Candidate for
Board Member; Mill Valley School District

With my husband, Ken, we have raised four children in Mill Valley who have greatly benefitted from Mill Valley's exceptional public schools. I want to ensure that all Mill Valley families have this same opportunity.

Our Mill Valley schools need hardworking, experienced, sensitive, fair and responsible school board members committed to preserving the quality of our schools in these difficult financial times. I understand the challenges that face our schools and am deeply committed to excellence in education. I am also honored to have the "Leslie Wachtel Courtyard" dedicated to my efforts and accomplishments at Old Mill School.

Here are some highlights of my volunteer leadership efforts over the past twenty years:

a. 16th District PTA President (Marin County: Sausalito to Novato);

b. Mill Valley K-12 PTA Council President

c. Kiddo! Board Chair for 3 years (including challenge campaign year when fundraising doubled from $600,000 to $1,200,000)

d. Kiddo! Board Member for 10 years

e. Member of School District Strategic Task Force

f. Old Mill PTA President for 2 terms (4 years)

g. Old Mill PTA Executive Board 13 years consecutively

h. Tam High PTSA President for 3 years, Executive Board for 6 years

i. Tam High Foundation Chair

j. Tam High Foundation Board Member for 7 years;

k. Sat on principal search committees at both the elementary and the high school level

l. Tam Preschool Board President

m. Redwoods Retirement Community Board - 4 years

n. "Friends of the Redwoods Board" + 5 years

o. Fundraising committee for Mill Valley Community Center

p. Mill Valley Centennial Steering Committee member

I have spent the last 20 years volunteering in my community with the vast majority of my volunteer time devoted to the Mill Valley schools. I have a comprehensive working knowledge of how our schools community works. I have worked with 3 superintendents (going back to 1993), numerous principals, hundreds of teachers and probably more than to 1,000 parents. In my 20 years of public school volunteering I have worked in collaboration with all these groups to improve our schools and I want to make sure that they remain great.

Please check out my website at http://www.LeslieWachtel.com