NVUSD may get new trustee

By KERANA TODOROV
Register Staff Writer

The American Canyon representative on the Napa Valley Unified School District board of trustees is stepping down, making way for a new face just as the district sets about building a high school in American Canyon.

Michael Douglas, the NVUSD trustee representing American Canyon and south Napa County, said he will not run again this year after eight years of service.

With two children in college, Douglas said he wants to focus on his work for International Paper to pay school tuition.

“I’m going to miss (working) with both the board and the staff,” said Douglas recently. “They put so much into their work.”

Douglas’ successor could be Joe Schunk, an IT worker for Wells Fargo in San Francisco. Schunk announced this weekend he will run for Douglas’ seat.

Schunk is a familiar figure at NVUSD board of trustees meetings, which he began attending regularly a decade ago.

Schunk and his wife, Michelle Marin, a nurse, have two boys, Zach, 16, and Jake, 14, both of whom will attend Vintage High School in the fall. Both parents routinely volunteer in the community.

Marin, a Boy Scout Troop 262 secretary, is a former site council member at Donaldson Way Elementary School and American Canyon Middle School. Schunk, who commutes by ferry to San Francisco, is a former webmaster at River Charter School.

Also up for re-election this year are Jose Hurtado, a Napa Valley College counselor; Alan Murray, a retired NVUSD administrator; and Frances Ortiz-Chavez, director of a Napa nonprofit organization, Puertas Abiertas Resource Center.

Murray and Hurtado on Tuesday said they will run for re-election. Murray was elected in 2000 and Hurtado, in 2004.

Hurtado said he wants to work on a number of issues that affect the school district, including reviewing the high schools’ curriculum to better prepare students for college and careers. “I think I have some unfinished business,” Hurtado said.

Murray also indicated a desire to continue to work for the district’s larger goals, including improving communication between the district and the community.

Ortiz-Chavez said she has not yet decided whether to run for re-election. She was appointed n 2003 and ran unopposed a year later.

Murray, who worked for nine years as principal at Donaldson Way Elementary School in American Canyon in the 1960s and early 1970s, said he will miss Douglas’ input as a trustee.

Douglas has “very good insights” into the school district and brings forth “good ideas,” he said.

“I personally wish he was running again,” Murray said.

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