Trustee Nancy Petsuch held back her tears and her hands quivered as her colleagues gave her gifts, applause and thanks on her last night on the local school board earlier this month.
Board trustees and administrators from San Ramon Valley Unified School District honored Petsuch’s service to education at their Nov. 14 meeting. Her term expired this month, and she chose not to run for re-election on Nov. 7.
Newcomer San Ramon resident Rachel Hurd was recently elected to fill the vacant seat and will begin in December.
At the meeting, Petsuch pleaded with Trustee Bill Clarkson to “please” stop taking time to honor her and to go forward with board’s agenda.
“It’s emotionally hard,” said Petsuch, who had been serving in the district for 25 years, on the board and as an employee. “I think it’s a good change. Rachel has kids in the district.”
“I think it’s good to get some new people,” she added.
Petsuch grew up in Ontario, Calif. She graduated from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, where she met her husband. She began working in the district as a bookkeeper at San Ramon Valley High School in 1981 and retired as the district’s information coordinator in 1991.
She ran for the school board in 2002 and won. She said being on the board was always interesting.
“There’s always something new going on,” she said. “I never was bored.”
Nonetheless, she felt it was time to move in a different direction, apart from the district.
“I have been a part of it for so long,” she said. “It’s a real change. It’s finally actually leaving.”
She said she plans to spend as much time as she can with her 16-year-old grandson Andrew, who lives in Santa Rosa.
