Candidate for
Board Member; Redwood City School District; 2 Year Term

Shelly Masur is a parent, a current school board member, and a community member committed to children and young people.

She is the parent of three children, all of whom are students at Adelante Spanish Immersion School. She and her husband moved to Redwood City from Mountain View. They chose Redwood City because of the schools; she and her husband wanted a district with the quality and variety of school choices, as well as the strength of diversity they saw in the Redwood City School District.

She was appointed to the school board in March to fill Alicia Aguirre's seat after Alilcia was appointed to the City Council. Since then she has had the opportunity to visit the schools, to learn about their strengths and concerns, and to meet parents, teachers, and students. The board and the district have worked hard to ensure a quality education for the children of Redwood City. However, the district still faces challenges. In a district with students from a variety of backgrounds, the Redwood City School District must find a way to provide a high quality education for all its students, from students who are just learning English to students in gifted and talented programs, with very limited financial resources. She is committed to working with parents, district staff and the schools to find innovative ways to meet these challenges.

Shelly is part of your community, and have been for longer than she has lived here. For 4 years she worked in teen pregnancy prevention in Redwood City and throughout the County. She started a family communication program in this district in 1999. While doing this, she worked with school principals, PTAs and other parent groups to provide education to parents. That program, Plain Talk for Parents, still runs today, working primarily with community groups. Shelly has also taught health at a high school level. She is a Brownie leader and a classroom volunteer. In each of these capacities Shelly has served with the same ideals that she now brings to the Redwood City School Board: It is our job as adults to help our children become successful in life. Shelly believes that to be successful, children must have an education that prepares them for the world.

Shelly has lived in many different areas of the country but has lived on the Peninsula for the last 6 years. She went to college in Minnesota and got a Master's degree in Public Health in New York City. She has been married for 12 years and her husband is an attorney.

She is the director of a non-profit focused on adolescent health. Her training and experience have taught her how to work with different groups of people to achieve the goals they set and to recognize that differences can be our strength if we can agree on goals.