His word is his bond

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT-MESA -- He’s an ordinary man with an extraordinary devotion to

his community.

His wife says he’s just a normal guy who loves being a dad to their two

children and is committed to his career as an environmental engineer.

Friends and neighbors say he’s a great guy -- hard working, funny and

modest to a fault.

“He’s affable, self-deprecating -- Mark has no ax to grind,” said Kurt

Yeager, who has known Schultheis since he moved to Newport Beach 10 years

ago and began volunteering with the youth soccer league. “What you see is

what you get -- he’s the real deal.”

But to many in the Newport-Mesa community, Mark Schultheis has become a

leader, the go-to guy for supporters of Measure A. “Mark has been the

backbone of this effort,” Yeager said.

To others he’s the unlikely nemesis.

“He’s a ‘Boy Scout,”’ said Gerry Ross, a Newport Coast resident who

opposes Measure A. “I think he’s a nice guy, but I think he’s a pawn for

the school board.”

Schultheis estimates that since January 1999 he has devoted between 1,200

to 1,500 hours to seeing the school bond measure pass on June 6.

He has been on the front lines since the bond was no more than a notion.

Schultheis first began working with the district as an alternate for the

citizens budget advisory committee in 1997. He was the chair of that

group in 1998 when the district hired architect Fred Good to develop a

facilities master plan. Since that committee oversees the district budget

it was asked to analyze the possibilities for funding facility repairs.

“We were aware that it was likely to be a nine-figure number, so with

that basic information we began looking at how they might pay for that,”

Schultheis said.

When the district decided to create the facility advisory committee, he

hopped on board.

“I think I had a real interest because my son’s at Newport Harbor High

and my daughter was at Ensign -- when I became involved I was stunned. I

couldn’t believe that a community that was as financially capable as

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa could allow their schools to deteriorate

like that,” he said. “I wondered if Newport Beach was getting the short

end of the stick. I wanted to see if they were all that bad.”

Once on that facility committee, Schultheis was roped into the position

of co-chair, where he first became the guru of the crumbling schools.

When that group handed in its final report in January, he should have

been off the hook, free to spend his down time golfing and sailing, but

he would have none of that.

Within weeks, Schultheis and a core group from the recently disbanded

facilities committee formed the Citizens to Rebuild our Schools campaign

group, of which -- once again -- he is at the forefront of as one of four

co-chairs.

“I would say he’s a reluctant leader -- he doesn’t aspire to that

position, but once he’s in that role, he’s thorough,” said Jill Money,

who met Schultheis through these committees and has spent nearly 1,000

hours of her time working by his side. “He has integrity, and is a person

you can rely on.”

In fact, Money has been so impressed with Schultheis that she nominated

him for the most prestigious award that the California PTA bestows -- the

Honorary Service Award. The state PTA must have agreed that Schultheis

has provided a great service to the children of Newport-Mesa, because he

was presented the award on Monday.

It is his methodical, logical way of doing things that has earned him the

admiration and respect of so many community members, said his wife, Lisa

George.

“He’s just a shoulder-to-the-wind kind of worker, and he’s not reactive

-- he responds from a thought-based approach, and I think it’s taken him

a long way,” she said.

Although she is proud of him, George said she will be happy on June 7

when she will get her husband back from the community.

“I think it will be good to get back to more frequency of family dinners

at home,” she said.