Four Race For Two Seats On Manhattan Beach Unified School Board

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — Four candidates are officially on the ballot for two open seats on the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees on the Nov. 3rd election ballot. Longtime MBUSD board trustee Bill Fournell is stepping aside, as is Karen Komatinsky, who is running for a seat on the Beach Cities Health District board.

The candidates for MBUSD's board are Cathey Graves, Jason Boxer, Mike Brunick and Heather de Roos. De Roos and Brunick are currently board members of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation and all four candidates tout their experiences in education in Manhattan Beach and beyond. One candidate graduated from Mira Costa High School in 2011; another has moved back to his hometown and his children will be third-generation MCHS graduates.

Graves is a certified public accountant and attorney "with 17 years of educational leadership in Manhattan Beach schools. I have worked extensively at our schools in leadership positions on PTA, MBEF, and MBX, as well as guiding and collaborating on the District's efforts to green our schools, develop social emotional wellness programs, and strengthen communication."

Boxer, who graduated from Mira Costa High School in 2011, holds a Bachelor’s of Science from New York University’s Program in Educational Theatre and taught in New York City public schools until they moved back to Manhattan Beach late last year. They are a product of MBUSD schools.

De Roos, who is the mother of an incoming 8th grade student at Manhattan Beach Middle School, says she has dedicated "my time to Manhattan Beach schools and our surrounding LA County communities. She currently is an MBEF board member. She has been a room parent and volunteered time to work on the Measure MB Parcel Tax and Bond EE/C.

Brunick is a managing partner at UNBOUND, providing strategic consulting and advisory services to marketers, media owners and technology companies to develop data strategies that better connect brands to their customers. He was previously a founder of Cadreon – creating a new category of marketing services – and has been a pioneer in the evolution of data-driven marketing and automated media trading. He attended the University of Southern California and graduated from the Marshall School of Business. A native to Manhattan Beach, he recently relocated back to his hometown where he lives with his wife Emily and his three children, who will be third-generation graduates of Mira Costa High School. He served on the executive committee for Measure MB and joined the MBEF board afterward in 2018.