PORT HUENEME : Oxnard Librarian Joins School Board

An Oxnard school librarian has been selected to replace outgoing Trustee Cheryl Hamilton on the Hueneme Elementary School District board, officials said Thursday.

Shala Gudino, 48, was chosen from among eight candidates interviewed by the Hueneme school board earlier this week, officials said.

Gudino, scheduled to be sworn in at the board’s Monday meeting, is stepping down from her job as school librarian and clerk at Hollywood Beach School to accept the position. She said it would have been a conflict of interest for her to vote on school employee contracts otherwise.

“That’s fine with me, because I wasn’t working for the money,” she said.

Gudino has long been active in the district. Her two daughters, now 12 and 19, attended Hueneme district schools. And Gudino said she served on many PTA committees over the years.

She will serve the three years remaining of a four-year term vacated by Hamilton, who moved out of the district. Gudino’s focus will be on computer education, because she believes every student must be familiar with technology to succeed.

In her application, she wrote: “New methods of teaching paired with technology will open windows to the world for our children that we can only imagine today.”