Ex-Teacher Wins State Schools Post

Gov. George Deukmejian appointed a former San Diego Unified School District teacher Monday to the state Board of Education, drawing praise from the state’s top education official.

Kathryn M. Dronenburg, an expert on special education who lives in El Cajon, was named to replace Jim C. Robinson of Long Beach whose term had expired. The mother of a physically and mentally handicapped daughter, Dronenburg has served for six years on the statewide Advisory Commission on Special Education, which advises the state schools superintendent, the legislature and the governor.

Bill Honig, the state schools superintendent, said he was pleased with the choice of Dronenburg, whose appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.

“She did a good job over there,” he said, referring to Dronenburg’s work on the commission on special education. Overall, he said, she left him with a “very positive” impression.

Dronenburg, a 43-year-old Republican, said that, although her recent focus has been on special education, she believes her experience as an elementary school teacher from 1967 to 1971 prepares her to deal with all aspects of education. She said she is looking forward to serving on the board.

“I am real excited,” she said. “Children are the most vulnerable group and yet they are our whole future. I especially care about the values they will learn. I think one of the ways children learn about their values is by the kind of education we give them.”

On the board, Dronenburg will help make decisions about what textbooks will be read in state schools and what curricular guides teachers will follow, as well as participate in adopting regulations regarding special programs.

“I really do not have an agenda,” Dronenburg said. “I care about kids, but at any given time there are issues that come to the fore that you have to deal with.”

Dronenburg said, however, that she is interested in finding ways that the state board can help encourage parent participation in the schools.

“There must be a way,” she said. “Once you realize something is of that great a value, there must be ways that schools can reach out and help.”

Dronenburg received her bachelor’s degree in social science from San Diego State University in 1967. She is married to Ernest J. Dronenburg Jr., a member of the state Board of Equalization. They have three daughters. Kristen, 18, is a freshman at Baylor University in Texas; Amy, 15, attends special education classes in the Grossmont School District, and Stephanie, 10, is in the fourth grade.

Deukmejian also named Gerti B. Thomas of Albany, who works for the University of California in Alameda County, to the board.