NEW! – The Associate Members of the Teacher’s Association of Long Beach
Great Teachers Make Great Schools for Our Kids
Meet Our Executive Committee
Virginia Torres, Executive Committee Chairperson,
Former TALB President
I am a Lifetime CTA/NEA member and an Associate Member of TALB. I’ve taught all grades, K-8 for 34 years in Long Beach Unified School District. Throughout my career I’ve held several leadership positions at TALB.
I remain and will always advocate for quality public schools and outstanding learning conditions for students, as well as an excellent working environment for our Teachers.
Michaela Quinby, Committee Member,
Former TALB Executive Board of Directors Member
After 36 years of teaching grades K-5, 18 years of it with LBUSD, I’m trying to figure out how I managed finish tasks while teaching and being active in TALB. During those career years I actively worked for our Long Beach members serving as a Rep, an Election Chair, a Finance Committee member, Awards Committee member, and an Ethnic Minority Committee member. It has also been a privilege to serve on the TALB Executive Board of Directors.
I’ve worked with CTA on the Issues Conference Planning Committee and attended the summer leadership conference at UCLA. Five times I have been honored to represent teachers at the NEA Representative Assembly. Over the years I dedicated many hours working toward membership engagement activities by engaging in local politics, picnics, barbecues, chili cook-offs, and our retiree celebrations. It was my honor to be recognized as Top Engaged Member for the last two years. In June, 2018 I was awarded a TALB Golden Apple and the W.H.O. (We Honor Our Own) Award.
I am excited to continue serving Long Beach students, teachers and community through our Associate Members Board as a Director. I feel it is crucial to continue to support our students, our schools and our teachers. I look forward to working with you to keep TALB and our schools strong.
Clifford Kusaba, Committee Member,
Former TALB President
Long Beach is where I attended school and taught for 32 years at Hamilton, Jefferson, Poly, Stanford and worked at the Teacher Resource Center. I was active in TALB starting out as a TALB Rep, then serving on the TALB Board and 1st Vice President. In 1999, I was elected president of TALB, serving for four years. I was elected to attend as a delegate to several NEA Representative Assembly meetings over my years in TALB.
I served on the CTA Assessment and Testing Committee for eighteen years where I was the Vice Chair and then Chair of the Committee. I was also a member of CTA’s Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee and chairperson of the Pacific Asian American Caucus.
For LBUSD, I recently served on an advisory committee for the last school bond. Presently I am retired and spend part of my time as a substitute teacher where I enjoy working part time for the District. My life is part of this community where I am involved with the Japanese American and Pacific Islander community organizations.
Long Beach is my home and my community. I raised a family here. My own children attended Long Beach schools just as I did. This is home.
Laura Kusaba, Committee Member,
Former TALB Executive Board of Directors Member
I taught for 32 years in LBUSD and Pomona Unified before retiring in 2016. During that time, I was a Mentor teacher who presented district-wide workshops for fourth grade teachers in teaching California History, Math, and Language Arts. In 1998 I was nominated by my peers and received TALB’s Golden Apple Award. I became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2001. I was the main facilitator and lead teacher for the National Board Pre-Candidacy Program for the district from 2002 until my retirement, helping hundreds of teachers begin their own journey toward certification. I also served on district textbook selection committees in three different subjects and represented TALB as a member of the Peer Assistance and Review Committee for ten years.
I served as a TALB Representative for my school sites nearly all of my 29 years in LBUSD, receiving the Larry Acterman Award for outstanding site representation three times. I served on the TALB Finance Committee for 5 years and on the TALB Board of Directors for 2 years.
I’m pleased to continue to support students, teachers, and public education by serving on the Associate Membership Board. It is crucial that our entire community support our public schools to ensure that they have the resources needed to hope all students succeed.