SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments.
Erick Casallas, 33, of Bakersfield, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where he has served since 2011. Casallas has been a teacher at Emerson Middle School in Bakersfield since 2006. He was a teacher at Terrace Elementary School in Delano from 2005 to 2006 and at Ford Boulevard Elementary School in Los Angeles from 2002 to 2005, where he served as a Teach for America corps member. Casallas was Kern County teacher of the year in 2011 and Emerson Middle School teacher of the year in 2008. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Casallas is a Democrat.
Michael Cooney, 69, of Santa Barbara, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where he has served since 2011. Cooney has been a partner at the Investment Group of Santa Barbara since 1997. He was a partner at Price Postel and Parma from 1969 to 1997. Cooney has served on the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission since 2004. He was a member of the EdFund Board of Directors from 2006 to 2010 and served on the California Student Aid Commission from 2000 to 2004, where he was chair from 2001 to 2004. Cooney was a member of the Montecito Union School District Board of Trustees from 1977 to 1988. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cooney is a Democrat.
Linda Darling-Hammond, 61, of Stanford, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where she has served since 2011. Darling-Hammond has been a professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education since 1998. She founded the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education in 2008 and the School Redesign Network of Stanford University in 2000 and served as the faculty sponsor for the Stanford Teacher Education Program from 1998 to 2005. Darling-Hammond was executive director at the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future from 1994 to 2001. She was a professor at the Teachers College, Columbia University and co-director at its National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching from 1989 to 1998. Darling-Hammond received the 2011 Brock International Prize in Education and the 2009 McGraw Hill Prize for Innovation in Education. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Darling-Hammond is a Democrat.
Kathleen Harris, 54, of Sebastopol, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where she has served since 2011. Harris has been a teacher in the Piner-Olivet Union School District since 1986. She was regional director of the California Reading and Literature Project from 1998 to 2009. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Harris is a Democrat.
Nancy Ramirez, 49, of Monterey Park, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, where she has served since 2011. Ramirez has been the western regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund since 2007. She was executive director of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice from 2005 to 2007, where she was managing attorney from 2001 to 2005. Ramirez was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law from 2003 to 2004. She was assistant director of outreach at the California Complete Count Campaign from 1999 to 2000 and was director of U.S. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez’s Washington D.C. Office in 1999 and of her Orange County Office from 1997 to 1998. Ramirez was a staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1991 to 1997 and associate attorney at Whitman and Ransom from 1990 to 1991. She served on the City of Monterey Park Personnel Board from 2003 to 2008. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Ramirez is a Democrat.