Board Members
Lavender Lee Whitaker, President |
Lavender has lived in Castro Valley for 7 years. She has a 15 year old sophomore currently attending Castro Valley High School. Lavender has a BS from the University of California, Davis in Environmental and Energy Policy and a MBA in organizational development from the University of California, Davis. Lavender has worked for electric utilities (both federal and public) for the last 13 years focusing on environmental policy and compliance. Since May 2017, her work has focused on innovation and employee engagement. Her passions are community, to help others that cannot speak for themselves, bring people together, and sustain the environment for generations to come. |
 Monica Lee, Vice President/Clerk x 1685 |
Monica has lived in Castro Valley for eighteen years. She has had the pleasure of serving on the Castro Valley School Board for slightly over a year. Monica’s youngest son is currently a junior at Castro Valley High. Throughout her children’s school years, she has been active as a parent volunteer, serving as PTA President, Vice President, Secretary, and Parliamentarian of the Jensen Ranch Elementary School PTA. Monica served on the school site councils for both Jensen Ranch and Creekside Middle School, on the Superintendent’s Parent Leadership Group, and on the Superintendent’s Committee regarding overcrowding in the elementary schools in the eastern part of Castro Valley. Monica has spent countless hours volunteering in the classroom and driving on field trips. Monica currently works for a patent law firm. During her free time, she enjoys cooking, music, reading, and recently, began knitting again, something she had not done since high school. During marching band season, she chaperones band competitions and assist the other band parents in feeding the band, and setting up and taking down competition stages.
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Gary C. Howard has served on the Board of Education for 4 years. He received a PhD in biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon University and completed fellowships at Harvard and Johns Hopkins. He worked 22 years as a science editor and writer for the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. He recently retired, but will continue to edit and write books. He recently joined the Rotary Club of Castro Valley. He and his wife Shirley have lived in Castro Valley for over 24 years and their two daughters completed their early education at Proctor, Creekside, and Castro Valley High School. |
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Jo has served on the Castro Valley School District Board of Education for twenty-two years. Her family has lived here for over 30 years and all four children attended Castro Valley schools at Proctor, Canyon, Creekside and Castro Valley High School. Her children all graduated from state colleges/universities and are married. Jo graduated from UC Berkeley and was employed as the Executive Director of the Northern California Athletic Conference. This was the first step for women's athletic programs to move to a national competitive level. The conference consisted of 11 sports at many universities.Jo became involved in PTA at Proctor School and discovered her passion for helping families. She served in many PTA positions in Castro Valley, Alameda County and the state of California. She served the California State PTA as Vice President for Education, Vice President of Leadership and President-Elect. She retired from PTA after serving as California State PTA President in 2009-2011. Jo has taken part in many community activities including coaching youth sports, League of Women Voters, Scouts, Castro Valley Education Foundation and others. She was part of the development of the Community Outreach Program for Castro Valley schools. Unusual jewelry is Jo's current outlet and she searches through the East Bay for treasures. She also takes jewelry classes and devours beading books. Jo found that her PTA and School Board involvement were the perfect nexus to support public education and all children. She considers herself a "Champion for Public Education." |
 Dot Theodore, Trustee
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Dot, her husband and son moved to Castro Valley 14 years ago in 2004. Her daughter was born a year and a half later. Both children went to Castro Valley Elementary School. Her son is now a freshman at CVHS and her daughter in the 7th grade at Creekside Middle School. Dot’s love for this community inspired her to run for school board. Dot was elected almost 4 years ago in 2014. Dot was formerly a biotech researcher for almost 20 years specializing in cell biology and virology, returned to school in 2013 to earn her Masters in Public Health degree from UC Berkeley graduating in 2015. She is now a public health program manager for Alameda County Public Health Department - Office of HIV Care. Dot is passionate about civic engagement, volunteering time to support community, getting to know my neighbors, public health, public education, equity, quality HIV care, effective HIV prevention, serving the underserved, breaking down barriers, not necessarily in that order. Her hobbies include knitting, cooking for her family, bicycling, bicycling, and bicycling. She has four dogs and two cats, two tortoises and one guinea pig. |
 Grace Boyd, Student Board Member Term: 8/2019-6/2020 |
Grace is a senior at Castro Valley High School. She has been in Leadership for three years; as the Environmental Affairs Commissioner, Clubs Commissioner, and this year ASB School Board Representative. As the Environmental Affairs Commissioner her sophomore year, Grace worked in union with CVSan and SafeRoutes to School to run sustainable environmental awareness events at the high school. In this position she also helped earn the Green Ribbon Award, given to exceptional eco-friendly schools and granting CVHS $2,000. As Clubs Commissioner her junior year, Grace helped oversee the 70+ clubs on campus, making sure they ran properly and in an official and productive manner. She helped plan Season of Service, Period of Peace; a 2-month period where clubs could run outreach events to gain awareness of a topic of their choice. Her own club, Feminist Club, planned a Female Empowerment Week during SOSPOP in conjunction with the Muslim Student Association; hosting guest speakers, group discussions, and documentary showings. As the president of Feminist Club (formerly Girls Learn International) for two years, Grace has helped raised over $1500 for an all girl's school in Sierra Leone; funding access to computers, rebuilding bathrooms after a civil war, providing education. She is also in varsity improv and is the club's treasurer. Grace plans to study environmental science and sustainable architecture when she graduates. |
Strategic Plan
After months of gathering input through a listening campaign that included meeting with twenty-seven groups, at its April 28, 2017 Board Meeting, the Board of Education adopted Castro Valley Unified School District’s vision, mission and core values. To view the strategic plan,please click here.