Submitted Bert McSwain and Priscilla Pike after being sworn in as trustees for the Yosemite Joint Union High School District December 12.

Bert McSwain was sworn in for his fourth full term on the Yosemite Joint Union High School District Board of Trustees December 12. Mr. McSwain was first elected in 1988 and finished the last two years of the previous trustee’s term. He was elected to his first full term in 1990. Mr. McSwain represents the Bass Lake area. He is currently serving as clerk of the board. Priscilla Pike was sworn in for her first term on the board She represents Oakhurst.

During the 14 years Mr. McSwain has served on the board, the district enrollment has grown from just under 700 students to over 1300 this year. He was a member of the board that spearheaded the successful bond election in 1998 and has been involved with the management of the expansion and renovation project at Yosemite High School. During his time on the board, the district has also expanded its use of technology to the point there is at least one computer in every classroom for student use and there is a 4.75-to-1 student-to-computer ratio in the district. Looking back over the past 14 years, Mr. McSwain reflects on where the district has come from “the darkest of dark times” during the recall of board members to the place it is today and where he hopes to see it go in the next four years. He campaigned hard to bring the International Baccalaureate program to Yosemite High School and he continues to be an active supporter. He remembers the “antique” busses at YHS, including a 1938 model, and his efforts to upgrade the fleet. Reduction of power costs was also an important issue for Mr. McSwain. He worked with PG&E to have the school put into a different bracket and he supported the co-generation plants at YHS, further reducing energy costs. Mr. McSwain worked with then-Representative Richard Lehman to acquire property on Quartz Mountain near Coarsegold for the school district. The school has 15 years in which to use the property that had belonged to the federal government. Mr. McSwain hopes to see a school built on the property before that 15-year period expires. When YJUHSD Superintendent Bill McCabe was offered the opportunity to be superintendent of Coarsegold Union Elementary School District (while remaining YJUHSD superintendent), Mr. McSwain fully supported the move. He also supports the study of the two districts merging.

Mr. McSwain keeps a careful eye on the district’s budget, “scrutinizing and questioning” it each year and monitoring it throughout the year. He also enjoys being involved in the interviewing and hiring process for district administrators. Over the next four years, he wants to see the construction project completed; he would like to expand the foreign exchange program for students from other countries and he will continue to monitor the curriculum and textbook selections in the district schools. He would like to establish a schedule of meetings with local business owners and school officials to share information and share ideas. He envisions different groups of six to eight business owners meeting with school administrators every six to eight weeks. Mr. McSwain would also like to send groups of four to five students to Sacramento on a periodic basis to attend meetings of the state legislature and report back to the school and to the board.

Mrs. Pike sees her election to the YJUHSD Board of Trustees as a way to carry forward her longtime interest in education. In 1950 she was a member of the first high school formation committee in the area. She says a group of people spent two to three years visiting the communities in the area talking about the importance of a high school in Oakhurst. “It was a challenge,” she recalls. When they were not able to build a high school here in time for her children, she moved to the coast so they could attend school. She lived in this area as a child and then again in the 1950s and 1960s. She returned in 1989. Mrs. Pike says she is “very pleased with how the school has developed.” She hopes to help develop a closer relationship with the community college during her time on the board. She is very interested in the district’s alternative education programs, commenting that the district is “unique in the state with how we help our students get their diploma.” As a trustee, she plans to work toward a more balanced curriculum “so we can meet all students’ needs with an emphasis on an active relationship with each student so we can best provide the academic studies they need.”