Monrovia Unified board honors outgoing trustees, swears in new members and elects officers

The Monrovia Unified School District Board of Education on Dec. 19 honored outgoing trustees Jennifer Anderson and Tracy Golar, administered oaths to newly elected trustees and elected board officers during its annual organizational meeting.

The board opened the meeting at 6:37 p.m. with students from Wildrose School of Creative Arts leading the Pledge of Allegiance. President Jennifer Anderson recognized colleagues and community partners before reporting that the board had unanimously appointed Scott Moses as interim director of educational services; Moses told the board, "I look forward to my new role in the community." Senator Sasha Renee Perez presented certificates from the California State Senate honoring Anderson and Golar.

The organizational portion of the meeting included oath ceremonies for newly elected trustees. Daniel Gomez Tagle and Michael O'Connor were sworn in and invited family and mentors forward for photos. Following nominations, Rob Hammond was nominated and elected board president by voice vote; Maritza Trivanti was elected vice president and Celine Lockerbie was elected clerk. The newly seated president then assumed management of the meeting.

The recognitions portion included multiple presentations from city and county officials and a tribute read by the district human resources director honoring Norberto "Tito" Moraga for 28 years of service. In brief remarks, Anderson reflected on her service and thanked the community: "I had this lovely speech all in my head until right now," she said, speaking to the emotion of the evening.

The board scheduled future meetings and paused for photos before moving on to business. The organizational meeting concluded and the board recessed briefly before resuming open session business.