Press Release Details
School Board Elects Leaders for 2018
Hydra Mendoza-McDonnell as Board President and Stevon Cook as Vice President
January 11, 2018 (San Francisco) – The San Francisco Board of Education elected its leaders for the 2018 year on Tuesday night. Commissioner Hydra Mendoza-McDonnell is now president of the Board of Education and Commissioner Stevon Cook is vice president.
President Hydra Mendoza-McDonnell is serving her third consecutive term on the San Francisco Board of Education. She served as president in 2011 and as vice president in 2010 and 2017.
“As a graduate of SFUSD and a parent of two SFUSD graduates, I’m excited to once again serve as the Board President and help lead a group of passionate and committed commissioners as we continue to drive the important work of Vision 2025 and strengthen our partnership with the city,” said President Mendoza-McDonnell.
About President Hydra Mendoza-McDonnell
Hydra Mendoza-McDonnell is a product of public schools, a parent of two SFUSD alumni, a former preschool teacher and an education advisor. She is the first and only Filipina elected to office in San Francisco.
President Mendoza-McDonnell was the former Executive Director and a founding member of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco. She was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to his Policy Council on Children, Youth and Families and later to his staff as his Education Advisor. She served under Mayor Ed Lee as his Deputy Chief of Staff for Education and Equity and remains in this role today.
She is a member of the United Way Women Leadership Council, SPUR Board Member, and Advisory Board Member to Youth Speaks, College Track, and Old Skool Café. Hydra and her husband live in the Bayview community in San Francisco.
About Vice President Stevon Cook
Stevon Cook has served on the school board since 2016. He is a resident of the Mission District.
Vice President Cook is currently the CEO of Mission Bit, a non-profit organization striving to eliminate the tech divide for youth living in urban poverty and rural areas across the San Francisco Bay Area.
Cook is a 3rd generation San Franciscan and alumnus of Thurgood Marshall High School. During his undergraduate years at Williams College he became active in business and a leader in a community service organization called the Griffin's Society. Upon graduating with a degree in American Studies, he returned to San Francisco to serve in the first graduating class of the Mayor’s City Hall Fellows program. From there he went on to pursue a career as an educator and social entrepreneur. He has served as Co-Chair of the Prop H Community Advisory Committee, on the Board of Directors for the San Francisco Achievers and a mentor with Students’ Rising Above.
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Page updated on 01/11/18