Robert Jung has announced that he will run to retain his seat on the Milpitas Unified School District’s (MUSD) Board of Education.
“There’s still a lot left to do,” said Jung in an interview with The Beat.
Jung has been serving as a Board Trustee since he was appointed back in February 2023, after Hon Lien left her school board seat following the win of her election to the Milpitas City Council. Before that, Jung had served on MUSD’s school board from 2017-2018, a position he was also appointed to, after Bob Nuñez vacated his seat following his own Council win.
MUSD has been evolving rapidly in recent months. Last Fall, there was a ribbon cutting for the phase one completion of the new Innovation Campus; and this year, the district broke ground on the new Performing Arts Center at Milpitas High School. There’s also Randall Elementary World Languages School, which, in October 2023, kicked off its Mandarin language program.
“I see all those three as cornerstones that we can continue to build on to make MUSD one of the leading school districts in the county,” said Jung. “I may be bold enough to say I want it to be a model school district across the United States. I want people to say that MUSD is unique in that we provide students the opportunity to pursue their dreams.”
During the nearly four total years that Jung has served on the school board, he has seen massive growth in the district.
“I still see untapped potential of what we could be,” shared Jung. “We’re not there yet and I feel like I can make a difference in bringing that to reality.”
The election is happening on November 5, 2024; two seats will be open on MUSD’s board. So far, prior to Jung, only Doug Sueoka has announced that he will be running for a seat on the school board.
Along with serving on the school board, Jung is the Founder of the Milpitas Community Education Foundation (MCEF), which recently planned the annual STEAM Showcase held at Milpitas High School. Hundreds of students from all across the district participated in the showcase, which has been growing in size since its inception in 2014. Jung is thrilled to see the showcase flourish, as he feels it’s those kinds of opportunities that make Milpitas and MUSD stand out from the pack.
Both Jung’s daughter and son went to MUSD schools. From the beginning, Jung felt called to serve. He made sure to join the PTAs of his kids’ school and volunteer whenever he could. Even though his children are grown up and no longer at MUSD, Jung still feels connected to the district and all the students and families within it.
“Please ask me: Why are you doing this? You don’t have kids in the district anymore,” said Jung. “But I get excited every morning thinking about what we could do. I truly think we can be a world class school district.”
Back in 2018, after Jung’s first school board term ended, he chose not to run again. Instead, he decided to pour his time and energy into working on campaigning for Bond Measure AA, a $284 million dollar bond for renovating Milpitas schools. He was also working on raising money for MCEF.
The bond passed after the November 2018 election, and Jung feels that his time spent working to promote it paid off.
“I spent time working to help with Measure AA and I’ve seen how that work has resulted in things like the Performing Arts Theater and the Innovation Campus,” said Jung.
Jung feels that the new theater will be a huge asset to the community, and that the Innovation Campus will play a big role in preparing students for the future and how to navigate things like AI, cyber security, and more.
As Jung was appointed both times he has served on the school board, he has yet to win an election. In 2022, he ran for one of three open board seats, which were ultimately won by Kelly Yip-Chuan, Chris Norwood, and Anu Nakka.
When asked how he feels about mounting another campaign, Jung replied: “Running a campaign gives me the opportunity to really connect with the community and pass on the message as to why I’m excited about MUSD, and to let everyone know about the cool things happening with MUSD.”
He also added: “I still get excited helping our community and school district become what they could be. I see so much potential. I can’t just walk away from it.”
