School Board Members - Roles & Responsibilities
About the School Board
School Board members are locally elected public officials who are responsible for ensuring that the school district aligns with the values, beliefs, and priorities of their community. The Board works collectively as a governance team with the Superintendent to make decisions that best serve all students in the district. Authority is vested in the Board as a whole, not in individual members. All meetings are conducted in compliance with the Brown Act. For more information, refer to CSBA's Brown Act FAQs.
Responsibilities of the Board
The School Board has five primary responsibilities:
- Setting Direction: Establishing goals and priorities for the district.
- Establishing Structure: Creating an effective and efficient framework, including hiring and evaluating the Superintendent.
- Providing Support: Ensuring resources and policies are in place to meet district needs.
- Ensuring Accountability: Overseeing fiscal and academic performance and ensuring transparency.
- Advocating for the Community: Serving as leaders and advocates for children, public schools, and the district.
The Board also develops and adopts district policies and provides fiscal oversight. One Board member serves as President and chairs meetings; this role traditionally rotates annually among members. To learn more about the role of school boards, refer to the California School Boards Association (CSBA) document, What It Takes To Lead.
Community Input
The Board values input from the community. To contact the entire School Board, including the Superintendent, email board[at]scsdk8.org. Individual email addresses for Board members are listed below their names. If you are interested in running for a School Board position, feel free to contact any current Board member or the Superintendent for more information.
Boris Lipkin (Clerk), Sarah Cassanego (Vice President), Tracy Park (Trustee),
Sarah Kinahan (President), Q Hamirani (Trustee)
New Picture Coming Soon!
School Board Members
Sarah Kinahan - President
- First Year on Board: 2022
- Current Term Ends: 2028
- Committee Assignments: 2+2 Joint City/School District Committee, Facilities Steering Committee, Advocacy
- Other Education/Community Leadership: MA in Cultural Anthropology from Portland State University; BA in Anthropology from UC Berkeley.
- Professional Experience: Sarah has spend the past two decades working for nonprofit and government programs in the early care and education sector in San Mateo County. She began her career at the Child Care Coordinating Council (4Cs), where she ultimately served as the Executive Director for two years, providing strategic directions during the Great Recession. Sarah served as the Coordinator for the San Mateo County Child Care Partnership Council, and advisory body to the San Mateo Office of Education and County Board of Supervisors, from 2020 to 2024. Currently, as Sarah Kinahan Consulting, she provides strategic planning, needs assessments, program startup planning and management, and planning process facilitation. Consulting clients have included Izzi Early Education (Head Start/Early Head Start grantee), First 5 San Mateo County, Build Up San Mateo County, and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
- Personal Info: Sarah and her husband moved to San Carlos in 2009. They have two children - a 7th grader at Central Middle School and a freshman at Design Tech High School. In her free time, Sarah enjoys getting out in nature, making art, and is learning the ukulele. You may see the Kinahan family around town walking their dog, Lucy.
- Email: [email protected]
Sarah Cassanego - Vice President
- First Year on Board: 2020 (appointed 10/1/2020; elected Nov 2022)
- Current Term Ends: 2026
- Committee Assignments: Board Policy Subcommittee
- Other Education/Community Leadership: BA in International Relations from Stanford University, Master of Public Policy from Duke University
- Professional Experience: Sarah has served in a variety of clean energy/environmental policy and program management roles in the public, non-profit, and utility sectors
- Personal Info: Sarah and her husband (a San Carlos native) have lived in San Carlos since 2013 and have two children in SCSD schools.
- Email: [email protected]
Boris Lipkin - Clerk
- First Year on Board: 2025 (appointed 1/16/2025)
- Current Term Ends: 2026
- Committee Assignments: Facilities Steering Committee
- Other Education/Community Leadership: B.A. in Business Economics and Geography from UCLA, Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania
- Professional Experience: Boris has worked on capital programs for public agencies at all stages of delivery from planning through construction. He is currently Vice President of Program Development at STV, a national planning, engineering, and architecture firm. Prior to this role he had been appointed by Governor Jerry Brown and reappointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as the Northern California Regional Director at the California High-Speed Rail Authority where he led all project development activities for 159 miles of the statewide system from San Francisco to Merced County.
- Personal Info: Boris and his wife first moved to San Carlos in 2019 and have two kids in SCSD schools. Boris has served on the Board since January 2025. In his time on the Board, Boris has been a member of the Facilities Steering Committee, TK Expansion Project Taskforce, School Travel Safety Team, and has been the Board's liaison to the PTA Coordinating Council.
- Email: [email protected]
Q Hamirani - Trustee
- First Year on Board: 2025 (appointed 1/16/2025)
- Current Term Ends: 2026
- Committee Assignments: Representative to the San Mateo County Committee on School District Organization, Board Parent-Teacher Association Coordinating Council (PTACC) Representative
- Other Education/Community Leadership: B.S. Electrical Engineering & M.B.A. from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Founder, Board Member, Certified Executive Coach & Live Sound Engineer
- Professional Experience: Chief People Officer, entrepreneur, investor and trusted advisor to founders, boards, CXOs, VCs, and reputed global accelerator programs. Q is a mission-driven, business-minded leader, public speaker, and executive coach with a focus on people strategy and business operations. His experience brings valuable insights to drive sustainable change from his extensive first hand experience across his own startups, venture growth, private equity, management consulting, and Fortune 100 companies across 25+ countries. More info at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamirani/
- Personal Info: Q moved to San Carlos in 2022 with his wife and son.
- Email: [email protected]
Tracy Park - Trustee
- First Year on Board: 2022
- Current Term Ends: 2028
- Committee Assignments: 2+2 Joint City/School District Committee, Board Policy Subcommittee
- Other Education/Community Leadership: B.A. in Mathematical Economic Analysis from Rice University; MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She has served on PTA executive boards and committees, led the Art in Action program at Mariposa and volunteers at her children's schools when possible. In addition to her volunteering, Tracy was also a substitute teacher for the school district.
- Professional Experience: Work experience includes financial analysis for two energy companies, management consulting at Booz Allen Hamilton and leadership roles at two education nonprofits. At Teach For America, Tracy served as the Director of Planning and Operations, guiding its largest region through record growth, and at Teach For All, she was the Managing Director of Organizational Development, helping social entrepreneurs develop their strategic plans, budgets and staff resources.
- Personal Info: Tracy has two children, one still in SCSD and one at Carlmont High School. Tracy and her husband Nara moved to San Carlos in 2018 because of the city’s outstanding schools and she is excited to now be serving as a board trustee.
- Email: [email protected]