Connie Stone was appointed to the IUSD Board of Education and will be replacing Paul Bokota as the representative of the Northwood area for the 2024-28 term.
Starting in December when she takes office, Stone will be responsible for overseeing policy changes and initiatives within IUSD, approving budget requests and developing curricula alongside the other members of the board. Stone was also previously the president of the Irvine Unified Council PTA, where she oversaw the district’s 42 PTA sites.
“I decided to run, and because I’ve been a PTA volunteer for a long time, I know a lot of the members of the district,” Stone said. “I was lucky enough that no one ran against me, so that means I’ll just be appointed.”
With all three of her children graduating from Northwood, Stone has been involved in Irvine schools for over a decade, including currently as the PTA President of San Joaquin Creekside.
“It starts out when your kids go to school and you want to know what’s going on with them,” Stone said. “I started doing PTA when they were in elementary school. I really enjoyed supporting them, and then their classroom and their school and then the school district. It just gets bigger and bigger.”
Meanwhile, Bokota will be stepping down from his role after serving three terms to prioritize his family and work as a lawyer. Bokota expects that much of IUSD’s success will continue in his absence due to the close bond and trust between board members.
“In the 12 years I’ve been here, there was never a time when I didn’t trust my colleagues or didn’t like them,” Bokota said. “Connie will fit in very well into that and will continue that tradition of collegiality and trust amongst the board members, which is another reason that she will be an excellent fit for the position.”
Stone hopes to implement changes during her term that improve student experiences at smaller, less funded schools that may not have the same opportunities as Northwood.
“San Joaquin Creekside doesn’t have as many clubs as you have at Northwood, and they don’t even have prom every year,” Stone said. “I’d really like to see some of these underrepresented groups have more opportunities and be more interconnected with each other, you guys and with other schools like Portola and Irvine.”
To learn more about each of the IUSD Board of Education members, visit https://iusd.org/about/board-education/meet-board-education-1.