A new candidate has joined the Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Trustee Area 4 race, after being qualified by the election officers upon filing on the very last day of the candidate extension period.
Carol Gittens, a Morgan Hill mother of three and professor of Child Studies at Santa Clara University, will face off with fellow challengers Robert Guynn and Jill Provencal for the four-year term.
With current trustee David Gerard electing not seek a second term, the filing period was extended to Aug. 15.
“The opportunity kind of presented itself to me,” said Gittens, 49. “I was approached by the principal of my daughter’s elementary school and immediately knew I was interested.”
Gittens said she was “honored” to have been asked by Principal Mary Alice Callahan to run for the Trustee Area 4 seat because “we’ve been a Barrett since my daughter was in kindergarten and I just love the school and respect the principal there.”
Gittens, a Midwest native who grew up in Southern California, moved to Morgan Hill a little more than four years ago and it was by no mistake.
“I moved here intentionally for the schools. We wanted to raise our daughter in this school district,” said the UC Davis alumna. “The values of this district are my own….I just want to continue to help prepare our students for college and the workforce.”
Name: Carol Gittens
Age: 49
Family: Married to husband Williams with three kids, daughter at Barrett, two in college
Current occupation: Professor of Child Studies at Santa Clara University
Office: none
Past political campaigns: none
Campaign slogan if applicable: I stand for high quality education for all MHUSD students
