I am asking for your support to serve on the Vashon Island School Board. I will work hard to build upon the current successes of our school district to ensure it is a place where each child receives an education that prepares them to achieve their hopes and dreams. I will ensure our educators are provided the resources required for them to excel in their profession and our school system is accessible, transparent, responsive and accountable to you.

I am a 39-year Island resident whose children attended Vashon schools. I now have two grandchildren at Chautauqua Elementary School with a third one not far behind. In the past I have served you with integrity, honesty and openness on various boards in service to our community including the School board, Park District board, our Community Council, Vashon Island Jr. Basketball, Vashon Youth Baseball, King County EEO/AA Committee and others. I have coached and mentored our Island youth for more than 30 years. Providing our children with what they need to grow to their fullest potential is of the utmost importance to me.

During the four years that I served on the board in the past, I proposed and had changes approved to district policies regarding educational curriculum, hiring, public participation, and financial systems and reporting. I applied for, and was awarded, two grants totaling more than $600,000 that paid for fire alarm repairs at Vashon High School, and for sidewalks and lighting at Chautauqua and McMurray Middle schools. I have volunteered as a school bus driver for the past 11 years for our high school basketball and football teams, class field trips, Camp Waskowitz and Exploratory week.

If elected by our community for this school board position, some of my priorities would be:

Financial Stability – We need to identify a long range plan to bring all our facilities up to current safety and ADA standards without having the hand wringing debates about every ten years and the goal remains still not achieved.

Student Learning and Assessing Achievement – Although the State requires testing it is only one tool in the toolbox and it needs not be the overarching guide in our students training. We can incorporate more student friendly methods to assess student learning and achievement.

Vocational Education – College is not the answer for all our students. We need to create a relevant vocational program containing courses of study in diesel mechanics, information technology, GIS mapping skills, electronics, plumbing or carpentry. I see many of our students waste a decade of their post graduation life until they find one of these professions.

Public Involvement – I would like to see more public involvement at Board meetings. The one I attended in mid-September had three members of the public. I would also like to find ways to engage more parents to get involved in their students education as well as others. We have a vast number of parents and community members with superior expertise in a vast array of subjects. We need to find a way to utilize this untapped resource.