I have lived in Petaluma for 31 years, after living in San Francisco for 20 years. I raised my children in Petaluma City Schools and was an active parent, serving on the Superintendent's Lay Advisory Committee, the Petaluma Junior High School Site Council, the Petaluma High School WASC committee, as well as serving as President of the Petaluma Parent Nursery School. I have a BA and a Master's in English Literature from San Francisco State University.
After my children graduated high school, I ran the Casa Grande Career Center for 5 years. In that job, I provided counseling on careers and colleges to all students, managed local scholarships, and oversaw job shadows for career pathways program. I also worked as a Work Experience instructor for Santa Rosa Junior College, helping high school students obtain elective credit toward their graduation through successfully completing job objectives at their place of employment.
I then became an English teacher at Casa Grande, where I taught for 10 years before retiring 3 years ago. I taught all grade levels, except 10th. I taught college prep English in the Small Learning Communities clusters, and Advanced Placement Language and Composition. I also taught a baking class in Casa's culinary program that was funded through the Career Technical Education program at the Sonoma County Office of Education.
As an 11th grade English teacher, I administered all state tests, the STAR and the Common Core exams. I also administered the College Readiness exam given through The California State University system.
These experiences as a parent, volunteer, and Casa Grande English teacher give me unique insight into the issues that affect the entire Petaluma educational community, on both sides of town. I also possess the institutional knowledge that can guide the board and district toward creating a more dynamic, unified vision of success for all our students and help foster an empowered community voice in the decision making process.
I want to encourage more community wide engagement with outreach and communication that brings all stakeholders - parents, students, teachers, staff, community members- together; in other words, recreate a collaborative governance model of administration to the district. This will make shared decision making more dynamic and create an environment where everyone feels heard and has a voice in the education of our children.
