The newest addition to the MUSD school board, Anu Nakka, will be sworn in as a trustee at the board meeting on Dec. 13, Nakka said in a Zoom interview. Although it was Nakka’s first time campaigning for a position, she has been involved in the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and Parent, Teacher, Student Association (PTSA) starting with John Sinnott Elementary in 2010, she said.
Nakka wants to provide her firsthand perspective as a parent and serve to communicate the needs of teachers and students to the school board, she said. With a Ph.D. in finance, she understands the fiscal responsibility of where tax dollars are going, she added.
“I always wanted to give back to the community at a macro level, and I thought this was the right time,” Nakka said.
Nakka will be replacing current board trustee Hon Lien, who is moving on to become a Milpitas City Council member, school board President Kelly Yip-Chuan said in a Zoom interview.
“I believe that the next person (Nakka) is going to contribute just as much, and that will make a well-balanced team,” Yip-Chuan said.
Nakka ran because she wanted to support student talent through sports initiatives and vocational courses, Nakka said. However, once she is sworn in, such initiatives will have to be collective decisions, she added.
“I want every high schooler, as a graduate, either to pursue further studies or to go ahead and grab a high pay-scale job, but not to drop out,” Nakka said.
As a four-year incumbent, Yip-Chuan ran for reelection because she believes in the value of good education and wants to make sure projects such as the Innovation Campus and the MHS performing arts center are being carried through, she said.
“The past four years being on the board has strengthened my commitment to ensuring that our students continue to receive the best education possible,” Yip-Chuan said.
As senior member on the board, trustee Chris Norwood wants to share with the new board members the knowledge he has gained over the past eight years on the board, he said in a Zoom interview. He and Yip-Chuan ran on a slate as incumbents, he added.
“We kind of said, ‘Hey, it’s not broken. It’s getting better. Keep us on the school board,’” Norwood said.
Yip-Chuan has met with corporations such as Solidyne, Advanced Micro Devices, and the BayView Golf Club, to see if they would like to become founding members for district projects, she said. This would mean donating large sums of money to MUSD schools, and Yip-Chuan hopes to continue fundraising in her next term, she said.
“By completing the Innovation Campus, we’re able to bring about 500 students from MHS to the Innovation Campus, so that’s going to help alleviate overcrowding,” Yip-Chuan said. “We’re trying to get these corporations to come in and be founding members, train them (students) so that they can work in engineering at high tech companies without having a four-year degree, and still earn a good income.”
Norwood is also looking forward to working with the student governance committee during his next term, he said.
“We bring the president of each of the elementary and middle schools together for them to talk to the board about their school sites,” Norwood said. “Being able to work with those student government bodies is really, really exciting.”
Nakka looks forward to collaborating with and hearing feedback from students and teachers, she said.
“I think I would definitely give a different and unique perspective that I can bring to the board,” Nakka said.