Rothblatt Biography

Jim Rothblatt has 40+ years experience providing direct service to students, parents and staff having served on various school and district administrative teams as a School Counselor, a Student Assistance Program Specialist. He also has served as a Field Colleague for the California Department of Education on Consolidated Compliance Review Teams.

Jim grew up in southern California. He attended public schools in Compton and he also attended a Brown Military Academy. He graduated George Washington High School in Los Angeles in 1960. He then went to El Camino Junior College where he majored in Zoology transferring after two years to Cal Poly, Pomona where he majored in Biology. In 1965 he left Cal Poly as a senior and joined the Army. He served as a Combat Medic with Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam through most of 1967. After Vietnam he served a state-side year working in an Army hospital emergency room.

After the Army he returned to Cal Poly and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Biology. In 1971 he finished his course work to earn a Standard Teaching Credential. In 1975 he again returned to university life at Humboldt State University where he earned a Masters Degree in Psychology and a Pupil Personnel Services Credential (PPS) along with completing all of the required course work for a Marriage, Family and Child Counseling License.

Upon graduation from Humboldt State in 1977 he began his School Counseling Career at Palo Verde High School in Blythe, California. In 1979 he accepted a School Counseling position in Indio, California with the Desert Sands Unified School District.

In 1984 Jim began to work with the Riverside Vet Center to provide Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) counseling to Vietnam Veterans and their families. As a result of this experience, he began part time clinical work, in addition to his work within the schools, with two different mental health clinics and became a state Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in 1995.

Jim married Susan in 1969. They have two adult children, David and Hannah.

Jim enjoys being active and is into cycling and hiking in the local deserts and mountains.

At this stage of Jim's life he lists the following events as major life changing experiences:

1957, while visiting Las Vegas was witness to an aerial atomic bomb blast from 85 miles away;

1960, shook hands with the soon to be President, John F. Kennedy;

1965, witness to the Los Angeles Watts Riots;

1967, Combat Medic with an infantry platoon in Vietnam (a year filled with life changing experiences);

1969, marriage to Susan;

1970, Bachelors Degree, Biology;

1977, Masters Degree, Psychology and PPS Credential;

1977, hired as a School Counselor

1978, son, David was born;

1982, daughter, Hannah was born;

1983, co-founded, developed and implemented the DSUSD Chemical Awareness Network (CAN) which has evolved into the centralized, family-centered RR SAP;

1984, visited the Vietnam Veterans' National Memorial in Washington, DC;

1986, co-founded Chapter #368, Vietnam Veterans' of America, Inc.

1995, earned Marriage and Family Therapy License;

2002, along with Jan Ryan successfully co-wrote a Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative Grant, Connect to Achieve, for nearly $9,000,000 replicating the DS SAP in seven school districts in Riverside County, California;