[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11187]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. JOHN BERNARD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 3, 2008

  Mr. STARK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. John Bernard on 
his retirement on June 30, 2008 from the Newark Unified School 
District. Dr. Bernard has served as Superintendent of Schools for the 
school district since July 2003.
  A native of the Bay Area, Dr. Bernard is a product of the Oakland 
Public Schools, as are his three grown children. He and his wife have 
been married for 39 years and have five grandchildren.
  Dr. Bernard has held a number of positions of leadership in various 
school districts throughout the state of California. He served for 4 
years as Superintendent of Schools for the Novato Unified School 
district and for 4 years as Superintendent of Schools for the 
Bakersfield City School District. He also served as Director of K-12 
Instruction, and later as Assistant Superintendent, in the Mt. Diablo 
Unified School district in Contra Costa County. Dr. Bernard began his 
career as an educator in the San Francisco Unified School District, 
where he spent 20 years as a classroom teacher, resource teacher, 
assistant principal, personnel administrator and principal.
  Dr. Bernard earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from San 
Francisco State University in psychology and education administration, 
respectively. He earned his doctorate in multicultural education from 
the University of San Francisco. He continues to teach graduate courses 
at local universities and is often invited to speak, throughout the 
state, the nation and abroad, at conferences on instructional 
leadership, multicultural education, and education technology issues.
  As Dr. Bernard retires, he leaves a legacy of outstanding experience 
and service to our children and the field of education. His commitment 
to education is noteworthy and I join the community in thanking him for 
his exemplary contributions.

                          ____________________