Candidate for
Board Member; San Ramon Valley Unified School District

Rachel was elected to the Board of Education for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in November 2006, and currently serves as board president. She is on the district's negotiating team and is the board liaison to the Special Education Community Advisory Committee, the SRV Council PTA, and to the PTA Legislative Committee. She co-chaired the campaign for the district's successful May 2009 Measure C parcel tax election.

Prior to being elected to the Board, Rachel was an experienced parent leader in our local community, serving in a variety of capacities at her children's schools and at the district level. She and her husband, Alec have three children: Dan (19) is a graduate of California High School and now attends Sierra College; Adam (15) is a sophomore at California High School; and Maddie (13) is an 8th grader at Pine Valley. Rachel's local volunteering began at Country Club Elementary working in the classroom and serving on the PTA, site council, and education fund. Her involvement expanded to the district level through participation on the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs and on district committees. She served as Council PTA President, Special Needs Chairman, VP-Communications, and as an advisor. She was also PTA representative to the district's Facilities Oversight and Advisory Committee and to the Reading & Writing Project Leadership Team.

Rachel was raised in Palos Verdes in southern CA. She lived in the same house her whole childhood. Palos Verdes is a community very similar to ours with high performing schools and a strong community commitment to education and the schools. Rachel attended UC Davis, where she met her husband Alec, and graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. She worked for McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Corporation in Huntington Beach and Long Beach for 7 years, as an engineer, a total quality management trainer, and in strategic technology management and business development, until a job opportunity for Alec took them to Stockton, CA. Then Rachel started a new career as a stay-at-home mom and a community volunteer. Three years later they relocated to San Ramon, where they have been since 1997.

Two of their children, Dan and Maddie, have dyslexia. Trying to understand and provide for Dan's educational needs is how Rachel first got involved in the special needs part of education, but this soon expanded to advocating for the needs of all children who have special learning needs. In 2002, Rachel, six other parents, then school board member Joan Buchanan, and a member of the special education administration, founded the PTA Council's Special Needs Committee, which has continued to provide information and support to parents and staff so they can help children with special needs succeed.

As site council chairman for 4 years at Country Club, Rachel worked to make intervention programs a priority. In 2005, she brought the Barton Reading & Spelling program to the school and began a volunteer tutoring program to implement it. As a result of networking, the program has spread and is used by many other schools in the district. Students throughout the district, including her daughter Maddie, have benefitted from the change in approach, which now provides intervention early, rather than waiting until a student qualifies for special education. Barton is a key part of the intervention program offered at Country Club and is flourishing with a part-time coordinator/lead tutor.

In 2006-07, Rachel served on the school district's Special Education Redesign Team to improve the culture of special education and three key processes. She was also on the subcommittee of the Special Education Steering Committee that researched and created the district's Special Needs Liaison position that helps both parents and staff understand special education and address and resolve conflicts.

Rachel continues to volunteer as a Barton tutor and for the PTAs at Pine Valley, Cal High and the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs. Through all of her endeavors, Rachel's focus has been to work collaboratively to improve education for all students.