Karen Pearsall has been appointed to serve as the Area 3 trustee on the Manteca Unified School District board.
She will fill the seat vacated Feb. 14 by Michael Seeyle.
The appointment made Tuesday by the MUSD board is provisional. That means unless a petition calling for a special election with the required number of registered voters’ signatures is filed within 30 days with the San Joaquin County Office of Education it will be an effective appointment on May 9.
If there is no challenge, Pearsall will complete Seeyle’s term that expires in November of 2020.
Other applicants for the position were retired MUSD administrator Howard Holtsman, attorney Eddie Torres, and current MUSD teacher Leo Bennett-Cauchon.
Pearsall served on the citizens oversight committee charged with making sure the district spent $66 million in Measure M school bonds as authorized by voters in 2004. She has been a regular attendee at school board meetings for the past 18 years and has offered input from time-to-time under public comment.
The rural east Manteca resident is a graduate of Cal State Hayward where she received a degree in English and earned her teaching credential. She worked as a substitute teacher and as a private tutor at a SAT prep center. She discontinued working after becoming pregnant to stay at home and raise her children. After moving to Manteca with her husband Randy she volunteered as a parent aide a tutor in each of her three children’s classrooms from kindergarten through sixth grade. Her children attended Joshua Cowell School and graduated from Manteca High.
She received letters of recommendation from two former school board members — Ed Fichtner and Nancy Teicheira as well as Manteca High library technician Mary Buchanan.
Area 3 includes all of Manteca east of Highway 99 to the eastern edge of the school district, north to Area 2 and south to the district’s southern boundary. It also includes the triangle bounded by North Main, Louise Avenue, and Highway 99 as well as the triangle bounded by Cottage Avenue Highway 99 and Yosemite Avenue plus south of the 120 Bypass to Main Street and then everything east of Main Street in South Manteca.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
