Board Member, Area 1 — Dublin Unified School District

An 18 year Dublin resident, Kristin Pelham has dedicated her career to serving students. She has a 20 year career in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District as a Special Education Teacher and Resource Specialist.

A parent of two Dublin students, Kristin was appointed to serve on the DUSD Boundary Committee, High School Naming Committee, and LCAP Committee. She was honored to be a member of the Dublin Unified leadership team that visited the Museum of Tolerance to build cultural proficiency and develop a plan to increase equity.

Kristin has a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education from Gonzaga University and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Cal State East Bay. She holds credentials in Multiple Subject Teaching, Educational Specialist Instruction, Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development, and Administrative Services.

She lives with her husband Mark and their two daughters, ages 14 and 11.

Service to Dublin

• DUSD LCAP Committee
• DUSD High School Naming Committee
• DUSD Boundary Committee
• DUSD Museum of Tolerance Visit, Parent Leader
• Girl Scout Volunteer
• PFC Volunteer

 Dr. Dawn Nwamuo for the Dublin school board to lead positive transformative change.

Wife, Mother, Doctor and Advocate for educational excellence for all - including but not limited to safer schools, fiscal transparency, diversity, collaboration, effective decision-making and forward thinking. 

A bay area native, from Union City, coming from a family of educators including a mother, retired educator for 29 years, and sister, current educator/administrator for 22 years. With a passion to heal others, she took a different path in her 27 year educational pursuit (University of Michigan, UCLA and Stanford) to become a Physician and healthcare advocate. This experience gave her exposure to education in these communities on many levels.  Coming from a family of educators, and continuously discussing issues surrounding schools and potential solutions armed her with insights of the educational system and its positive or negative trends.  She values and respects teachers, the challenges they face and the impact they have on our children; the future leaders. She is a frequent contributor to teachers and administrators, additionally while being engaged with her two sons' education and school affairs daily.

She was raised to serve.  During her 16 years as a doctor, and caring for hundreds of thousands of patients, she’s listened to patients and their genuine concerns about issues stemming from the educational system.  They worry about their children in the uncertainty of the pandemic, social justice and equity issues, and sudden dependence of education technology.   As someone who cares deeply for people, it’s natural that the overall health and wellness of our community is paramount to her. She will bring a broader and more diverse perspective, with an unbiased opinion. Being within this community and from humble beginnings, she cares about all students being given every possible opportunity to excel.  If she was not afforded those opportunities, she would not have reached her full potential and fulfilled her dreams.

The same passion and advocacy she brings to her patients, she will bring to DUSD:

1. Protecting the health of our community during this pandemic

2. Lead effective change for diversity and inclusion and advocate for marginalized students. To ensure equitable educational outcomes as all students should be afforded equal opportunities regardless of race, socioeconomic status and disabilities (including physical and learning disabilities). 

3. Leverage Technology - to lead cost effective and efficient delivery of education, then to analyze and utilize data to enhance our educational system.

Her experiences in the medical profession, the challenges, workflows, team collaboration, and ever evolving advancements in technology, all parallel to the educational system, and have prepared her to fulfill the role of a Trustee:

1. Hire and evaluate the superintendent

2. Oversee and approve budget

3. Oversee facilities

4. Approve curriculum. 

Doing this role successfully requires problem-solving, strong decision-making, commitment to progress and passion for the education of our youth and their future. It is critical to have a governance team that is diverse and has a variety of skills that can achieve the above goals. She brings these qualities to the table.

Past and current leadership experiences as follows have prepared her for being a well-qualified candidate for assuming this role and position:

1.  Board member on the Commission on Cancer - Kaiser Permanente

2.  HOA board member - 5 years - Schaefer Ranch

3. Board member of two distinct budgeting boards

4. Steering committee member for Equity, Inclusion and diversity - Kaiser Permanente 

5. Assistant professor - DUCOM

6. Chief of Breast Imaging - Kaiser Permanente

7. Alameda and Contra Costa County medical association health equity taskforce

8. Chief Resident of Radiology - Santa Clara Valley Medical Center

9. Mother of two children and a proud resident of this community  

Why can you trust her making the challenging decisions through this pandemic, in selecting a new superintendent and ensuring your children are giving an excellent and equitable education?  Because making tough decisions that impact a large organization and families is what she does. It is her role to make life altering decisions daily and to diagnose disease in hundreds of patients, to make critical decisions regarding the need for emergent interventions or follow up care. To decide, cost-effectively and efficiently, if something looks cancerous and a biopsy is needed or if they wait on biopsy and follow something closely. To collaborate and lead a team of healthcare professionals to deliver exceptional care. Being immersed in the medical field gives her firsthand insight for how execution of tasks should be conducted.

Her experience and leadership skills in the field of medicine parallels the leadership skills needed in the educational system that will help DUSD stabilize, unify and thrive.

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