Rialto Unified School Board members take oath of office

The Rialto Unified School District welcomed a new board member, swore in two incumbent board members and underwent its annual reorganization at the Board of Education Meeting on December 16. 

Stephanie E. Lewis, Nancy G. O’Kelley and Joseph W. Martinez took the oath of office to start a four-year term prior to the start of the board meeting. 

Lewis was sworn in by Joanne T. Gilbert, a former RUSD Board Member. She joins the Board of Education as a new member after having won a seat following a successful election on November 3. She replaces Joseph Ayala who decided not to run for reelection, ending his 12-year run on the board.

“It gives me great honor and pleasure to be elected to serve as your next board member,” Lewis said during the swearing-in ceremony. “Thank you, voters. I will serve, and I will do my very best with honesty and integrity.”

Lewis is a parent and long term resident of Rialto. She is a Board Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Pediatric Mental Health Specialist, and Retired Transportation Commissioner for the City of Rialto. Lewis also serves as the High-Risk Infant Follow-up Program Coordinator at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Nurse Consultant for Southern California Easterseals, Child Development Services, and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Phoenix, Graduate School of Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner Program.

The five-member board underwent its annual reorganizing once the public session began. Martinez was voted to be Board President. He replaces O’Kelley as the Board President. Martinez served as the Board Clerk during 2020 and has previously held the positions of president and vice president during his tenure on the board. Edgar Montes, who was a Board Member in 2020, was voted Board Vice President. Lewis earned the position of Board Clerk.

O’Kelley was sworn in by Montes. Martinez was sworn in by RUSD Superintendent Cuauhtémoc Avila. 

Martinez is on his fourth term as a board member, having first been elected in 2008. O’Kelley, who was first elected in 2012, begins her third term on the Board of Education.