New Trustee Appointed to Cypress School Board

Carrie Hayashida, a two-time candidate for Cypress City Council, has landed a role in public office after all.

Hayashida has been appointed to the Cypress School District Board as a Trustee, to fill the seat vacated by Brian Nakamura after he resigned in March.

“It is my distinct honor to be appointed as the newest Cypress School Board Member, serving Trustee Area A," Hayashida wrote in a statement. "I look forward to connecting with students and parents, working with administrators and faculty, and shaping the future of elementary education with my fellow Trustees."

Cypress School District has six elementary schools and serves roughly 3,400 students in Cypress and La Palma.

According to the district, there were four applicants for the position on its board. Following interviews during a special meeting on May 6, 2024, the board voted unanimously to appoint Hayashida to fill the vacancy. Hayashida will hold the position until the November 5, 2024 election, when she can officially run for the seat.

If she runs, it won't be her first time as a candidate.

In 2022 and 2020 Hayashida unsuccessfully ran for the Cypress City Council. In the 2020 election, Hayashida finished just behind Anne Hertz (Mallari) and Frances Marquez, racking up more than 6,000 votes, barely missing a win of one of the two at-large seats.

Upon the resignation of council member Stacy Berry on July 5, 2021, there were calls from residents, officials, and even candidates who’d been beaten by Hayashida to appoint her to the post, given the public support she had earned in the previous year’s balloting.

The council instead instituted a selection process and ultimately selected Scott Minikus, a retired Long Beach law enforcement officer to fill the seat. Since then, Minikus has won an election for a full term and is currently the mayor of the city.

Hayashida has lived in Cypress for 28 years and is the mother of three children. Her kids were students at Steve Luther Elementary School, which is part of CSD. They went on to study at Walker Jr. High School and Kennedy High School both in the Anaheim Union High School District.

Hayashida enjoyed serving as an active volunteer at all three schools, according to a district news release. She is also the Chief Executive Officer of Vision Resourcing Group, which is described as a "nonprofit educational ministry that provides resources to individual Christians and ministry leaders," according to its website.

In a recent interview, Hayashida said since things did not work out with her campaign for council, even her career had taken a turn that makes the education post perhaps more relevant.

“I joined an organization that is more education-based and in joining that, I’ve been doing some research recently,” she said. “So, when the opportunity to learn how the school board works at the elementary level, I thought it was in line with what I’m doing and decided to see if the door would open for me,” said Hayashida.

It did.

“I am excited to learn more about our schools and how I can make a difference, maybe by exposing kids to different careers at earlier ages to create smoother transitions to junior high school,” she said.

For now, however, said Hayashida, she’s just taking it all in and learning as much as she can.

“I’m happy,” she said. “And so far, everybody’s been very welcoming, so it’s probably where I am supposed to be.” The board typically meets on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the board room

Elsewhere in Orange County, the Anaheim Union High School District is now looking to fill a vacancy on its Board of Education following the death of trustee Anna Piercy. The board is expected to make the appointment at a June 13 meeting.

The Orange Unified School District recently made two provisional appointments to its school board following a successful recall in the March 2024 primary election.