The Portola Valley School District school board chose district parent Kimberley Morris Rosen as the board's new member at a public meeting on March 27. Morris Rosen takes the seat of Michael Maffia, who resigned in early March.

The board voted 4-0 to appoint Morris Rosen, an attorney at KMR Law, after interviewing four candidates and discussing the interviewees, all in open session. No one came forward to speak during the board's public comment section on the topic.

Morris Rosen took her new board chair for the remainder of the meeting after taking the oath of office.

Morris Rosen, who holds a bachelor of arts degree in history from Princeton University and law degree from Stanford University, has four children, the oldest of which is a kindergartner at Ormondale School.

At KMR Law, Morris Rosen's clients include The Primary School, an East Palo Alto-based tuition-free private school. The school strives to integrate education and health care to better serve low-income children and families. Priscilla Chan, wife of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, founded the school.

School board member Karyn Bechtel said it would be valuable to have a new board member with a background in education.

"It's good to have someone who's worked in this realm before," Bechtel said. "How many times do you get a potential board member (like Morris Rosen) who has experience with Ed Code?" California Education Code, or Ed Code, is the state's collection of laws that dictate how K-12 public schools are run.

During the interview, Morris Rosen noted that it's a key moment for the district, as it chooses a new superintendent and implements Measure Z, a $49.5 million facilities bond measure. A strong board is needed during these changes, she said.

Morris Rosen was associate general counsel for AltSchool, a San Francisco-based education and technology company, prior to her role at KMR Law. She is also co-chair of the Ormondale Book Fair, a kindergarten reading helper, a Girl Scout troop leader and a member of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Ambassadors Board of Directors.

Board member Brooke Day said Morris Rosen stood out to her as someone who is "very calm" and "warm," and seems to be "very approachable." Morris Rosen gave "very clear-headed" responses, she said.

Six people applied for the position. Applicants Terry Lee and Christopher Lyle withdrew their applications in the days before the board meeting, according to the district. The board interviewed the remaining four applicants: Morris Rosen, Virginia Bacon, Anne Fazioli-Khiari and Helen Wolter.

In a March 6 email to the board, Maffia announced he was stepping down from his post effective immediately, citing increasing work demands that made continuing his role on the board unrealistic. Maffia's term was to end in December 2020. The board voted at a March 6 meeting to fill the vacancy by appointment.

In a district statement in early March, Superintendent Eric Hartwig thanked Maffia for "his dedication to the improvement of the district," especially the development of the district's facilities program.

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