Lake County Board of Education bids farewell to Browning, welcomes new and reelected members
- Elizabeth Larson
LAKEPORT, Calif. — At its final meeting of 2022, the Lake County Board of Education on Wednesday honored an outgoing member, welcomed his successor, administered the oath of office and organized itself for the coming year.
After 16 years, Dr. David Browning of Lakeport stepped down from his District 4 seat on the county board.
Elected to succeed him in November was Nancy Hudson, a retired Lake County Office of Education retired administrative assistant.
The Board of Education’s five seats mirror Lake County’s supervisorial districts.
Reelected to their second terms were Denise Loustalot, representing District 3, and Anna Rose Ravenwoode, representing District 5. Neither appeared on the ballot as they ran unopposed.
Loustalot took her oath of office along with Hudson. Ravenwoode was absent for Wednesday afternoon’s meeting.
Not up for reelection this year were Melissa Kinsel for Trustee Area 1, which includes Middletown, and Board President Dr. Mark Cooper, who lives in Clearlake and represents Trustee Area 2.
As part of the organizational meeting within the larger meeting, Cooper led the board in thanking Browning for his service.
Cooper read and presented to Browning a framed copy of a resolution honoring his service, which can be seen below.
A Lakeport native, Browning has been a well-respected optometrist in the community for the past 38 years.
During that time, he served for more than seven years on the Lakeport Unified School District Board and beginning in March 6, 2006, he became Trustee Area 4 on the Lake County Board of Education, going on to serve several times as board president, the resolution said.
He also served two terms as the California County Boards of Education Association Region 1 Director as well as a member of the 2019 California County Boards of Education Budget/Audit Committee.
The resolution noted that "Dr. Browning’s earnest commitment to community and passion for every student in Lake County is to obtain a quality education, and become a life-long learner and contributing community member,” and lauded his contributions “as an intelligent, thoughtful, hard-working, kind, and dedicated person are unparalleled and will be greatly missed by Governing Board members and County Office personnel.”
Browning thanked the board and said he knew that the Lake County Office of Education is in good hands.
When the board took a break to have some celebratory cake, Cooper noted how well he and Browning and the rest of the board has worked together, with no angry disagreements over the years even when confronted with challenging issues.
“It’s just been the greatest board to work on,” Cooper said.
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