Former Mayor Rob Hammond to Run for School Board

Former Monrovia Mayor Rob Hammond is jumping back into the city's political fray by running for an open school board seat, he told Patch Friday.

School board member Clare Chesley , and Hammond said he intends to run for her seat when ballots are cast on Nov. 8. Board President Ed Gililland and member Bryan Wong are also up for reelection then.

Hammond retired from the council in 2009 to pursue his degree in organizational management from an online university, and he said Friday that he wants to put his academic training to use on the board.

"It's another way to be able to work toward making the community a better place," Hammond said.

Hammond, who owns and operates the in , said he'd like to bring a business-oriented perspective to the board. If elected, Hammond said he would conduct focus groups at schools and in the community to study why parents choose to send their kids to MUSD schools or elsewhere.

"It's about providing that quality customer service," Hammond said. "I want to find out if people are receiving the service that they think they should be getting."

Hammond was first elected to the City Council in 1997 and won his first mayoral bid in 2003. He was reelected in 2005 and 2007.