Governance
A Board Committed to Student Success
The California Online Public Schools Board ensures our tuition-free online public school is doing all it can to lead our students toward a bright and successful future.
Our School Board At Work
The California Online Public Schools Board is led by an independent Board of Directors that oversees the school’s operations and ensures that it’s following its goal to help students learn and grow. All meetings of the California Online Public Schools Board of Directors are held telephonically on the Zoom platform. Public input is important and encouraged, please find our Public Comment Policy here and our Public Comment Request Form here. Please see below for additional information and documentation regarding meetings and board members!Â
Board Member Roster
Elaine Pavlich, Board Chair
Elaine Pavlich is a transplant to California over 20 years ago from Pennsylvania. She graduated from Reading High School and worked for The Gap in several locations in a management capacity. Upon moving to Southern California, she met her now-husband and continued to work as Store Manager for The Gap in Huntington Beach until leaving on maternity leave in 1999. Being a stay-at-home mom to Wynnter was Ms. Pavlich’s true passion. Wynnter had been enrolled in the local brick-and-mortar elementary school for first grade and while Ms. Pavlich helped both in the classroom and with lunch tables and recess monitoring, as well as on the School Site Council and with the PTA, she felt that she would rather teach Wynnter at home. That brought the Pavlich Family to CalOPS very soon after the school first opened.
Wynnter graduated from CalOPS in 2017 and is pursuing a career as a make-up artist. During Wynnter’s 11 years enrolled in CalOPS, Ms. Pavlich was a proud and devoted Learning Coach. She has been on the Governing Board of CalOPS for about 10 years, serving at various times in the roles of Secretary, Treasurer, and now Chair. She has proudly been to graduation/promotion ceremonies on behalf of the board and assisted with handing out diplomas to both the eighth graders and seniors. Ms. Pavlich also volunteers with the outreach team to communicate with newly enrolled or families interested in enrolling with a California Online Public Schools School to learn the perspective of the Learning Coach. This communication is done either by email, phone, online live lessons, or in- person meetings.
Diana Rivas, Board Vice Chair
Diana Rivas is an involved parent representative to two children currently enrolled in the California Online Public Schools program. She has a wealth of experience as a manager, team leader, and motivator, including experience in the food service industry. Ms. Rivas has dedicated her life to serving the community, including a local Girl Scout Troop, Venture Crew, local youth sports, church groups, and serving food to those less fortunate. As a Learning Coach, Ms. Rivas understands how children learn differently and how they correlate their growing knowledge to the world around them. Her goal is to continue representing the needs and interests of students and parents. Ms. Rivas started serving as a parent representative in the spring of 2017.
Michael Henjum, Board Member
Mike Henjum is a life-long educator, serving in various private schools in Orange County for the past 26 years as a teacher, coach, and principal. He is currently the Head of Advancement at Saddleback Valley Christian School in San Juan Capistrano. Mr. Henjum earned his B.A. from Vanguard University, M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University, and has completed additional post-graduate work at Portland State University and UC Irvine. Mr. Henjum chose to join this board because of his dedication to schools that provide a rigorous, college-prep curriculum to students and his belief that school choice is an effective way to achieve greater student achievement, with charter schools being one of the most effective vehicles to accomplish this goal. He has also served as Treasurer in past years.
Adam Pulsipher, Board Member
Adam Pulsipher is currently serving as the Assistant Administrator for the California Department of Veterans Affairs- Lancaster Home. He has been working with disabled Veterans since 2015. He has enjoyed a career in the operations of Healthcare Facilities for nearly 20 years. He is small business owner and received his Master’s in Business Administration in 2015. As a father of five children, quality education is a key part of his family’s life. Mr. Pulsipher chose to serve on the Board of Directors to stay connected with the changes in curriculum, teaching styles and modalities, and as a way to serve in his local community. He has been a Board member since 2017.
Eric Wickliffe Jr., Board Member
Mr. Wickliffe is an active-duty Parole Agent with over seven years of law enforcement and community safety experience. In May of 2008, Mr. Wickliffe graduated from California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Psychology. Mr. Wickliffe furthered his academic achievements in May 2015 by graduating with distinction from California State University, Northridge with a Masters in Social Work Degree. He has assisted an array of youth by working as a youth counselor for a juvenile group home and a youth wraparound facilitator for Tarzana Treatment Centers. Moreover, Mr. Wickliffe held the position of Associate Clinical Social Worker/Mental Health Therapist for at-risk youth offenders. Mr. Wickliffe has a deep desire to assist individuals from different communities with achieving lifelong success through educational equity. As a result, Mr. Wickliffe has dedicated his time to aid in the development of students by lending a helping hand in the development of useful teaching modalities, identifying groundbreaking educational curriculum and assisting children with becoming the leaders of future generations.
Patty Pulsipher, Board Member
Patty Pulsipher is the mother of five children, with her youngest a Senior in High School. Education has been very important to her and her family. She is also a Substitute Teacher in the Lancaster School District and the Antelope Valley Union High School District. She has been teaching for the past 9 ½ years. Patty loves to serve her family, friends, church, and community. She was raised in a military family and takes pride in our great nation. Patty enjoys being a Substitute Teacher not only to help her teacher friends but because of the students. She wants them to remember they are smart enough, to work hard, always putting their best effort forward, be kind to others, and learn all they can to be successful adults. She is looking to help CalOPS be the best in educational excellence.
James Stockdale, Board Member
Mr. James Stockdale is the coordinator for the Digital Design and Engineering (DDE) academy, at Knight High School (KHS) where he has taught biology, chemistry, and engineering courses. He was site teacher of the year in 2013, and a National Siemen’s institute STEM fellow in 2014. The DDE academy which he founded and coordinates for was awarded a state of California Golden Bell award for innovation in 2014 and in March of 2017 was 1 of only 9 academies in the state of California recognized as an academy of distinction by the California Department of Education. In 2018 James was recognized with his academy by ACTE for the National Excellence in Action award for the STEM career cluster. While running a very successful academy for over 10 years, James has successfully written or co-written over 2 million dollars worth of successful grants for his school. He also currently serves as a board member on the Mojave Environmental Education Consortium helping to bring environmental education offerings to students of the region.
