Newport-Mesa Unified School Board candidate Lisa Pearson says she is passionate about excellence in education.
A retired teacher and mother of three grown children who attended the district’s schools, Pearson told The Epoch Times she wants to ensure district schools remain strong.
“One of my top priorities is keeping academic standards up to what the community expects,” Pearson said. “Newport Mesa has always had top-notch schools, and any child who is motivated to achieve can leave our schools and be successful.”
In addition to ensuring students matriculate to good colleges, Pearson said, she wants to ensure every student in the district is successful regardless of their plans after high school.
“We need to set every student up for success—not just the kids going off to college. We need to set up kids choosing other pathways besides college for success too,” she said.
For Pearson, this means placing a bigger emphasis on the district’s existing Regional Occupation Program—which allows students to learn trades and occupational skills such as nursing, construction, automotive repair, and cosmetology, to name a few.
Pearson’s platform also focuses on student well-being.
“To me, school safety and mental health, they go hand in hand. Students [shouldn’t have to] worry about their safety,” Pearson said.
To this end, Pearson said the district needs to work with the Newport Beach Police Department to increase the number of on-campus security officers in the district.
If elected, Pearson said she’d also work to improve communication between the board and parents.
“I wish the district was better at communicating with the public,” she said. “When there’s a hot topic that comes around … I feel like we need to get the communication out there quickly [through email alerts to parents].”
Pearson said her teaching background and experience volunteering within the district set her apart from her opponents.
She taught elementary school in San Pedro for 10 years, where she earned “Teacher of the Year” in 1997.
Additionally, when her children were school-aged Pearson served as the president of the PTA at two of their schools and participated in the hiring process to select new principals at Corona Del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools.
Pearson is running against Barbara George and Kristen Valle for Trustee Area 4, which covers Newport Coast, Harbor Ridge, and a portion of Corona Del Mar.
