Appointed Incumbent · RUSD Board of Trustees
Mike
Ghaffary
RUSD can be a national model for thriving public schools.
Appointed by the Board of Trustees earlier this year to fill an open seat. Running to continue that work.
Election day November 3, 2026
Ballots mail October 5, 2026
Every registered voter in Reed Union School District gets a ballot by mail.
About
- Chosen by the sitting board
- Appointed unanimously to fill an open trustee seat, February 2026
- RUSD parent
- Two students in the district
- Digital access in the pandemic
- Worked with Hamilton Families to get laptops to unhoused students so they could attend school remotely
- Del Mar Mathletes
- Coach
- Commissioner
- Tiburon Parks, Open Space & Trails
- Nonprofit board member
- Year Up Bay Area, ten years
- Student trustee
- Fremont Union High School District, through a labor negotiation and a bond measure
- Board experience
- Roughly 15 public, private, and nonprofit boards
The Reed Union School District Board of Trustees appointed me to fill an open seat earlier this year.
Since then, I have brought math education to the forefront and advocated for reasonable standards for the amount of time our kids spend on screens at school. My vision is for RUSD to be a national model for thriving public schools, grounded in academic rigor and student wellbeing.
As a parent of two RUSD students, I am on our campuses frequently: coaching the Del Mar math club, guest speaking in classrooms at Del Mar, Bel Aire, and Reed, and serving breakfast to our teachers. I have also served on the Tiburon Parks, Open Space & Trails Commission and on the boards of educational nonprofits, including Year Up Bay Area. In high school, I served as the student member of the Fremont Union High School District Board of Trustees.
Professionally, I am a business executive and investor who has served on many company boards. This taught me how a board drives results: financial discipline, hiring and supporting excellent leaders, and holding an organization accountable to clear goals. I bring those habits to every RUSD meeting.
“I have experience in thinking through budgets, thinking through financial planning and projects and being disciplined with resources we've been trusted with, making sure we're using them effectively and we have controls and systems around that.”
I am proud to have graduated from Bay Area public schools, and would be honored to continue to serve our community in this role.
Back to School Night at Del Mar, August 25, 2026 
With his daughter at Reed School 
Sworn in as an RUSD trustee, 2026 
With his family
Since I joined the board
What has changed already.
Technology and screen time
RUSD can set a national example of the right balance of technology use in the classroom. We need enough to prepare kids for a digital world, with guardrails that protect focus, creativity, and time to just be kids. I raised technology use in board discussions at two meetings and encouraged the administration to return with concrete guidelines. That shift is already showing up this year in Back to Basics at Del Mar and in messaging around technology use at Bel Aire.
The math action plan
Every RUSD student deserves to be challenged at their level. High achievers need room to keep climbing, students who are struggling need more support, and the large group in the middle is too easily overlooked. At the April board meeting, I reviewed the district's Math Action Plan and pushed on how we serve all three, so that no student is coasting and none is left behind.
Goals for the school year
Strong schools start with clear priorities and the discipline to pursue them. At a special board study session in April, I helped set the district's goals for 2026-27, with a focus on core academic curriculum and math.
Transparency and accountability
Feedback only matters if it changes something. I'm working to build action plans from the YouthTruth survey results, so that what students and families tell us becomes real change rather than a report that gets filed and forgotten.
The plan
I am working with our community, administration, teachers, staff, parents, and students on our RUSD Strategic Plan. Here are the six pillars of that plan that are making an impact right now for our schools.
