What began as a doorstep conversation grew into a wonderful connection! Mary generously opened her home to host a meet-and-greet on my behalf, bringing together people who share a deep commitment to the future of our schools. Thank you, Mary, for opening your home and your heart! I’m grateful to have you on this journey with me.
“…the hardest part of oversight is knowing which questions to ask. Jennifer Mak will know.”
“I am writing as a Torrance resident and voter, and as someone who has spent a career in public education, to support Jennifer Mak for the Torrance Unified School District Board of Education.
I served fifteen years as a director of special education, then as an assistant superintendent of student services/executive director, and also as a SELPA director — in traditional school districts and in public charter schools. In those roles I sat in front of a great many governing boards, in both settings. The ones that governed well had at least one member who had done the work — who knew what a policy adopted on a Tuesday night actually costs the people who have to carry it out on Wednesday morning.
Jennifer Mak is that kind of candidate. She taught. She then served as an administrator. She knows how a school day is built, how a budget decision lands in a classroom, and what staff can and cannot absorb. That is not a small thing on a board whose decisions are implemented by several thousand employees.
She is also the mother of TUSD graduates. She has watched this district do its work from the first day of kindergarten through a diploma — not a snapshot, the whole arc, with her own children in it.
Boards do not run schools. Their job is oversight, and the hardest part of oversight is knowing which questions to ask. Jennifer Mak will know. She is not seeking this seat to begin a career. She is offering a career that is already behind her, in service of the community her children grew up in. Torrance would be fortunate to have her. She has my vote.”
Mary P. Ring, Torrance resident, former assistant superintendent of student services
Why does classroom experience matter on a school board?
In Mary Ring’s experience, the school boards that governed well had at least one member who had done the work, and knew what a policy adopted on a Tuesday night costs the people who carry it out on Wednesday morning. Jennifer Mak spent 38 years in public education as a teacher, award-winning principal and district administrator, and is the mother of three TUSD graduates. Read Jennifer’s story.
