Fresno Unified Trustee Susan Wittrup has been elected as the next president of the school board.
Wittrup was elected unanimously by the other trustees after just one year on the board.
The backstory: Wittrup ran against former Trustee Terry Slatic for the Bullard High School area in 2022, winning that election handily.
- The board elected her as clerk when she took office.
The big picture: As president, Wittrup will be the chairperson of the FUSD Board meetings and be in charge of the agendas.
- Trustee Valerie Davis was elected as board clerk.
- This will be the first time in nearly six years that the Bullard area will have its representative be president since Slatic, who had been censured twice in his tenure, was never elected to a leadership position.
- The last Bullard area Board President was Brooke Ashjian, who presided over the ouster of controversial Superintendent Michael Hanson
What they’re saying: Wittrup told GV Wire that part of her focus as president will be to implement Fresno Unified’s Literacy Initiative to have all children reading by the end of first grade.
- “We are going full speed ahead with literacy, with school safety, with facilities and special education. … We got a lot done this year and we’re going to just keep going,” Wittrup said.