Academic Excellence
- Academic achievement overall
- Academic achievement for socioeconomically disadvantaged students
- Instructional strategies: rigor, relevance, and challenge, including through differentiation
- Curriculum framework implementation
- Increasing cross-curricular integration
- Visual and performing arts action plan, year one
Social Emotional Learning
- Wellness and belonging action plan, year one
- Belonging and inclusion in student groups
- Counseling systems
- Developing an age-appropriate, intentional tech-use framework
Staff
- Impactful professional development
- Staff culture, community, collaboration, and purpose
Families & Community
- Caregiver communication improvement
- Report card improvement
- Enhanced parent resources
- Communication tool implementation (ParentSquare)
- Strengthening community partnerships
Facilities & Infrastructure
- Facility bond steps
- AI implementation and AI framework, year two
- New student information system (Aeries for 2027-28)
- Exploring a data management system for 2028-29
Finance
- Balanced budget plan
- Budget advisory revenue enhancement focus
Endorsements
Neighbors who are backing Mike.
Elected and Appointed Officials
- Bryan ChongTiburon Design Review Board
- Chuck HornbrookTiburon Parks Commissioner
- Marilyn NemzerTrustee, Marin County Board of Education
- Isaac NikfarTiburon Town Council
- Jack RyanTiburon Town Council
- Sandeep SahaiTrustee, Reed Union School District
- Holli ThierTiburon Town Council
- Shelby Pasarell TsaiTrustee, Reed Union School District
- Liz WebbTrustee, Reed Union School District
- Afsaneh ZolfaghariTrustee, Reed Union School District
Offices are shown to identify people, not to claim their support. Every endorsement here is personal, and no council, board, or district has endorsed this campaign.
Parents & Community
- Todd and Doris Ahlsten
- Krupa Antani
- Shaida Aytay
- Houman Behzadi
- Ann Mary Belek
- Shirin Birjandi
- Camille Bloom
- Deirdre Bosa
- Kristen Bradshaw
- Sarah Bruni
- Scott Bruni
- Anat Bujanover
- Ran Bujanover
- Lana Burstein
- Seth Burstein
- Jennifer Chen
- Karen Chia
- Camille Bosworth Chong
- Sarah Chow
- Lucy Churton
- Nasealia Cornman
- Robert Cornman
- Jenny Cosper
- Natalya Davick
- Kathryn Day
- Parvaneh Dodds
- Wes Dodds
- Lauren Druyan
- Jessica Etchevers
- Bahareh Farhid
- Gary Fisher
- Gavin Fleischman
- Molly Fleischman
- Dawn Garrison
- Roksana Ghaffary
- Sophia Yang Ghaffary
- Louise Gibbons
- Mike Gibbons
- Pamela Goldman
- Maria and Kalon Gutierrez
- Rebecca Hermanski
- Mickey Hubbell
- Nazee Huff
- Sabra Inslicht
- Wendy Jawor
- Nooshin Navidi Latour
- Kate Leary
- Nate Lee
- Toni Lee
- Danielle Lepe
- Heather Lobdell
- Hanley Ma
- Chenin Malloy
- John Malloy
- Kelly McCoy
- Dana McRay
- Sophie Miles
- Argavan N
- Maysa Namakian
- Christine Neumeier
- Bindu Patel
- Christine Patel
- Vivek Patel
- Ben Paull
- Tracey Paull
- Brian Pokorny
- Dominic Preuss
- Sarah Preuss
- Lindsay Regan
- Tim Regan
- Jessa Reus
- Aaron Robinson
- Nancy Rumsey
- Linda Sapolsky
- Amir Sarhangi
- Suzannah Scully
- Bahram Seyedin-Noor
- Ann Sheridan
- Ory Shirazi
- Julie Ohara Stewart
- Morag Stewart
- Kimberly T
- Marit Taylor
- Dave Thomsen
- Michelle Thomsen
- Brett Tucker
- Victoria Tucker
- Kate Wilentz Wang
- Paul Wang
- Caryn Wu
- Nury Yoo
- Rifkin Young
Get involved
School board races are won on driveways.
An endorsement, a yard sign, an email to five neighbors. In a district this size, that is the whole campaign.
Email five neighborsOpens a ready-written note in your own email. Edit it however you like before sending.
Have a question or an idea? Write to Mike directly.
MikeForRUSD@gmail.com