by Garth Meyer
A man with an architecture degree from Harvard, Jerome Chang was “the IT guy off-screen” during the first two months of the pandemic when his wife taught online, his son went to school online, and he worked online while teaching his preschool daughter to read.
In the last school board election, Chang was part of an eight-person field which brought in directors Dan Elder, Rachel Silverman-Nemeth and Rolf Strutzenberg. Chang was 94 votes short of the top three.
He now runs again as one of three candidates for two at-large seats.
He said of his original campaign “I think my profile was similar to the others (who ran). I scratched an itch; I think I can do this.”
Chang is the father of a first and a fifth-grader at Tulita Elementary. His wife teaches sixth grade in Torrance.
“I’m hoping to be a fresh voice, an independent member of the board. Most come from the trenches of the PTA. Nothing against the PTA but I’m not affiliated with any associations,” said Chang. “PTA is awesome. Just that my engagement has been elsewhere.”
He has organized four anti-Asian hate rallies, served as a school site council representative and fundraised for the Redondo Beach Education Foundation.
He notes that the school district has a larger budget than the City of Redondo Beach.
“The district owns a ton of real estate,” Chang said. “The district impacts more than just the kids. We’re also the third-largest employer in town.”
His two primary goals, he said, are to be an independent board member, and to improve community engagement. He plans to host monthly town hall meetings, similar to what city council members do.
“Our school board doesn’t list a social media handle,” Chang said. “Palos Verdes does… We need to be more available and accessible. Redondo Beach Unified does not have a Twitter account.”
Chang’s background includes four years as an adjunct professor (interior design) at Otis College, UCLA Extension and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
“I was a teacher. I’m an architect, I’ve owned a business for 16 years,” he said.
Chang’s Coda Spaces designs interiors for offices and restaurants.
His wife was born and raised in Torrance, Chang lived in West L.A. when they met. Redondo Beach was a compromise between the two.
He was born in Taiwan and grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, a one-high school town south of New York City.
He ran track and played B-flat clarinet in the marching band. He worked part-time as a stagehand at an amphitheater, made Eagle Scout, then went to Cornell for a bachelor’s and master’s in structural engineering.
Later, after four years in Dallas working for two architecture firms, Chang went to Harvard for a degree in architecture.
Then he moved to Los Angeles.
“I always wanted to live in California,” he said.
Chang and his wife got married in 2010 and moved to Redondo Beach.
His secondary business, Blankspaces, has designed and rented seven shared workspaces, with an eighth to open this month.
So what’s it like campaigning for a seat on the Redondo Unified school board?
“In some ways it’s lonely and treacherous. That’s politics for you,” Chang said.
Will it be worth it?
“If I win, yes. If I don’t, I don’t know, if it’s all for naught,” he said.
Chang said the school district handled the pandemic well.
“They did the best they could. They followed what the county health department dictated. Some people said they should have gone against that, but no one really understands what that would involve,” he said. “And if we did, and (it went badly), it would’ve been the district’s unfortunate liability.” ER
