Six compete for three seats on Scotts Valley Unified School District board

Three of the five seats on the Scotts Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees are up for election this November. 

Six candidates are competing to fill the three seats. Two are incumbents – Michael Schulman and Mitali Weiglein – and four are newcomers: Stephanie Espinola, Tuka Gafari, Gary Redenbacher and Erica Turzak. Trustee Jane McElrone is not running for reelection this November, and terms for trustees Roger Synder and Lucia Rocha-Nestler expire in November 2026. 

The district serves about 2,168 students at two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. This year, Scotts Valley High School is celebrating its 25th year. 

The Scotts Valley Unified school district boundary has 13,571 registered voters. In addition to selecting school board members Nov. 5, voters in the district will also be asked to approve an $85 million bond measure that would fund repairs and renovations at all of its schools. A school bond measure needs at least 55% approval to pass under state law. 

Similar to the challenges school districts across the state have been facing, Scotts Valley Unified School District is struggling with declining enrollment and budget challenges, teacher retention and the youth mental health crisis. 

To address mental health, the district has taken on several initiatives, including working with a consulting firm in 2022 to improve the district’s inclusivity. At a recent board meeting, the district said staff are preparing to open its on-campus wellness center at the high school within weeks. Students can access the space if they need a brain break or if they’re in crisis. 

Trustees are responsible for guiding the direction of the district through challenges such as budget cuts, hiring a superintendent or placing a bond measure on a ballot – as the board did this year. 

All six candidates sat down for in-person interviews with Lookout to talk about their backgrounds, their goals and why they’re running. 

Gary Redenbacher: Longtime lawyer, parent of SVUSD graduates

Gary Redenbacher, 69, said he decided to run for the school board because he has the time and the expertise to help district schools improve. 

“I’ve had a dedication to the schools for a long time,” he said. “I call myself semi-retired. I have time. If I can help, I like helping.” 

If elected, he said his priorities would include working alongside fellow board members to advocate for a better school funding formula from the state, establishing a policy for cellphone use and other distracting technology, increasing the options for elective courses and finding funding for athletic programs. He supports Measure O, the district’s bonding proposal. 

Originally from upstate New York, he moved to California when his father got an engineering job in Silicon Valley. Redenbacher earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Cruz and a law degree from UC Law San Francisco. 

While in law school and just before his kids were born, he worked starring in his grandfather Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn commercials. He said making the commercials “was always fun” and he was in about 80 of them.

He and his wife moved to Scotts Valley 30 years ago, and for just about as long, he’s been a lawyer working on cases involving real estate, construction and landlord/tenant issues. He has a general contractor’s license, but it’s currently inactive. 

Both of Redenbacher’s kids went through Scotts Valley Unified schools. His wife taught at the middle school, and he coached soccer and volleyball at both the middle school and high school. His daughter is now the head volleyball coach at the high school. With his experience in law and his contractor’s license, he was on the middle school construction consulting committee for one year. 

“We were advising on how we thought the middle school should be renovated,” he said. “There was another general contractor there. I think a lot of our suggestions were eventually taken, not all of them.” 

For the past 25 years, Redenbacher has served on the Council for Children at the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law. He’s currently chairman of the group, which advocates for new legislation around protecting children – such as limiting cellphone use in schools. Redenbacher said its work helped pass the state law requiring minors to wear helmets when cycling more than 20 years ago. 

Redenbacher has been endorsed by the district’s teachers union, the Scotts Valley Education Association (SVEA). Julie Maxwell, union co-president, said workers have endorsed three newcomers for this election. 

“I think the biggest challenge is communication between the school board and the teachers union,” she said. “In the past, we haven’t had a close connection with them, and that’s what we’re looking to encourage with our new endorsements.”

Michael Schulman: Incumbent and current board president

On the board since 2008 and the current board president, Schulman, 66, considers himself the candidate with institutional experience and knowledge that will keep the board steady. 

If reelected, his goals include finishing up infrastructure improvements if Measure O passes and continuing the district’s efforts to improve inclusivity. 

“I’m positioning myself as kind of the stability candidate to get us through this election cycle, and keep the momentum going of what we’ve been doing,” he said. 

Originally from the Chicago area, Schulman moved to California to study martial arts when he was 23 years old. 

The company he started working for while in Illinois – Underwriters Laboratories – also had offices in Santa Clara, so he was able to transfer. He’s worked for the firm for more than 45 years in product safety regulations, specializing in lighting and exit signs. 

