Board Meeting Agendas + Minutes | Board Elections | Policies and Regulations | Accountability | Charter | LCAP | SARC | SELPA
The NCS Board of Directors is comprised of Five members who form the exclusive governing body of the Charter School. They are dedicated to our mission, vision, core principles, and to ensuring ongoing educational success and fiscal responsibility of the school. They form the exclusive governing body of the Charter School. The Board of Trustees gives final approval to all personnel, budget, and policy decisions and ensures that the school’s practices are consistent with the vision and mission of the school. Board members are voted in by the community and serve a term of three years. Elections are held in the spring when vacancies occur. The Board delegates the operating of the school to the NCS Administration.
2026-2027 Board Meeting Calendar
Robin Lee and her husband Kevin Strharsky have recently relocated back to Novato where Robin grew up. Their daughter is a student at NCS. After graduating from Novato High School, Robin went to UCLA for a bachelor’s degree and then UC Berkeley for a master’s degree in Civil Engineering. Robin is a partner in a water resource engineering firm. Robin and her family are avid bikers and you will likely see them at the bike racks most mornings. Outside of parenting and engineering Robin loves sports of all kinds and volunteering for Safe Routes to School for the Marin County Bike Coalition.
Ali Iqbal has lived in Novato for over 10 years. He has two children at NCS (Ayla – currently a Dandelion and Aidan – 8th grade). Ali grew up outside of Chicago but had the lifelong dream of moving to California and made it happen during his college years. He transferred from a college in Illinois to CSU-Sacramento where he obtained a BS in Civil Engineering. He currently works as a Civil Engineer/Project Manager for the City of Sausalito. He has coached Aidan and many of his NCS friends in various levels of youth sports, including little league baseball, soccer, and flag football. He is looking forward to coaching again (this time as an assistant!) for Ayla and her friends. He is an avid sports fan (for both Chicago and San Francisco teams) and when time allows, he enjoys a good game of doubles tennis.
More information coming soon!
Michael “Red” Hale grew up in Palo Alto, CA, graduated from UCSB, and attended law school at USF. He and his wife, Camille, have two children, Travis (NCS C/O 2025) and Sienna (C/O 2029). The Hale’s have lived in Novato since 2013. Red currently practices law as a litigator in personal injury with offices in Novato and San Francisco. He is co-president of the Marin Trial Lawyers Association, founding board member of the Irish American Bar Association, and member of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association and the Bar Association of San Francisco. Red successfully managed his adult softball team to three championships in five years, right here in Novato. He also enjoys live music, gardening, coaching his kids’ sports, and traveling.
Thomas Weldon joined the NCS Board of Directors in the fall of 2024. He brings with him a strong quantitative background and willingness to tackle hard problems. A South Bay native, Thomas attended college at U.C. Davis where he earned a B.S. in Applied Physics followed by a M.S. in Computer Science with a concentration in Machine Learning from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Currently, he works as Senior Software Engineer at Amazon Music where he leads a team in the development of models to help customers with music discovery. Outside of work, he loves to unplug with woodworking projects around the house, practicing bluegrass guitar licks and attending live music shows. An avid outdoorsman, he lives for trips to the high sierras with his wife, Elizabeth, and daughters, Simone and Maven.
The Board of Directors holds its regular meeting monthly. The meeting agendas are posted on the Homepage and on the school’s bulletin board 72 hours before each meeting. Unless otherwise stated, meetings begin at 6 PM in the Community Room. Public participation is welcome and governed by the Board’s Public Communications Policy.
