YOUR AD HERE »

Interim school board trustee appointed

Andrew Cristancho
Sierra Sun
Seth Lightcap/Sierra SunNewly appointed Tahoe Truckee School District Board Trustee Nancy Gisko fills the spot vacated by Vicki Isacowitz, who resigned last month.
ALL |

The Tahoe Truckee board of education, charged with making decisions for over 4,000 students, appointed a new trustee Wednesday.

Nancy Gisko, a full-time resident of Northstar for a year and a half, will fill the Trustee Area 4 seat, vacated last month. Gisko and her husband Max have been part-time residents for 10 years, and moved from Belmont, Calif. once their youngest of three daughters graduated from high school.

The trustee Gisko replaces, Vicki Isacowitz, stepped down five weeks ago citing the need to devote more time to her educational tutoring business.



The remaining four trustees interviewed four applicants and picked Gisko in a unanimous vote on Feb. 13, according to Trustee Bill Kraus.

“Nancy’s experience as a previous school board member in the [San Francisco] Bay Area, her professionalism, objectivity, and her fresh perspective … will significantly contribute to our effectiveness as a board,” Kraus said in an e-mail.



Gisko served eight years as a school board trustee for Belmont Redwood Shores School District, a Kindergarten through 8th grade district with 2,500 students.

The district’s interim superintendent Jo Lynn Wilson echoed Kraus’ remarks, saying Gisko’s experience was a plus.

The San Francisco peninsula district of Belmont Redwood Shore was, like Tahoe Truckee Unified, a basic aid district.

Her familiarity with basic aid funding, union labor negotiations and diverse educational strategies qualifies her for the position, said Wilson.

According to California’s Education Code, district voters could overturn the appointment by gathering enough signatures to hold a special election. But a special election would have to be paid for by the voters, Gisko said.

The other option would be that the school district hold and pay for a special election.

“It is a cost-benefit situation,” Gisko said. She indicated that it would be a waste of money and resources to pay for a special election when there is one scheduled in nine months.

Time would also be an issue for those that would overturn a trustee appointment. According to the education code, voters would need to collect sufficient signatures for a petition within 30 days of Gisko’s appointment.

The seat will come up for re-election in November’s general election. Gisko has not decided whether she will run for the seat in November.

“You know…,” Gisko said, “probably … but I’m not sure yet. I felt like I had something to contribute, and [that] I could fill the stopgap.”

If she runs and is elected, Gisko would serve the remaining two years of Isacowitz’s original term and have to run again in 2010 if she wished to serve another four years, according the education code.

The Area 4 seat extends south on Highway 89 towards Squaw Valley, and south on Highway 267 past Northstar, incorporating areas of Martis Valley, Northstar, Sierra Meadows, Ponderosa Palisades, east to Olympic Heights, the downtown area of Truckee and north to Highway 89, including Coachland mobile home park, according to Wilson.


Support Local Journalism

 

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Lake Tahoe, Truckee, and beyond make the Sierra Sun's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.