“Anytime you go on to a place, you see an exit sign,” he said. “The reason, allegedly, you can see it and perceive it is because of the requirements we put out, which dictate how bright it has to be, the size of the lettering. There have been a lot of technological changes over time.” 

He moved to Scotts Valley in 1986, and soon after served one term on the city council from 1992 to 1996. He then ran for a seat on the school board and has served on the board since 2008. His kids went through Scotts Valley schools and graduated from Scotts Valley High School in 2015 and 2018. 

Schulman said he considered not running for the board this year because he thinks it’s important that it have members with kids currently in the schools. 

“My kids have aged out. My outlook and my perspective on the district is different than those whose kids are still in the school,” he said. “I really love the institution itself, and I enjoy the governance side of it, but it’s important that we have leadership that’s also engaged emotionally at the school level.” 

He kept his papers for the election filed, however, as he felt that not enough candidates who are parents stepped forward to run with the right qualifications. 

“If I had seen three very qualified candidates with their names on the ballot before the filing period ended, I might have pulled my name,” he said. 

Lookout asked Schulman for his thoughts about the teachers union endorsements for newcomers and no incumbents. The union said teachers hoped for better communication than what current board members provided, so its members endorsed newcomers. 

“I don’t know what communication they’re looking for. Several years ago, earlier in my career, I met with the SVEA president, vice president a couple times,” said Schulman. “It wasn’t really a productive conversation. It was just kind of them wanting to have someone to bitch to. They felt they weren’t being heard by the superintendent at the time. They were being heard, they just weren’t getting what they wanted.” 

Erica Turzak: Newcomer, parent and consultant

As a parent and a business consultant, Turzak, 47, wants to help strengthen the schools and thinks she’s an eager and quick learner who can help bring positive change. 

“My willingness to say I don’t yet know what I don’t know, and to be open to the learning process [makes me the right candidate],” she said. “And that I do not assume I can walk in on Day 1 and uproot everything that’s been in place and just be like this is the way it is. I plan to be a team player.” 

Turzak and her husband and two kids moved to Scotts Valley in 2019 for his job with Poly, formerly Plantronics. Turzak grew up on the East Coast and worked in Manhattan and New Jersey for Toys R Us. For the past four years, she’s been working as a business consultant for startups and small businesses. 

“I love startup companies, watching an entrepreneur go through that light-bulb moment where everything starts to come together,” she said. “Helping them go from concept to shelf, usually with products, largely baby products, because that’s come from my previous experience of Babies R Us and Toys R Us. It’s been really rewarding.” 

Outside of work, she has a fourth-grade son at Vine Hill Elementary and 11th-grade daughter at the high school. She has been class parent and PTA member at Vine Hill and PTA president at the middle school, and has had roles in the high school parent club and other school groups. She’s helped fundraise and organize events. 

Like most candidates, Turzak said some of the biggest challenges the district faces are declining enrollment and the budget, as well as the school facilities. She also wants to support the district’s efforts on creating a more inclusive environment, like expanding the Hope Squad peer support program and opening the wellness center. 

She supports Measure O to renovate aging school infrastructure and sees it as a way to help retain and attract students to the district. Turzak said she also wants to continue advocating for better pay for teachers and staff and hopes to have strong communication with the teachers union – which endorsed her in this race. 

Tuka Gafari: Newcomer, computer programmer and parent

Gafari, 55, says he wants to be on the board because he is a fast learner and can help the district improve its budget challenges. If elected, he hopes he can figure out how to better fund the schools and wants to encourage earlier financial education in the schools. 

“I like to investigate and find out. From the outside [of the school board] I don’t know if I can do it. I can try, but right now I want to throw my hat in,” he said. “And also work with [board members] to find out what’s going on, where’s the money going, how can we petition for the money from the state.” 

Born in San Jose, Gafari recalls spending a lot of time in the Santa Cruz area when his dad and partner co-owned the Cheese Factory on 17th Avenue in Live Oak. He worked there briefly over the summer between high school and college. 

He lived in Aptos from 2005 to 2019, when he moved to Scotts Valley. Gafari has two kids attending Brook Knoll Elementary, one 9 years old and the other 7. 

Gafari has a wide range of interests and professional skills – from working as a freight locomotive engineer running trains for Union Pacific railroad and in real estate to his current work as a contractor for ERG-Yoh, working at Google as a Unix system administrator. 

“When I was 4 years old, I got a train set,” he said. “Loved trains since I was a kid, but my dad said go get your computer stuff before and you can do anything you want [after].” 

