Lake Tahoe Unified School District has new board member

When Sue Novasel won November's El Dorado County Supervisorial race it left a vacant seat on the Lake Tahoe Untiifed School Board (LTUSD). A Notice of Vacancy was filed, encouraging locals to apply to fill the trustee position for the remaining 22 months of Novasel's term. At Tuesday's LTUSD School Board meeting, the opening was filled.

A relative newcomer to South Lake Tahoe, Adam Jones, was unanimously chosen by the four current trustees. As they voted him into office, all cited his knowledge and skills as being a beneficial and vital part of the future of the School Board. They also felt his experience in his former home of Santa Clara would enable him to jump right into board responsibilities.

Jones holds a degree in Public Policy with a focus in education from Stanford University. He is the COO of SimulTrans, an international language service provider with offices in Dublin, Ireland and Mountain View, CA. Jones has a office at the "Y" and is able to work from South Lake Tahoe while commuting a couple of times of month to the Bay Area.

He and his wife, Ariele Wildwind, have owned a second home in town for several year and decided to move to South Lake Tahoe permanently with their two sons. Zephyr, a 5th grader, and River, a 3rd grader, both attend Sierra House Elementary School.

The process of selecting the new trustee on Tuesday was an interesting one. A set of ten questions was presented to all five candidate. They all had two minutes to answer each question in front of the board as well as any members of the public who were at the meeting. Once the interviews were completed, the Board discussed each person's results in the public forum.

Besides Jones, the others vying for the open seat were attorney Jennifer Peterson, paramedic John Drum, STHS 2003 graduate Kyle Martinez and Madelyn Rios, an adjunct instructor with LTCC.

The School Board members narrowed down the initial field to three (Adams, Drum and Rios). All said it was a tough process and hard to choose. They thanked all five for taking the time to be involved and encouraged them to continue to participate in the schools, community and try again in the future. Both Board President Barbara Bannar and Clerk Dr. Larry Green both shared their experiences as not being selected the first time around.

"The pool of candidates was amazing," said Bannar.

All candidates said it was essential to listen to the community, staff and administration in order to be successful and provide the best in education to the students.

"I will reach out to the community," said Jones during his interview. "It is critical to understand the facts." He also added that he sees being a School Board member to being an ambassador.

Jones will be sworn in at the next LTUSD School Board meeting on March 10, 2015.