Candidate for
Board Member; Fullerton Joint Union High School District

My father, Louis, was a Greek immigrant. He was a World War II veteran who fought in the Pacific as a Marine. Using the GI Bill, he attended UCLA and earned a degree in history. He taught in the Anaheim Union High School District for 29 years. I know when I was awarded the Veterans of Foreign War Teacher of the Year award in 1993 it gave my father great joy.

My mother, Jeniece (Jan), was a second generation Californian. She worked in food service most of her life including managing a central kitchen in the Garden Grove Unified School District.

I attended several elementary schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District because I was in the MGM (gifted) program. I attended McGarvin Junior High and La Quinta High School. I graduated in 1979.

In high school, I was active all four years in the types of programs that make a comprehensive high school the wonder that it is. I was in drama and choir and I worked to make my high school even better as a member of ASB in my senior year. I was awarded a scholarship by the Westminster Community Theatre.

I attended California State University, Fullerton earning a degree in Political Science in 1984. I earned my single subject social science credential in 1985 so that I could become a teacher, a profession I had always dreamed of being since my childhood. While teaching, I returned to CSUF for my Master's Degree in Political Science and received it in 1998.

I student taught both at Buena Park High School and Dale Junior High School in 1984-1985. While teaching at Buena Park I met my husband Kevin who was a first year teacher. Kevin and I later married in Buena Park in 1987. We proudly own a home in Fullerton.

I have been an educator for almost 30 years.

I taught U.S. History in Paramount Unified School District at Alondra Intermediate School until 1994. While there, I was also the Activities Director for four years. I was named Alondra Intermediate Teacher of the Year and Paramount Unified Teacher of the Year in 1993-1994.

Today, I teach government and advanced placement government in the Anaheim Union High School District at Cypress High School. I started there in September 1994. I was chair of the Social Science Department for seven years and served in a variety of other leadership roles. I was the Cypress High School Teacher of the Year and the Anaheim Union High School District Teacher of the Year in 2006-2007.

As a social science teacher I have worked to instill patriotic values and civic participation in my students. I took students to Washington D.C. several times including a presidential inauguration.

I was one of the teachers who piloted the student poll worker program in Orange County in 1998. I coordinated the student poll worker program at Cypress High School for many years. In doing so, I worked closely with the Registrar of Voters office to expand the program and opportunities for student involvement. I also regularly lead voter registration drives at Cypress High School.

From 2008-2014, I was the Teacher Association's President for the Anaheim Union High School District. In this position I served on different committees that have given me first-hand knowledge about school budgets, insurance concerns and costs, and the various other areas that impact a school district. I am proud to have worked closely with three different Superintendents.

My role also allowed me to work closely with the School Board of the District. I am pleased to have received the endorsement in this election of four of the current board members and a former school board member who now serves on the Anaheim City Council.

My main focus, as I worked collaboratively with the Anaheim Union High School District leadership during the economic downturn, was to preserve services to students by working to lessen the impact of the downturn on the classroom.

I served for six years on the monthly District Budget Committee and the monthly Health Insurance Committee. I also served on the Superintendent's Certificated Advisory Committee for those same six years.

Finally, I am actually quite interested in the issues and politics of education. To me, they are quite fascinating because they have such an impact on our lives that I cannot help but delve deeper into each. That is one of the main reasons I am offering myself as a candidate. I believe that new ideas and a generational shift is necessary to move the Fullerton High School board into the 21st Century.

On November 4, I am the candidate that represents a new voice with the leadership tools, experience and knowledge to build upon the existing academic foundation.