Other items Gafari said he plans to address if elected are banning cellphones in schools and developing a teacher housing program to help retain teachers. He also said he’s uncomfortable with schools having all-gender bathrooms as the only option. 

“I don’t think that they should be boys and girls in the same bathroom,” he said. “But I think what we can do is come up with solutions. So I’m not advocating for only boys and girls. Only that we can have a third bathroom created.” 

Gafari was the only Scotts Valley school board candidate who expressed political ambitions beyond the school board. A Republican, Gafari said he plans to vote for former President Donald Trump in November. 

“I’d love to go up to the state level,” he said. “But I need to be successful down here.” 

Mitali Weiglein: Appointed incumbent, parent and behavioral health manager

Weiglein, 38, was appointed to the board in January 2023 and feels as though she’s finally gained a good foundational understanding of the district. 

As a parent of two children in the schools, she wants to continue to guide the district through its challenges, especially now that she’s become more knowledgeable about its inner workings. 

“I’ve already gotten a good start, and it would be a shame to let that go to waste. I’ve already learned so much,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do.” 

Weiglein says she’s not shy about asking questions and she’s determined to continue to make the schools more inclusive and expand mental health services. As a person who was severely bullied during her childhood, experienced mental health challenges and is an immigrant, Weiglein said these issues are very important for her. 

Originally from India, she moved at 17 to live with her older sister for her final year of high school in Los Altos. 

“It was very different. It was quite a big culture shock,” she said. “I learned the hard way what double spacing meant on a paper.”

She then studied at the University of Massachusetts Amherst before returning to Los Altos. She worked for a few years as a bus driver in a retirement community. In 2016, she started working for Salud Para La Gente as a clinic manager but continued living in San Jose. She’s been working in the behavioral health department there since April 2022. 

Weiglein and her family moved to Scotts Valley in August 2021, when her oldest child started kindergarten. Now her daughter is in third grade and her son is in first grade at Brook Knoll Elementary.

If elected, she hopes to continue addressing district challenges including declining enrollment, improving facilities – she supports Measure O – and teacher retention and recruitment.

She wants to encourage the district to consider creating an internship program to get teachers as soon as they come out of undergraduate programs and also support new teachers with a mentorship program. Weiglein said if the district can afford only entry-level salaries, then maybe the district should focus on hiring more entry-level teachers. 

Weiglein said that if she’s reelected, she will work to earn an endorsement from the teachers for a term in the future if she were to run again. 

“I am disappointed at not receiving the endorsement from the teachers union this time around. But I understand that they have their own priorities for what they would like to see in a board member,” she said. “I have always been supportive of teachers and if I am elected this November, hopefully they will get a chance to see that for themselves and I will earn their endorsement in four years should I choose to run again.”

Stephanie Espinola: involved community volunteer, former district instructional aide

Espinola, 59, said she would bring decades of hands-on experience in the Scotts Valley community to the school board. 

Espinola has been a Scotts Valley resident for 50 years and went to Brook Knoll Elementary and Scotts Valley Middle School. She graduated from Harbor High School because Scotts Valley High School hadn’t been established yet. Her two kids also went through the district’s schools. 

She says she’s running to help make a difference in the district in a new capacity. 

“I’m so passionate about children and teachers, and very passionate about working with the community on how I can make a difference,” she said. “I believe I can make a difference.” 

Espinola was an instructional aide in the middle school, where she worked with special education students for about seven years. She also volunteered as PTA president for 15 years. 

If elected, she wants to address student and staff retention, continue to improve the school’s climate of inclusion and improve the school facilities. She supports Measure O. Espinola also wants to focus on increasing teacher salaries. The teachers union endorsed Espinola in this race. 

Espinola has spent years volunteering with organizations such as anti-bullying I’m Kinder Than That and local sorority Santa Cruz Omega Nu. Last year, Espinola was the chairperson for the Omega Nu Ducky Derby, which raised $100,000 for local nonprofits. 

She also started Barbie Care and Share Northern California about six years ago. She receives donated Barbie dolls – many in bad shape – and refurbishes them and donates them to organizations such as the Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center, Jacob’s Heart and the Dominican Hospital pediatrics department.

“I think what I bring to the table is I’ve lived here pretty much my entire life. I’ve been entrenched in the community for a lot of my life – 26 years I’ve been involved in schools, hands-on, in the trenches, worked with the teachers, worked with parents and been PTA president for 15 years,” she said. “I don’t have all the answers, but just from my experience and my involvement working with teachers, students and community members – I feel like that’s the one thing I bring to the table.” 

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