Meet Nuh Kimbwala – District Area 1 Candidate for the Carpinteria Unified Board of Trustees

Nuh Kimbwala has worked in public education for more than 20 years as a teacher and administrator at the elementary and secondary school levels, including Colton Joint Unified School District in San Bernardino County, and Harding School in the Santa Barbara Unified School District.

Months after he was hired at Harding in August 2012, Kimbwala was placed on administrative leave for an alleged assault on a special education student. He was not charged. The district later paid Kimbwala for the remainder of his contract before removing him from his position, according to Noozhawk reporting at the time. 

In light of his recent candidacy, Kimbwala denied the 2012 allegations to CVN, stating, “There is simply no documentary evidence that I have ever done anything inappropriate, illegal or unethical with respect to my work and four-week time at Harding.”

Introduce yourself and tell the community why you are running for the Carpinteria Unified School District Board of Trustees. Speak on any experience you bring to the table.

I’m Nuh Kimbwala and I’m running for the Carpinteria Unified School Board for Trustee Area 1, Summerland, because my family believes in the most robust public school education our state and district can afford to provide. We believe we owe it to ourselves and all our friends, neighbors and the future of our communities and our great state of California to get the highest possible return on investment of our current and future tax dollars. 

I’m not a career politician, and I know that if I am elected and if we can’t collaboratively solve and resolve systemic issues and problems in two terms, then they may not be solvable. I am asking our local community voters to allow me to lead, govern and put my 20 years of classroom teaching and district administrative experience, 15-year combined board presidency experience and 10-year community volunteer service experience to the test. 

The school district has faced a number of pressing issues in the past two years, particularly related to Covid-19 community levels and protocols. What do you see as the school district’s and students’ most important issue, and why? 

I am the board president of both the Carpinteria Valley Little League and the Summerland by the Sea Homeowners Association. We were all impacted, and I had to lead and govern through extraordinary unique challenges presented by Covid-19. The amount of uncertainty and adversity was unprecedented to say the least. We are super proud of how our boards and staff responded in these critical moments and aftermath especially when local policies appeared to be changing weekly or by the hour of the most recent press release. 

We believe the single most pressing issue remaining is school safety in all areas, including mental and physical health, wellness and self-care. Absolutely zero students and staff can learn in environments they don’t feel safe or comfortable in. 

The second prioritized issue is our current student achievement data. The recent trends and trajectory for our district are not remotely proportionally close to our tax base “investment.” Frankly, they’re frightening! Our student achievement data is not sustainable for the future of our city, county and state. This long-standing trend was evident almost a decade before Covid-19 and has not been sufficiently addressed. 

We have yet to deploy thoughtful, systematic sustainable plans, training and professional developments, interventions and corrective actions equal and above to our rate of regression while raising our objective, merit-based competitive world-class standards. We all have financed and deserve better.

Reflect a recent school board decision. Would you have made a different decision? Why or why not? 

I may have questioned the timing and/or need to dismiss or release our current CAUSE Union President Jay Hotchner, based on the limited information available to the public at this time. 

My reasoning includes the school district continuing to struggle with finding and completing the process of hiring essential staff, who may come and join our CAUSE membership. The district has also struggled with reaching mutual agreement in the current collective bargaining agreement with our CAUSE membership; reaching settlement, resolution or absolution in multiple current and potential pending future litigation with our CAUSE membership and struggled with inviting, recruiting and retaining high-caliber staff while deploying our CAUSE membership to aid us in these crucial vital efforts for all our sustainability. 

As a matter of fact, I believe both Hotchner and his lovely wife are both educators in the district and have placed their children in our schools. Strategically we have yet again placed ourselves in an inopportune position to at least leverage our strengths while mitigating “collateral damages” and risk.

I’m confident that given the information, evidentiary documents, time and opportunity I could state more reasons, however as a current board member and multiple board president, we are always in the position of advocating to solve and resolve problems, while minimizing risk and increasing sustainability legally and fiscally. I know the overwhelming majority of our families, friends, staff, neighbors and community have a larger appetite for solutions and permanent resolutions than mediocrity and excuses. Thank you for your time and consideration. Please exercise your right and duty to choose wisely and vote. 

Editor’s note: C.A.U.S.E. union president Jay Hotchner was placed on administrative leave in September 2022 and will remain on leave for an unspecified period. Carpinteria Unified School District Superintendent Diana Rigby declined to comment on personnel matters or how long Hotcher would be on leave.