Candidate for
Board Member; Mount Diablo Unified School District

My name is Herbert Lee. I am running for the MDUSD school board. I am a parent of 2 current students in the district. I believe that education is an investment that can never be taken away and gives all students the best chance at social and economic mobility.

I have been a community advisory committee member for First Five Concord. I am an active parent at Monte Gardens Elementary School in Concord, and I am the director of marketing and outreach for the Contra Costa Chinese School in Pleasant Hill (volunteer position).

I went to school in the country's second largest school district, LAUSD. I was socially promoted through about 10th grade when I was lucky enough to have teachers recognize my potential. I was reading at about the 3rd grade reading level when I started high school in 10th grade. By the end of 10th grade I was reading at the 10th grade reading level. They offered extra tutoring and mentoring and I was able to get accepted to UCLA after graduation. Even at the top of my high school class, I struggled to compete against other top students at UCLA. After graduating from UCLA with a degree in chemical engineering, I worked in corporate America in various positions for the past 14 years.

I understand how it is to grow up in a school district that has great schools and mediocre schools. I consider myself a success story and hope to replicate similar successes in MDUSD. We have the resources and need to better utilize them. We have great teachers and we can no longer afford to develop them, only to have them leave to neighboring school districts that have better overall compensation.

We have the ingredients that can make a decent school district into a great one. My children go to a school that is a top 5 school. Based on the economic diversity and racial diversity, the school is way over performing. We need to use this as a model and help other schools overachieve.

Please join me to begin this journey for MDUSD.