Board Member — South Pasadena Unified School District

Over the years I have worked as a classroom teacher, college counselor, and school principal, working with students from K-12. For the last eleven years, I have traveled to schools across California as an Accrediting Team member for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. While I currently work as a school administrator, I started working with youth as far back as my years at SPHS, where I enrolled in the Childcare ROP program, coached youth basketball and was a camp counselor. I was an after-school educator throughout college before going on to earn my teaching credential, my administrative credential and my master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Later, I was selected as a Summer Fellow in Independent School Leadership at Vanderbilt University, and completed coursework in College Counseling from the Teachers College, Columbia University. 

My name is Ruby Kalra, and I'm running for the South Pasadena school board because I believe that every child matters, and that every child deserves to be supported by a team of responsible, caring, and committed adults.

I'm a lifelong advocate for children and public education, and a 15-year volunteer leader in South Pasadena’s public schools.  My volunteer leadership highlights include president of the South Pasadena Educational Foundation (SPEF), president of the South Pasadena Council PTA, president of the South Pasadena Middle School PTA, and the 2018 Golden Apple Award for outstanding service to South Pasadena schools.

I'm also a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric oncologist with three decades of experience, specializing in the treatment of childhood cancers and blood diseases.  My medical career has been devoted to caring for children facing serious illnesses, and working with a team of professionals to ensure that each child's medical, psychosocial and other needs are met.

Additionally, I’m the mother of three boys who have attended South Pasadena schools since kindergarten, with the two oldest graduating from South Pasadena High School in 2016 and 2018, and the youngest a freshman at the high school this year.  I know from personal experience navigating K-12 as a parent of three that there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach to educating our children. All South Pasadena students deserve to be safe and engaged at school, to have a wide variety of courses and extracurricular activities to foster their interests, and to have their needs met for personal growth and wellness.

I'm acutely aware that delivering a high-quality, public education in an ever-changing fiscal environment requires collaboration between parents, teachers, administrators, and the community at large.  I'm proud of my track record of hands-on participation in that process -- from school site councils (Marengo and SPHS), to fundraising (SPEF and PTA), to bond measure and parcel tax campaigns (Measure S and Measure SP), to district oversight committees (Measure S Citizens' Oversight  and LCAP Committees).

I'm also grateful and humbled by the local endorsements I've received to date, including 4 of 5 current school board members, 4 of 5 current City Council members, and hundreds of South Pasadena parents and residents who have put their trust in me to take on this challenging and important responsibility.

I’m a hard-working, team player who is committed to serving the South Pasadena community, and if elected, I will continue to be there for our schools and children.

I am the mother of two fantastic kids, Lily who just graduated from the South Pasadena High School and is now attending college in San Francisco and Kai who is a 6th grader at the middle school. I am also a Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) and am Vice Chair of Research within the Department of Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. I have committed my career to supporting the healthy development of children and adolescents, particularly those most vulnerable. I am am also fully immersed in the latest research about early child and adolescent development. 

In addition, I am the Co-Director of USC’s $36.6 million Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute, one of 66 such institutes funded by the National Institutes of Health. As Co-Director of the SC CTSI, I also oversee the Community Engagement Program, which seeks to engage our diverse and high-disparity communities in clinical and translational research, including patients in clinical trials. Highly innovative approaches to community engagement are currently being developed and evaluated, including use of promotoras as research ambassadors and patient navigators; a virtual character, called “Zippy”, designed to engage pediatric populations in clinical research; and outreach to Hollywood writers of the Screen Actor’s Guild to including storylines related to clinical trials in popular television programs.

Finally, I have served on the South Pasadena Unified School District’s Governing Board for the past 10 years. I am proud of what we have accomplished during my tenure on the Board. All five schools have been designated a California Distinguished School. We have assembled an outstanding team to lead our schools and our district. We have implemented dual language immersion programs in Spanish and Mandarin, and we have developed academic pathways in computer science, engineering, biomedicine, broadcast journalism and the performing arts. Further, voters have overwhelmingly approved three parcel taxes, generating over $2.3 million annually to help ensure fiscal strength and educational opportunity. While our schools have thrived, property values remain high, outpacing neighboring communities. But there is still more work to be done, which is why I am running for re-election. We have initiated strategies to close our district’s achievement gap but we still have more work to accomplish. Upgrades and expansion of our school facilities are now underway and I want to continue to ensure accountability and transparency. Finally, our district is best served by a successful, experienced, cohesive team of Board members who are dedicated to working as a team to strengthen and support the district. I want to continue to contribute to thatv successful team.  

I help businesses improve performance through learning. I've partnered with hundreds of organizations to develop and deploy innovative leadership training solutions that are in use worldwide.

Prior to co-founding my bi-coastal consulting firm DesignArounds, I was director of product development for one of the world’s largest commercial training companies. I also held multiple training leadership roles and was a department chair and professor at Woodbury University.

I was named one of Inc. Magazines top 100 leadership speakers and have received multiple awards including the Global HR Excellence Award for Strategic Leadership from the World HR Congress.

I am the co-author of the Amazon bestseller, Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want, a speaker on a variety of topics, and a regular contributor to many business publications.