Redondo Beach Unified School District School Board Extends Terms

Since 2011, David Witkin has worked as chief executive officer and chief information officer of Beryl Capital Management, LLC, in Redondo Beach, California. Active within his community, David Witkin serves on the board for the K-12 Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD). In 2015, he was elected to a four-year board term.

RBUSD has eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and one high school. It also consists of one continuation school and one adult school. The district remains committed to maintaining high academic excellence, enhancing partnership within the community, and ensuring student and staff safety. It hopes to give all students the skills and knowledge they need to become successful adults. 

The RBUSD Board of Education governs the school district. The board members are elected and serve four-year terms. Each month, the board convenes meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays, except for the months of July, August, and December, when it only has one meeting. These meetings take place in RBUSD’s board room. The general public can attend these meetings and can bring up agenda items or other business issues.

In August 2017, members of the board voted unanimously to lengthen their terms by one year and two months. This allows the board to move elections from March of odd-numbered years to June of even-numbered years. This change begins in 2020, with the hopes of seeing greater voter turnout. Mr. Witkin and Anita Avrick had terms up in 2019, but now they will serve until June 2020.

Volunteer Gardening in the Redondo Beach Unified School District

The CEO of Beryl Capital Management, David Witkin is also a Beryl Heights Elementary School parent who serves on the board of the Redondo Beach Unified School District (RBUSD) as vice president. In this role, David Witkin has orchestrated a number of well-received initiatives including the college-counselor-led “College Savings Nights” seminars and has successfully guided efforts to pass the ballot Measure K, which allowed funding plans to go forward. 

RBUSD maintains a volunteer-driven community presence and more than 150 people recently turned out to pull weeds, replant seeds, and harvest vegetables across nine campus gardens district wide. The day of volunteer activity was organized in tandem with Beach Cities Health District, which helped launch the Live Well Kids and school gardens programs in a decade ago. 

The long term benefits of the programs, which focus on reading food labels and learning about nutrition, are well documented, with student obesity rates declining from 20 percent to 8 percent over their duration. Among the volunteers who turned out at the gardening day at grade schools were local restaurant workers who created a summer salad using freshly picked basil and zucchini. The effort was described as vital in helping kids visualize the “garden to plate” process and really understand where their food comes from.

College Savings Nights Helped Parents Begin to Plan Ahead

David Witkin, CEO of Beryl Capital Management, serves his community on the board of the Redondo Beach Unified School District in California. David Witkin’s expertise as a merger arbitrage hedge fund manager has been an important factor in helping the school district to maintain responsible budgeting. As a member of the school board, Mr. Witkin was instrumental in organizing College Savings Nights in January 2017.

During College Savings Nights, members of the community were invited to hear a consultant with ScholarShare Inc. who shared strategies for saving money for college, specifically addressing 529 plans. The 529 college savings programs are operated by a state or educational institution and are intended to make saving for college easier.

Section 529 plans, created by Congress in 1996, offer a number of tax incentives and advantages. First, the plans offer flexible ownership; anyone can set them up and anyone can benefit from the savings. The plans also offer tax deferred growth and tax free withdrawals. Finally, the plans feature a diverse offering of investments. By setting money aside early in a 529, parents or grandparents can accumulate a good start on their child’s educational fund.

Funds saved through a 529 plan can be used toward any educational institution that meets federal accreditation standards. This includes four year colleges and universities, two year colleges, graduate and doctoral programs, and vocational or technical schools. The funds can also be applied to other school related expenses such as room and board, books, and related technology.