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The Campbell Union High School District governing board will be one member short on March 23, the day Susan Mayer officially resigns.
On March 2, Mayer told the board that she was leaving to spend more time with her family, which has recently suffered a bout of illness. She has also experienced an increase in her work demands.
Mayer has served more than six years on the elementary and middle school district's governing board.
"It's a huge loss for the district," Campbell District Superintendent Johanna VanderMolen said.
VanderMolen and board president Janet Johnson said Mayer was skilled at working in public policy. Professionally, Mayer is also the associate director of public policy and business analysis at Campbell-based EMQ Children and Family Services.
Along with her work on the board, Mayer was a delegate to the statewide California School Boards Association for two years. She has kept abreast of all state and federal education issues, and has worked with government officials. VanderMolen called her the "eyes and ears" of the district.
"She knew of bills and legislation as it was happening," VanderMolen said. "We would know if we needed to contact our legislators, if we needed to get funds."
During her two-year tenure as board president, Mayer worked on the district's campaign to pass a parcel tax that would have brought $12 million to the district over four years. The measure did not receive the needed two-thirds majority, forcing the district to cut more than $5 million from its budget since the 2001-02 school year.
Mayer admits the measure's defeat was disappointing, but it has not dissuaded her from striving toward improving schools in the district.
She has focused on bettering schools since the 1990s, when property surrounding Marshall Lane Elementary School began to transfer into the Saratoga Union School District.
At the time, Mayer feared the Campbell Union School District would lose the entire school to Saratoga. Mayer began educating herself on policy and property transfers.
She was elected to the Campbell Union High School District board in 1997. Then she was appointed midterm to the Campbell Union School District to fill a vacancy.
"She really served this community very well, with excellence and leadership," Johnson said.
The board will appoint a member until a candidate can be elected in November to serve out the rest of Mayer's term ending 2008.
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