Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Rescue Union School District

I am the mother of three children who have attended schools in the Rescue Union School District. We have lived in this community for 13 years, during which time I have been actively involved in the school system. Prior to moving here, I participated in other school districts in California, Virginia, and in England for an additional eight years.

For the past four years, I have served as an elected trustee on the Rescue Union School Board. During this time, I have attended all but one board meeting, the majority of school site Back to School nights, Open Houses and special events. It is my firm belief that presence on school campuses and in classrooms is the key to understanding the needs of the students and our staff. To that end, I accompany the superintendent on weekly site visits to individual classrooms, where I can see our curriculum, programs and dedicated teaching staff in place. I encourage communications from all stakeholders in our educational system and do my best to represent the interests of all RUSD students.

In September of 2005, I completed the Masters in Governance program, a nine module training for board members in the areas of Foundations of Effective Governance, Setting Direction, Human Resources, Policy/Judicial Review, Student Learning and Achievement, School Finance, Collective Bargaining, Community Relations and Advocacy, and Governancy Integration.

In March of 2006, I was elected from a four county area, as a representative to the Delegate Assembly, the policy-making body of the California School Boards Association. I have attended three Assembly meetings taking forward and bringing back an exchange of ideas to improve education in legislative actions of our state.

Each year since 2002, I have attended the annual conference of the California School Board Association, a forum for gathering and exchanging relevant information about the changing needs of education. The invaluable knowledge gained from the sessions and the dialog with Board members around the state provides tremendous resource to our District.

Prior to my election to the RUSD board of trustees, I held Parent Club offices and worked on numerous school site and District committes with the main goal improving the educational experience for the children of Rescue Union School District. It is my belief that teachers, parents, school staff, and community members working together to improve our children's education will give them the sense of community they need to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Additionally, I served as the School Site Council Coordinator for two RUSD schools - Lake Forest and Marina Village for three years. I spent 8 years as a School Site Council (SSC) participant gaining vast experience in the planning for school improvements and managing the budgets designated to implement these plans. For the past three years, I assisted the Superintendent in training new site council members at each of the five school sites. For the 2002/2003 year state requirements for the development of school plans will require a major revamping of the previous procedures.

As a an original member of the District's Student Housing Task Force, I am continually concerned aboutissues regarding the housing of our students. These issues have involved reconfigurations of classes to create the 20:1 class size reductions, multi-track year-round educational schedules, school attendance boundaries, and the continuing need for more classroom space at individual sites and new schools.

I have also worked on the District Budget Task Force to help develop priorities for the use of District funds to best meet the needs of the students.

I was a member of the Leadership Team for Marina Village school which works through the California School Leadership Academy to develop team building strategies to continue to improve the education for Marina Village students.

Recently, I was elected to my second year as Chair of the Oak Ridge High School Site Council , where I am also the STAR testing coordinator.

Additionally, I have been a Little League Coach, a parent participant at OakRidge High School, and a member of Friends of the Library.