Newly elected Murrieta Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) Board of Education Trustee Elliot Emmer took his oath of office July 1 in front of community members, campaign volunteers, district teachers and staff and his family.
“I wanted to get sworn in early so I can get started and get to work right away,” Emmer said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “I’m expecting that we’ll do a public one during our first board meeting on August 11.”
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After the superintendent shared a few remarks, Emmer was sworn in by his wife. He said in the days following he received warm welcomes from the other board members who said they were looking forward to working together collaboratively.
“Over the next few weeks, I have some additional meetings with the district office,” said Emmer, who noted he’s been working through the onboarding process since the ceremony. “Personally, I really want to learn and understand the state of things from an inside perspective within the district.”
For Emmer, the swearing in ceremony was the culmination of months of campaigning for the Trustee Area 3 seat vacated last September by former Trustee Yvonne Munoz. MVUSD trustees originally voted to fill the open seat by appointment, selecting Josefine Hartley on a 3-1 vote to serve in the role until this November when a special election could be held.
However, a successful community effort forced the district to remove Hartley from office and hold a special election in June, with the winner taking the seat for the remainder of the term, which is set to end December 8, 2028.
When the Riverside County Registrar of Voters (ROV) ended its election night tally, Emmer trailed former Trustee Julie Vandegrift, who lost the seat in 2024 to Munoz, by 140 votes. By the time the ROV certified the count, Emmer had won by 81 votes.
“I always had faith in our community,” Emmer said. “I really have a strong belief that Murrieta really resonated with the message of our campaign, the visions that we had and the goals that we set forth in the campaign.”
Those goals included support for the upcoming bond measure, financial transparency, support for career technical education and academic achievement and ensuring that every student, staff member and teacher had what they needed to succeed.
“I’m just really genuinely excited to get to work representing this community and having a seat on the board,” Emmer said. “I’m a dad of two kids who go to school here in Murrieta, and so I know that all the decisions that I’ll make will directly affect and influence their futures, and so I’m just very excited to get to work, support our families, support our students and collaborate in keeping our district strong.”
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