Meet Your New School Board: Brad Serkin

On March 5, Redondo Beach voters elected three new members to the Redondo Beach Unified School District Board of Education to replace termed-out members Jane Diehl, Todd Loewenstein and Drew Gamet. Because only three people—Michael Christensen, Brad Serkin and Brad Waller—ran for the spots, all three were automatically elected.

Each of the three new school board members filled out a brief questionnaire from Redondo Beach Patch. Here are Serkin's responses.

Patch: Why did you run for a spot on the Redondo Beach Board of Education?

Brad Serkin: I decided to serve on the board to serve my community as well as the staff of RBUSD. I believe that we, as a district, continue in the right direction towards academic excellence and want the best education for my children and the community at large. I believe it is all of our responsibilities as community members to ensure that our children are well-prepared to be good citizens and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow. My hope as a board member would be to continue to support these achievements; promote leadership, responsibility and accountability; and to help drive our schools to the best that they can be.

Patch: What is your background?

Serkin: I am a lifelong South Bay resident. I was part of the last graduating class from Rolling Hills High School in 1991, and I went on to get a bachelor's of science in Business Administration with emphasis on Marketing from California State University Long Beach.

I have lived here in Redondo Beach since 2000. I have been married for 13 1/2 years to my wife Corey. I have two children, Jack (fifth grade) and Matthew (first grade), both of whom attend Alta Vista Elementary.

For the past four years, I have served as president and treasurer of the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation.

Patch: What are your top three priorities as a member of the Board of Education?

Serkin: Short term, ensuring that our district continues to remain financially sounds and our students receive the best education. This includes increasing our district reserves. Our community has been extremely supportive with the bond initiatives that have been passed over the past many years and it is our responsibility to ensure it is spent wisely.

Shorter to longer term would be to restore programs as well as staffing that have been cut due to budgetary reasons as well as possibly addressing class sizing as well as some of our aging equipment.

Longer term, would want to bring additional programming/language programs as well as additional extracurricular activities back to our school and help to expand programs that are already working well. We are very fortunate that the stewardship of our present board, administration and staff has been such that things have been working admirably considering all the economic uncertainty and cuts that all school districts have had to undertake.

Patch: In your opinion, what is the biggest issue facing RBUSD in the next few years?

Serkin: Funding, both short term and long term. The funding that RBUSD presently receives per student at both the local and state level is grossly under what the district was receiving just a few years ago. The costs to operate a district have not gone down, yet we continue to receive further funding cuts each at the expense of our children and staff. Additionally, in order for the state and county sources to balance their budget, our district continues to receive its funding later and later, and as a result of these delays, forces our district to borrow funds in anticipation of these delayed funds. This adds additional costs to an already strained budget.

Patch: Do you have children in Redondo Beach schools?

Serkin: Two children—Jack, 11, and Matthew, 7. Both are at Alta Vista Elementary.

Patch: Is there anything you'd like to add?

Serkin: I look forward to the opportunity to serve the community of Redondo Beach and the staff and students of RBUSD.

For more information on the new school board members, see the profiles for Brad Waller and Michael Christensen.