FUESD says goodbye to board members Stillman, Masten

Fallbrook Union Elementary School District will be losing two long-serving Governing Board members to retirement this month, and district staff and fellow board members took time at their last board meeting, Nov. 30, to honor the two.

Neither Board President Siegrid Stillman nor Board Member Lisa Masten, who herself is a former board president, sought re-election in 2020. Stillman has served on the board since 2012, while Masten has served since 2004.

“We all said we’re gonna try to do this without tearing up if we can,” Superintendent Candace Singh said, at the tail end of a special meeting on the district’s first interim budget report for the 2020-2021 school year.

Associate Superintendent Bill Billingsley called the two board members’ retirement “bittersweet.”

“On the one hand I’m so excited for both of you to begin your new chapters, but your gain is definitely our loss,” Billingsley said. “Both of you, your steadfast commitment to the students, staff, parents and families of FUESD has been profound.”

Accounting Director Cynthia Martin said she wanted to thank Stillman and Masten, both as an employee of FUESD and as a parent of a child in the district.

“This district is a better place because of your leadership as board members,” Martin said. “Your commitment to the community, to the families, to all students, will be missed.”

Assistant Superintendent Julie Norby remarked on the pair’s dedication.

“When I think about you as board members, I’m touched by your dedication not just to the children of our district but to all of the children of Fallbrook,” Norby said. “You always talk about that, children you see out in the community, you say, ‘they’re all of our kids.’”

Singh, who has been superintendent since 2011, said it has been her “deepest professional honor” to work with board members like Stillman and Masten.

“When I became superintendent, Mrs. Masten was the president of the board,” Singh said. “She has served in this community on this school board for 16 years as a highly effective, highly respected school board member. When I first became a superintendent, I remember it like it was yesterday, walking into your classroom, Mrs. Stillman, and then you went on to become one of the most successful board members this district has seen after so many decades as a teacher and as a community member here.”

Susan Liebes and Caron Lieber, the two remaining board members who have served with Stillman and Masten since 2018, also gave parting words, as did JoAnn Lopez, who has only served briefly with the two, having been appointed to her seat in October following the retirement of former board member Patty de Jong.

“I want to say thank you for me personally to both of you and Mrs. de Jong,” Liebes said. “When I joined the board (you helped) me to find my way; I was barely keeping my head above water with all of the documents and everything.”

Lieber shared a similar sentiment.

“Susan and I, we had no idea, really what we were getting into, not that I regret it, it’s just that it’s much more of a commitment,” Lieber said. “And especially you Siegrid ... you’ve never missed a single event. Every event I ever went to, you were there, either ahead of me or seconds behind me, but you always outstayed me. You gave so much of your heart.”

Lieber continued to commend Masten.

“Lisa, I didn’t get a chance to be under you serving as president, but I’m sure you were exactly the same, that’s probably where Siegrid got her direction from,” Lieber said. “Both of you are so committed. Lisa would sometimes show up here, she would come right from work and be sitting in here because she couldn’t decide ‘should I even go home.’”

Lopez said she felt it was unfortunate she did not get to serve with the retiring pair.

“I’m really sad that I didn’t get to work with you two,” she said. “You sound amazing and the couple times that I’ve met you, I’ve definitely seen those attributes. I hope I can do half the job that you have done here and keep the district working. I do wish you well in your future endeavors and I hope we will cross paths at some point along the road.”

The amount of time Masten and Stillman have been on the board is just the tip of the iceberg.

Masten said she has been with FUESD in varying capacities for 22 years.

“...I started as a room volunteer at Maie Ellis, and then I was on the PTA at Frazier School, I was on the site council at all of our schools, I was on bond committees, and then I worked for the district for five years, and then I went on the board and I started working at the high school,” Masten said.

And Stillman, a former teacher, has served the district for even longer – 44 years, she said.

“I’ve been an employee and serving the families of Fallbrook for my entire adult life,” Stillman said. “So I want to thank everybody. And I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed my time on the board.”

Will Fritz can be reached by email at [email protected].