Meet the Board

James Stockdale Board Chair Term #1: 10/08/2024-6/08/2027 Mr. James Stockdale, Board Chair: James Stockdale is the coordinator for the Digital Design and Engineering (DDE) academy, at Knight High School (KHS) where he has taught biology, chemistry, and engineering courses. He was site teacher of the year in 2013, and a National Siemen's institute STEM fellow in 2014. The DDE academy which he founded and coordinates for was awarded a state of California Golden Bell award for innovation in 2014 and in March of 2017 was 1 of only 9 academies in the state of California recognized as an academy of distinction by the California Department of Education. In 2018 James was recognized with his academy by ACTE for the National Excellence in Action award for the STEM career cluster. While running a very successful academy for over 10 years, James has successfully written or co-written over 2 million dollars worth of successful grants for his school. He also currently serves as a board member on the Mojave Environmental Education Consortium helping to bring environmental education offerings to students of the region.

Diana Rivas Board Vice Chair Term #4: 6/04/2024-6/08/2027 Ms. Diana Rivas, Board Vice Chair: Diana Rivas is an involved parent representative to two children currently enrolled in the California Online Public Schools program. She has a wealth of experience as a manager, team leader, and motivator, including experience in the food service industry. Ms. Rivas has dedicated her life to serving the community, including a local Girl Scout Troop, Venture Crew, local youth sports, church groups, and serving food to those less fortunate. As a Learning Coach, Ms. Rivas understands how children learn differently and how they correlate their growing knowledge to the world around them. Her goal is to continue representing the needs and interests of students and parents. Ms. Rivas started serving as a parent representative in the spring of 2017.

Adam Pulsipher Board Member Term #3: 6/27/2023-6/09/2026 Mr. Adam Pulsipher, Member: Adam Pulsipher is currently serving as the Assistant Administrator for the California Department of Veterans Affairs- Lancaster Home. He has been working with disabled Veterans since 2015. He has enjoyed a career in the operations of Healthcare Facilities for nearly 20 years. He is a small business owner and received his Master’s in Business Administration in 2015. As a father of five children, quality education is a key part of his family’s life. Mr. Pulsipher chose to serve on the Board of Directors to stay connected with the changes in curriculum, teaching styles and modalities, and as a way to serve in his local community. He has been a Board member since 2017.

Eric Wickliffe Board Member Term #2 6/11/2025-6/13/2028 Mr. Eric Wickliffe Jr., Board Member: Mr. Wickliffe is an active-duty Parole Agent with over seven years of law enforcement and community safety experience. In May of 2008, Mr. Wickliffe graduated from California State University, Northridge with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Psychology. Mr. Wickliffe furthered his academic achievements in May 2015 by graduating with distinction from California State University, Northridge with a Masters in Social Work Degree. He has assisted an array of youth by working as a youth counselor for a juvenile group home and a youth wraparound facilitator for Tarzana Treatment Centers. Moreover, Mr. Wickliffe held the position of Associate Clinical Social Worker/Mental Health Therapist for at-risk youth offenders. Mr. Wickliffe has a deep desire to assist individuals from different communities with achieving lifelong success through educational equity. As a result, Mr. Wickliffe has dedicated his time to aid in the development of students by lending a helping hand in the development of useful teaching modalities, identifying groundbreaking educational curriculum and assisting children with becoming the leaders of future generations.

Michael Henjum Board Member Term #4: 6/04/2024-6/08/2027 Mr. Michael Henjum, Board Member: Mike Henjum is a life-long educator, serving in various private schools in Orange County for the past 26 years as a teacher, coach, and principal. He is currently the Head of Advancement at Saddleback Valley Christian School in San Juan Capistrano. Mr. Henjum earned his B.A. from Vanguard University, M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University, and has completed additional post-graduate work at Portland State University and UC Irvine. Mr. Henjum chose to join this board because of his dedication to schools that provide a rigorous, college-prep curriculum to students and his belief that school choice is an effective way to achieve greater student achievement, with charter schools being one of the most effective vehicles to accomplish this goal. He has also served as Treasurer in past years.

Patty Pulsipher Board Member Term #1: 10/08/2024-6/08/2027 Patty Pulsipher, Board Member: Patty Pulsipher is the mother of five children, with her youngest a Senior in High School. Education has been very important to her and her family. She is also a Substitute Teacher in the Lancaster School District and the Antelope Valley Union High School District. She has been teaching for the past 9 ½ years. Patty loves to serve her family, friends, church, and community. She was raised in a military family and takes pride in our great nation. Patty enjoys being a Substitute Teacher not only to help her teacher friends but because of the students. She wants them to remember they are smart enough, to work hard, always putting their best effort forward, be kind to others, and learn all they can to be successful adults. She is looking to help CalOPS be the best in educational excellence.

Ziggy Robeson Board Member Term #1: 9/09/2025-7/11/2028 Dr. Ziggy Robeson, Board Member: Dr Robeson has over forty years of experience in education in private, public and charter schools, as well as policy development at local/state levels. She served with the distinction as the Superintendent of the Ripon Unified School District for over a decade. In addition to her degrees, two Bachelors of Arts, Masters, and Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policymaking. She has a strong background and experience in the arts, science, career technical education and technology development. This has influenced her work in providing a multitude of opportunities for students and adults. Dr. Robeson is known for continually finding ways to raise expectations through a growth mindset for any activity, program, or goal she is responsible for implementing. She has led multiple efforts developing creative solutions to improve programs and processes for schools which have resulted in receiving multiple Distinguished School Awards, Title I Achieving School Awards, and the most prestigious National Blue-Ribbon School Award. Dr. Robeson’s collaborative nature was pivotal in the creation and development of an extraordinarily successful fine arts charter school where students are immersed in the integration of music, dance theater and visual arts through project-based learning. One of her greatest passions is working to enrich the lives of students through the arts. As a former music teacher/choral director, dance instructor, musical theater director and lighting technician/designer the cornerstone of her work is ensuring that the needs of all students are met by creating rich, deepening experiences within collaborative positive settings that are impactful in inspiring a lifelong love of learning. Most recently Dr. Robeson served on a master apprenticeship development committee along with representatives from San Joaquin County Work Net, the California Department of Labor, SJC Economic Development Association, Construction Trades, and other local education, governmental organizations and agencies for the development of the first State Certified High School Apprenticeship Program. As a result of the committee’s hard work Ripon Unified was the first district to employ students within the newly approved State Certified High School Apprenticeship Program in the area of Information Technology.