Pleasant Valley School District Trustee Suzanne Kitchens ascends to the presidency of CSBA
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Dec. 9, 2020) – Pleasant Valley School District board member Suzanne Kitchens has taken the reins as President of the California School Boards Association, a group representing more than 1,000 California school districts and county offices of education and more than 5,000 local educational area trustees.
A native Californian and Ventura County resident, Kitchens boasts more than four decades of work in public schools and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and a Master’s in Business Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She served for more than 20 years as a volunteer in Pleasant Valley SD, where her three daughters graduated, before winning election to the school board in 2000. Kitchens has held the post of Pleasant Valley Board President and numerous roles within CSBA, including Regional Director, Delegate and member of the Nominating, Legislative, Annual Education Conference Planning, Board Development, Bylaws, and Education Legal Alliance Steering committees. Kitchens, who is an accountant by trade and owns a tax business, has also chaired CSBA’s Finance and Audit Committees and graduated from the association’s Masters in Governance program.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve this year and proud to be CSBA President. CSBA is a unique statewide organization where members of local school districts and county boards of education represent the interests of more than 6 million students and comes together to work on pressing issues that affect all our districts and county offices,” Kitchens said. “In this year of the pandemic, CSBA leaders have worked hard to help every board member and give them quality resources. In 2021, we will continue to advocate for public education and to provide tools and services for board members at every level of continuous learning.”
Joining Kitchens on CSBA’s 2021 Executive Committee are President-elect Susan Heredia of the Natomas Unified School District and Vice President Susan Markarian of the Pacific Elementary School District. Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez of the Azusa Unified School District will serve as Immediate Past President.
CSBA is a nonprofit association representing nearly 1,000 PreK-12 school districts
and county offices of education throughout California.
www.csba.org