Candidate for
Member; Placer County Board of Education; Trustee Area 4

I attended local Auburn schools and graduated from U.C. Davis. Upon returning to Auburn I started working for Sierra Laboratories and eventually became co-owner. After selling the Lab eighteen years later, we started a company to promote my husband's invention. After five years, I decided to change direction and went back to school for my MBA while working at Hewlett-Packard, where I have been off and on for the past thirteen years.

Throughout the years of my son's schooling, I was involved in parent-teacher organizations and attended school board meetings. The importance of monitoring school board meetings was enhanced with an AAUW (American Association of University Women) project focusing on censorship in the schools. By attending the meetings as a member of the public, I was able to support School Boards to keep books on the shelves.

I have continued to attend school board meetings as a member of the public + long after my son graduated. In fact, this is my 24th year of attending various school board meetings. As a founding member of CUBE (Community Unification for Better Education), I attended all local school board meetings to encourage them to study the idea of unification. CUBE has been researching alternatives for schools in this area + especially with so many small, one-school-districts. Community based unification has been the focus. During public meetings comments were heard on our out-dated school system and the need for creative re-organization at the classroom level. I am deeply concerned with the quality of public education and continue to push for changes. Third grade reading literacy is a primary focus.

I was appointed to serve on the Placer County Library Advisory Board 16 years ago. During the 12 years that I served, I spearheaded a move to have the budget reflect actual Library expenditures and change the name of the library system to Placer County Library from Auburn-Placer County Library to better reflect all branches throughout the county. I continued to promote facilities improvement, community involvement and staff equity.

I have always been a community supporter as evidenced with my involvement with various service clubs + especially AAUW. She is a past-president and continues to organize fundraising for the benefit of scholarships for women.

I am also on the Board of a non-profit organization - the Pacific Chapter of the Neuropathy Association. During this time I have been successful at obtaining a grant for furthering our outreach to community members.

I am also working as a volunteer at Rock Creek School as a 'Sight Word Buster' - helping kindergarten, first and second grade students recognize 240 sight words before entering third grade - increasing their literacy. This is a great program started by Linda LoBue and is slated to expand to Alta Vista.

I continue to support ROP programs for the entire County, knowing that practical educational opportunities benefit students and communities alike. I look forward to more opportunities to be involved in positive training for our students.