Sonora, CA — In a special open-to-the-public meeting on Friday, April 10, three new board members were sworn in to the Sonora Elementary School District Board of Trustees. The new members are Craig Pedro, Tyler Piche, and Rachel Beckham. They will serve along with Paige Caudle and Kathy Francis. Two of the seats are for terms that expire this December and are up for election this November, one seat is for a term that wouldn’t have expired until December 2028. All three seats will be on the November Ballot, two for 4 year terms and one for the remaining 2 years of the term and then the seat will be up for election again in 2028.
Six people expressed interest in joining the school board to fill three empty seats.
Tuolumne County School Board President Steven Treat, and Board Members Cyndi Simonson, and Jerry Whitehead volunteered to serve on the SES board temporarily and have been serving since a March 11 SES meeting. The volunteer board voted during last week’s regular Wednesday meeting to explore sharing a Superintendent with the Columbia Elementary District. If approved by Columbia’s School Board, its current Superintendent, Dr. Nicolas Wade, would serve in the joint role as detailed here.
Three members of the Sonora Elementary Board, Steve Roos, Cody Ritts, and Reed Schoedl, resigned in February as reported earlier here. Twila Tosh is currently serving as the SES Interim Superintendent after Cheryl Griffith’s contract was terminated without cause. Griffiths and former Vice Principal Kristaine Quinn were charged with a misdemeanor related to failing to report an assault of a student by a speech therapist as reported here.
