practical, working knowledge of the various educational platforms our district provides and has already demonstrated a genuine, selfless interest in serving our community. She knows our school system’s strengths and challenges, its resources and its imperfections. We are confident Lisa will embrace the challenge and clearly understands the responsibility we all share to provide the best possible experience for every student.
Please join us in supporting Lisa Pearson for the Area 4 Trustee on the NMUSD School Board.
Her experience matters.
Respectfully,
G.W. and Mary Mix