Not yet ready to graduate on

Andrew Edwards

After 13 years as a school board member, Michael Simons has one key

supporter hoping he wins another term.

Simons’ advocate? His son, Benjamin.

“He wants me to stick around so I can give him his diploma,”

Simons said.

Benjamin attends Dwyer Middle School, meaning his father must

secure another four years on the Huntington Beach Union High School

District board. Simons has two stepchildren who have already finished

their careers at Huntington Beach High School, and when his older son

Brad finished high school, Simons was there to hand off the diploma.

“We just hugged each other, it was really neat,” Simons said.

Simons, who was first appointed to the school board 1991 to fill a

vacant seat, has won three elections and has his own reasons to run

for a fourth term. At the top of the list, he said, is the chance to

decide how the district will spend revenues from Measure C, the

$228-million bond that passed in the March election.

“I want to make sure the community’s funds, the taxpayers’ funds,

are spent the best way possible,” Simons said.

Simons’ running mate, board incumbent Susan Henry, has similarly

said that her interest in Measure C spurred her to run for

reelection. Simons and Henry worked together in the spring as two of

three directors of the committee in favor of Measure C.

Simons has his own podiatry practice in Huntington Beach and also

trains up-and-coming doctors at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center.

“I work with student doctors all the time,” Simons said. “If I

hadn’t gone into the medical profession I would have gone into the

teaching profession.”

Simons is also chief of the podiatry division at Fountain Valley

Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where he oversees all aspects

of the hospital’s podiatry program.

Simons enjoys skiing and bike riding, but his extensive schedule

forced him to take a break from the golf course -- giving up a sport

frequently associated with the medical profession.

“I’m busy, but I like being busy,” Simons said. “You know the old

adage, ‘When you want something done, ask a busy person.”

Originally from Detroit, Simons is part of a handful of local

doctors who hail from Motown’s Mumford High School, which is also the

alma mater of Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

Simons is like many hard-working Mumford alumni, said Harvey

Goldstone and Jay Masserman, two Mumford graduates with medical

practices in Fountain Valley.

“[Simons is] a doer, that’s the best way you can describe him,”

Goldstone said.

“He’s really a typical Midwestern person, very friendly, outgoing,

cheerful,” Masserman said.

The Mumford alumni described their high school as a starting point

for many successful professionals, but Simons said he still relies on

his family’s support.

“I got their OK to do this, or else I wouldn’t do this,” he said.

“Especially my little boy.”