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# Two new faces fill empty spaces on the Board
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/two-new-faces-fill-empty-spaces-on-the-board/
- Published: 2007-01-31T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:56:53.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Hodgson, Chou offer aid in the academic arena*

SMMUSD HDQTRS Two fresh faces will be charged with filling a pair of glaring voids in the school district on Thursday.

The Board of Education is expected to name Dr. Stephen Hodgson, the highly regarded former CFO of the Glendale Unified School District, as the interim Chief Financial Officer, and Dr. Chiung “Sally”

Chou, an associate special trustee for the Compton Community College, as the new Chief Academic Officer.

The appointment of the new head of finances comes more than two months after former CFO Winston Braham resigned amid suspicions of a rift between himself and Superintendent Dianne Talarico over a proposed 5-percent teacher salary raise. Hodgson will serve in the interim to guide the district through a critical fiscal time as Talarico searches for a permanent replacement to begin July 1.

Talarico did not return multiple calls requesting comment.

Braham abruptly resigned form his post as the assistant superintendent of business services and chief financial officer on Nov. 28\. A few weeks later, at its Dec. 14 meeting, the school board finalized a settlement agreement with Braham in closed session, handing him most of the $189,000 that remained on his three-year contract set to expire in 2008, according to Deputy Superintendent Tim Walker.

The settlement agreement is a standard procedure for high-level positions, said School Board Vice President Oscar de la Torre, who could not comment on why Walker left the district.

“It’s a closed matter and we’re moving forward at this point,” de la Torre said on Monday. “We’re moving on with an interim CFO and we’re hoping that’s going to raise the stability that’s been missing in this transition.”

After serving with the Glendale Unified School District for 15 years, Hodgson, a 1982 graduate of USC, retired last summer. His step out of retirement will earn him up to $125,000 for roughly five months of work with SMMUSD.

“Dr. Hodgson has extensive experience as a CFO and an impeccable reputation,” Talarico said in an official statement released on Tuesday. “A person of his caliber will be a great compliment to the district’s dedicated financial team.”

Hodgson is credited with spearheading the Measure K movement in Glendale in 1997, bringing in about $360 million for school site improvements to the district. He also kept the district in solid form in light of declining enrollment in the past few years, according to Glendale Superintendent Dr. Michael Escalante, who worked with Hodgson during his final three years in the district.

“He is truly a man of high integrity,” Escalante said on Monday.“He is very well trained and really knows his business.

“Those two combinations really hit a home run.” His term with the district is effective through June 30, though he won’t officially be appointed until Thursday’s school board meeting.

The school district has felt a void in the academic arena since former Chief Academic Officer Donna Muncey left along with former Superintendent John Deasy last year. Deasy is currently the superintendent of Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland, and Muncey, whose husband lived in Maryland while she worked in Santa Monica-Malibu, is the operations and management officer for the same district.

“When John went back to Maryland, it was natural for her to follow,” said School Board President Kathy Wisnicki on Tuesday. “She still technically lived in Maryland.”

In her absence, Maureen Bradford, the head of educational services in the district, and a group of other staff members have fulfilled the multiple roles of the CAO.

During her time at Compton Community College as the associate special trustee, Chou has worked in various areas, including student services and academic affairs. One of the most notable characteristics that seem to have caught the eyes of SMMUSD school officials was her efforts in recruiting high school students through a transfer program at the college. Her other efforts in creating a bridge between high schools and college education include acting as a liaison to the Compton Unified School District, where she served as the deputy superintendent for instructional services and the University of California and California State University.

“That bridge between high school and college is important,” Wisnicki said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 31, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/013107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)