COSTA MESA, Calif.—The Orange County Board of Education appointed Jorge Valdes, an attorney and judge pro-tem from Tustin, to fill the vacant seat for Area 1—which covers Garden Grove, Tustin, Santa Ana, and Fountain Valley—during a board meeting Aug. 17.
Valdes was one of the three candidates interviewed by the board to replace former Trustee Beckie Gomez, who stepped down after she was sued in March for simultaneously sitting on the board and the Tustin City Council.
The two other candidates are Marlene Barba, a church ministry leader and public speaker from Tustin, and Ceci Iglesias, a California Policy Center director who previously served on the Santa Ana Unified School Board and Santa Ana City Council….