Community member and educator Jose Paolo Magcalas was unanimously selected this week by the Anaheim Union High School District board to represent the district’s Area 3.
Magcalas has been appointed to fill a vacancy left by longtime Area 3 Trustee Katherine H. Smith, who resigned from her seat effective Sept. 29 after a decades-long tenure on the board.
Magcalas will serve through the November 2026 general election, when the seat will appear on the ballot. Until then, he’ll represent the area encompassing Magnolia High School, Savanna High School and Loara High School — his alma mater.
“Being a board member is a huge responsibility. We are responsible for about half a billion dollars in our budget, 3,000 employees, 25,000 students and we are the governing body to make the final decisions brought to us by the superintendent,” board President Brian O’Neal said. “I think this is my fourth or fifth appointment that I am going through as a board member and I can say Paolo highly, highly stands out in his qualifications.”
Magcalas ran for the Area 3 seat in 2024, coming in second to Smith.
Magcalas is a Loara High graduate with “deep roots” in the Anaheim community, Trustee Jessica Guerro said.
His experience in education includes serving as an AUHSD instructional aide, AUHSD teacher and, currently, as an assistant professor in the education department at Cal State LA.
Magcalas also served eight years on the Anaheim Elementary School District board, also representing Area 3 before leaving office in December 2024.
“Thank you so much for your trust in me to serve in this important seat in this important role. I know there are many challenges ahead within schools,” Magcalas said after his appointment. “But I want to tell the community that first and foremost, I love you, and I will fight every day for this community that I love since I was here in the first grade.”