MISSION VIEJO : R. Kent Hann Will Leave School Board

Saying he has reached his “personal term limits,” longtime Saddleback Valley Unified School District Board of Education member R. Kent Hann recently announced that he won’t seek reelection this November.

Hann, 45, a Laguna Hills resident first elected to the board almost 10 years ago, said there was nothing urgent behind his decision, just a desire to devote more attention to other areas.

With his three children still attending school in the district, Hann said he’ll stay involved.

“We’re not going away,” he said. “We intend to stay.”

In a recent letter to his colleagues, Hann reflected on his years on the board.

“No one board member ever accomplishes anything by himself, but in concert with my colleagues, community members, parents, kids, we have changed the very essence of our children’s education,” he wrote. “As a businessman, I thought it reasonable that a high school diploma guarantee a prospective employer an employee who can read, calculate and think. I have had the pleasure of being part of a team setting some very high standards.”

Hann, who along with his wife, Nelda, owns and operates a direct-mail advertising firm, noted that since his terms began he has seen the opening of a new high school, two elementary schools, a state-of-the-art stadium complex and one of the top high school track and field facilities in the country.

With recent budget problems, Hann said, the district is now forced to undergo a series of changes.

“We built some great programs,” he said. “Now it hurts to go back and take some of them out.”

With his upcoming free time--work on the board takes at least 60 hours a month--Hann said he plans to write some fiction based on his military experience, including his continued service as a colonel in the Army Reserve.

“This allows me to grow,” he said.

Hann’s seat will be one of three up for election this fall. Board President Raghu P. Mathur, who was first elected the same time as Hann, and board member Marcia L. Birch, who is finishing her first four-year term, have both said they will seek reelection.