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Mr. H. Ernie Nishii was born in East Los Angeles (Boyle Heights) and raised in Santa Ana, attending a very diverse Saddleback High School. At 10, he started a gardening business, which he used to help pay his way through college.  He graduated with a BA in Political Science at the University of California, Riverside, and shortly after that entered and graduated UCLA Law School, passing the California Bar in 1992.

He is a husband and a father.  At Leal Elementary School, he was part of the LEAP Foundation and grew an afterschool program that was at the core of Leal’s Blue Ribbon designation.  He helped create the Winter Arts Festival, which enabled special kids to be part of the school community.  Leading the foundation, he improved finances, improved participation, and grew a new bank of leaders to continue the next generation.  He has participated in the Whitney Summer Academy and Foundation fundraisers and is a past member of the Whitney Foundation for Educational Excellence, Whitney PTSA, and past Chair for the Safe and Modern Schools Measure BB committee. BB now provides 256 million dollars in needed modernized school facilities and safety enhancements.

Mr. Nishii is currently a director on the Southeast Japanese School & Community Center Board, Tuna Canyon Detention Station board, and volunteer legal counsel for Historic Wintersburg. He wants our education to be multidimensional and passionate. His family was incarcerated during WWII, and he remembers stories his grandfather told about what happened. When history is only in our books and not in our hearts—we forget and repeat the sins of our past. Quality education can enable us to rise above this. Recognizing that ABC is an excellent school district, he works to be a partner with administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and the community to make our schools even better.

This board member’s biography was taken from the ABC Unified School District website.