Dear Palm Valley School Community,
The Palm Valley School Board of Trustees is pleased to announce that Jason Huskey Sr. (Parent ‘23) was appointed Chairperson of the Board of Trustees at our Annual Meeting held this evening, May 22nd, 2018. He will succeed Gail Gordon Kocen (Parent ’15, ’17) who has served as Board Chairperson and President for the past six years.
Jason Huskey is a Captain in the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the Chief of Police for the Cities of Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, and Indian Wells. He has served on the Palm Valley School Board of Trustees since 2012 as Chair of the Committee on Trustees, Development, Risk Management and Audit Committees and as a member of the Executive and Finance Committees. He graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice, received his Master of Public Administration degree from California State University, San Bernardino, and his Juris Doctor degree from Western State College of Law and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2002. Jason and his wife Kelley have a son at Palm Valley School, Jason Jr. Class of 2023.
As the outgoing Chairperson of the Palm Valley School Board of Trustees, I am humbled, proud, and feel extraordinarily privileged to have served as the Board President of a school that has changed so many lives, including the lives of my own sons. I was particularly fortunate to have taken this on when Palm Valley School was in such a strong position to work on so many forward-thinking initiatives. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work with our spectacular Head of School, Susan Rice, and with the very dedicated and visionary members of our Board of Trustees. During my time as President, we developed and implemented an innovative strategic plan, renamed and rebranded our school, mission statement, and values, expanded and built a new Upper School, developed our Early Childhood Education Center, improved curriculum, and rigor across all grade levels, and actualized a Solar Energy System installation slated for this summer.
I always felt the best time to move on from my position as President would be when the school was flourishing, had strong and self-confident leaders, and when successors of obvious depth of talent and universal support were available and ready to take over. Thus, I feel the time is right for this change in our Board leadership. I look forward to the partnership between Susan Rice and Jason Huskey as I know their talents and vision, along with the rest of our Trustees, will advance Palm Valley School to new heights. I look forward to assisting them as I continue to serve on our Executive Committee as Chair Emerita.
I am confident that Jason Huskey is ready to set our next chapter into motion. His official introduction will take place at our Graduation and Promotion Ceremony this June. As my final remarks, I will have the honor to address our graduates one last time and send the Class of 2018 into flight!
With gratitude,
Gail Gordon Kocen
Chair Emerita
Palm Valley School Board of Trustees |