When his fourth term expires in a few weeks, Chris Norgaard will have served on the San Marino Unified School District Board of Education for 17 years — and, apparently, that is enough for the longtime community volunteer, who announced this week that he will not be a candidate in the Nov. 3 election
“For the past 17 years, I have been consumed by service on our school board,” Norgaard said. “Prior to that, with the Schools Foundation, the school district’s budget advisory committee and other civic and support groups. And I have very reluctantly decided not to seek reelection to a fifth term in November.”
Which means that the SMUSD will have two new board members, as Lisa Link previously said she will not defend her post after two terms on the panel. Jane Chon, Michael Killackey and Jesse Hong have announced their candidacies for the two seats, for which the filing period closes on Friday, Aug. 7.
Norgaard was first elected in 2003 and reelected in 2007 and 2011. He was returned to office without election in 2015, when he and Link were unopposed. Their terms were extended by one year in 2017 to help the district comply with state law requiring school board elections to align with general election dates, under applicable circumstances.
“This decision is incredibly difficult in heart and mind because of my close relationships with current and former students, families, faculty members, administrators and board members and because major projects in which I am now involved will help determine our future,” Norgaard said.
“We are now in the most crucial period in our district’s history. Our future financial stability will be on the ballot in March and in many other ways as well. Our ability to remain competitive and place our students in the colleges and universities they deserve will depend on near-term choices of people and programs.”
Norgaard served multiple terms as board president, vice president and clerk. He is a founding member of the athletics and academics advisory committees, and has received several honorary service awards, including the PTA’s Very Special Person Award. He has also served as the board’s legislative liaison and its liaison with the city of San Marino. An attorney, Norgaard has also helped coach San Marino High School’s mock trial and speech and debate teams.
He was forced to navigate a challenging course when, in 2018, he faced harassment allegations — consistently denied by Norgaard — stemming from interactions with two women who worked for the district. No charges were ever filed against Norgaard. A lawsuit he filed against the SMUSD, its superintendent, an assistant superintendent and board members at the time was dropped in an agreement with the district.
The agreement also introduced a new code of conduct that significantly restricted board members’ ability to interact with school faculty and staff members during school hours.
During Norgaard’s current term on the board, his wife, Maureen, died after a battle with cancer. He has an adult son and daughter and plans to remain involved in the district and community.
“I will continue to work with our city, to serve on the board of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association and to lobby elected officials on our behalf,” Norgaard said. “I will therefore participate as much as I can in the campaign for the November election. I may even be sounding like a candidate — I just won’t be a candidate. I strongly urge any willing and highly qualified candidates to join those now in the field by the deadline of Aug. 7. For the foreseeable future, a seat on the school board will be and should be your ‘day job.’ But the satisfaction of service and the maintenance of our schools and community will be worth it.”
Norgaard’s parting comment echoed that of a fellow former community servant.
Said Norgaard: “On Sept. 12, 1962, President Kennedy announced that we would put an astronaut on the moon and return him safely to earth before the end of the decade. The president said it would require new alloys not yet invented, but we would invent them. He said that we choose to go to the moon and climb the highest mountains of life not because those things are easy, but because they are hard, because those are challenges we are willing to accept and unwilling to postpone. True then; true today.”
