About Sherman Garnett

Sherman Garnett leans on the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. when describing his more than four decades as a teacher, coach, principal, school district administrator and, since 2020, a member of the Upland Unified School District Board of Education:

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“I needed to serve my own community more,” Mr. Garnett says of his decision to run for a board seat. “I know the district well, and for me, it’s all about the kids.”

The 34-year Upland resident is no stranger to the complex issues facing school districts, having served on the San Bernardino County Board of Education for four years, including two one-year terms as president.

During his career, Mr. Garnett has worked at both the comprehensive and alternative school level and as a district and county level administrator. He is an author, an adjunct faculty member at Cambridge University and California State University, and a member of the California State School Attendance Review Board (SARB).

His firm, Sherman Garnett & Associates, is state and nationally recognized in the field of pupil services.

Mr. Garnett is past President of the California Association of Supervisors of Child Welfare and Attendance Section(CASCWA) and the Association of California School Administrators Student Services and Special Education Council (ACSA). He is a member of the executive board of the National Truancy Prevention Association (NTPA).

Mr. Garnett edits and distributes two-yearly manuals utilized extensively throughout the state in the areas of student discipline due process and student records.

Mr. Garnett and his wife, a retired educator, have three children, all of whom attended Upland schools.

“Upland has changed a lot,” Mr. Garnett says. “I see that and I want to help.”