Candidate for
Board Member; Dry Creek Joint School District

I grew up in Boulder CO, Portland, OR, Lawrence, KS, finally moving to San Diego CA in 1977, and I still consider it my "hometown". In 1986, moved north to attend UC Davis, where I earned my BA in Political Science, and met the love of my life, Jeanine in an upper division writing class. We were married in 1994, and have 2 great kids, a 12 year old girl and a 16 year old boy.

Jeanine and I have lived in the Dry Creek District since 1998, and both our kids attended Dry Creek Schools.

After completing the Teacher Credential Program at CSU Sacramento in 1995, I have been teaching math at Arcade Fundamental Middle School. This is my 18th year on the staff.

In 2008, I ran for a seat on the Dry Creek Joint Elementary Board of Trustees, finishing 2nd in a race with 5 candidates, (missing 1st place by only 10 votes out of the 25,000 votes cast) All of this without the endorsement and financial of the Dry Creek Teacher's Association, (which went to two other candidates) and on a campaign budget of about 200 dollars.

I wanted to run for the school board because I had not been happy with the way the board at the time had gone about some of their decisions, and felt that I could either complain, or step up and do something about it.

During the last 4 years, I am proud of the fact that the board of trustees has been able to maintain a quality education for the students of the district despite tough budgets. However, it would not be fair for me to take all the credit. This success is in large part to the scores of dedicated administrative staff, outstanding teachers, and loyal, hard working classified employees, who somehow manage to make do with less, year after year.

Where other districts have been cutting back on school days, we have held the line in Dry Creek, keeping our full schedule of 180 days. We will continue to try and run the district with solid financial decision making, to make sure our kids get the best education we can provide.