Dennis Regus said he is running for the Menifee Union School District (MUSD) Board to bring his 27 years of experience in education to the district and give back to the community he has called home for nearly two decades.
Regus, who is challenging incumbent Kyle Root for the Trustee Area 3 seat, began his career as a teacher in Orange Unified School District before moving back to the area. He later worked for MUSD as a middle school math teacher, instructional coach and district administrator in instructional services.
He currently works for the Riverside County Office of Education as an instructional services math specialist, where he works with teachers, schools and districts throughout the county to improve student math outcomes.
Regus, who also ran for the board four years ago, said his current role has allowed him to see different approaches that could also benefit MUSD.
“There’s a lot of great things going on in Menifee, and I just want to keep improving those systems and kind of figure out where some of the struggles are,” he said.
One area Regus said he would like to improve is the district’s connection with families and the community.
While he believes MUSD does a good job of getting information out, Regus said that as the parent of a former MUSD student, he did not always feel families were included enough in the decision-making process.
If elected, Regus said he would like to hold quarterly town hall-style meetings where families could talk with him about what is going well and what is not.
“I don’t think I have all the answers,” Regus said. “I think I’ve got a lot of experience, and I really value listening to people and hearing their kind of ground-level stories.”
Regus said his experience working in education is something that sets him apart in the race.
“I think that the seat would benefit from having someone with my experience in it, and someone who knows the ins and outs of federal and state regulations, as well as expectations on individual school sites,” Regus said.
He also weighed in on the ongoing discussion about potentially unifying Menifee’s school districts.
Regus said having separate elementary and high school districts can create challenges with communication and coordination. However, he said there are a number of state requirements that must be met for unification, and he is unsure whether Menifee would be able to check them all off the list.
Regus said MUSD should continue working with the Perris Union High School District to see whether those requirements can be met and whether unification is something both districts want to pursue.
“It’s not one of my big issues only because it can be something that distracts us from doing other good work for the kids in Menifee Union School District,” Regus said. “But I do think it’s something that we should continue to explore.”
