Long Beach Unified elects new board president

The Long Beach Unified School District’s Board of Education has elected a new board president.

The board unanimously approved board member Juan Benitez to serve as the president for the upcoming school year, the Long Beach Post reported.

Last year, board member Megan Kerr tried to nominate Benitez as president for this past school year, but that attempt failed. The rest of the board was criticized for not supporting Benitez at the time, including by Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and State Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, the Post reported.

Following the vote to elect him president on Monday, Benitez thanked outgoing board president Diana Craighead “for serving as president of our board during an extremely challenging year. You took some punches, you handled them always with grace and I think honored our district in your service. I want to thank my colleagues for your vote of confidence.”