As a San Bruno native with two young children, I have a vested interest in making sure my children, and yours, have access to a well-rounded curriculum, enrichment programs and exceptional teachers that will help them succeed in high school and beyond. As a daughter of an immigrant who reaped the benefits of the public school system, I understand and value the need for equity and access for all.

Over the last two years, I have been actively involved in helping to enhance our schools.  When my oldest daughter was in kindergarten, I was elected to serve on the board of the San Bruno Education Foundation (SBEF). I jumped at the opportunity to use my Marketing degree to help rebrand SBEF, create a new website and streamline communication to our community. Also, it just felt good to know that I was helping to improve the educational experiences of my children and yours. In the last two years, the visibility of the organization has increased due to our communications strategy and has led to a broader donor base.

I have served on the LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) and the Portrait of a Graduate committees to better understand and help set priorities for curriculum and student achievement so that our Parkside graduates are ready for high school. I was also asked to participate in the interview panel for our new superintendent and serve on the "Return to School Committee". I take all of these roles seriously and am happy to serve my community. 

Like many of you, I see such potential for growth and development within our school communities. However, this historically has been hindered by a lack of communication and community outreach from our district leadership and infighting from our board of trustees. The main problem that I see is that people are not prioritized. Not our students. Not our teachers. And not the greater community. 

Right now we have a unique opportunity to make a change for the better. We have two board seats up for election and a new superintendent who is energized and excited for change. With me on the board of trustees, you will have a person who is not afraid to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work. Not afraid to speak out when our district is not prioritizing the needs of its most important assets: our students and teachers. I am ready and willing to fight for our children and to push for positive initiatives that tear down an outdated system and build a network of schools that are modern and functional.  

With me on the San Bruno Park School Board of Trustees, you will have someone who puts people first. Someone who will prioritize our kids, our teachers and our community. 

District Committees and Relevant Experience

• 2 years service on the San Bruno Education Foundation Board of Directors
• 2 years service on the LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan) committee
• Served on the Portrait of a Graduate committee
• Proud PTA member and active fundraiser

I envision a future for San Bruno that puts people first. A San Bruno where our students are celebrated, our teachers honored and our community embraced. We have to focus on what matters most if we want to ever move forward and succeed. Due to years of dysfunction, our current board has not been able to define its vision and properly direct staff to execute it. Below are the priorities which I will be advocating for:

Prioritizing Students

Implementing a modern curriculum, promoting social emotional learning and bringing a new focus to our most vulnerable students needs to be our main priorities for helping our kids. Right now, most of our children go to school in buildings that are 60 years old, study science curriculum that is outdated by over a decade and have little to no focus on their mental health and well being. That is simply not okay. As a board member I will put these issues front and center so that your children and mine are given the tools they need to grow, learn and thrive.

Putting our students first looks like

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• A school board that prioritizes and implements 21st Century Curriculum. We are twenty years into this century and SBPSD is still trying to implement what other districts did years ago. We have left our students behind as neighboring districts construct STEM, Montessori and Language Immersion programs that help children succeed in high school, college and/or job training. We know what exceptional STEM schools look like. We had one. Now we must rebuild in a way that reflects our modern world.

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• Focusing on our most vulnerable students.  For too long our students who are classified as English Language Learners (ELL) and those with Individualized Educational Plans (IEP) in our Special Education Programs have suffered from lack of attention and resources.  Progress starts with prioritization. If we want to address these programs, we must identify what our students, parents and teachers need to be successful.​​

• ​​SBPSD receives Title 1 funding to assist with ELL education. As a board member I will push for a more aggressive plan to transition our students to proficient English speakers and readers and close the widening achievement gap. We must ensure that the funds allocated for our Title 1 schools are actually used there. 

• ​Our school district has not properly managed the Special Education Program for over a decade. This is an issue that many districts face, but we have to actually face it. Study sessions have been done. It's time to implement the recommendations and reinstate support groups that were proven successful in the past. ​

• Embracing Social Emotional Learning (SEL). As defined by CASEL, the subject matter experts, "SEL is the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions." All of the available data shows that schools that embrace SEL have students with improved mental health and higher test scores. 

“SEL programming improved students’ achievement test scores by 11 to 17 percentile points, indicating that they offer students a practical educational benefit.”1

We have piloted SEL at Rollingwood and Portola has begun to adopt the curriculum. In a post-COVID world, we must prioritize Social Emotional Learning implementation throughout the district. Our kids' and teachers' mental health depends on it.

Prioritizing Teachers

It goes without saying, especially with our current reality of a global pandemic and distance learning; teachers are superheroes and deserve to be paid and treated as such. For far too long our district has lacked the resources and stable financial management to pay, recruit, and retain qualified teachers.

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Treating Our Teachers With Respect Involves

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• Giving teachers a seat at the table. There is an obvious division between our district administration and our teachers. For too long our teachers and the district office have operated independently of one another. This just isn’t working. Our teachers deserve to be consulted prior to the district office making decisions that will impact them. This is the way that healthy organizations are run. All stakeholders need to be brought into the discussion, prior to decisions being made.

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• We MUST find a way to fairly compensate our most valuable asset: our teachers. Our district is ranked 19 out of 20 in teacher compensation. We know that budgets are tight, but other districts have figured it out and we need to as well. Our district and board have study sessions about selling public land. Study sessions about modernizing our buildings. Why aren’t we devoting the same amount of attention to solving this problem. You can be assured that I will push for a plan to attract and retain qualified teachers. NOW.

Prioritizing Community

After two years of attending regular board meetings, it’s fair to say that the San Bruno Park School District Administration and majority of the Board has not prioritized communication with parents, staff or community members. Changing this starts with top down effective communication that actively encourages community engagement. Like so many of you, I am a working mom with a busy schedule. My background in Marketing provides me with the skills to produce and advocate for clear, regular communication that all community members can rely on.

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Improved Communication Channels for All Prioritizes

• Live streaming via Zoom or similar platform (during AND post-COVID).

• Recorded board meetings that are posted to a centralized location within 72 hours.

• Public comments moved to beginning of the agenda.

• Agendas that limit the length of the meetings to 2-3 hours.​

• Clear and visible meeting schedules on the district’s homepage.

• Facebook events and infographics with meeting information posted from SBPSD Facebook page.

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Communicating With People Where They Are Listening​

• All information should be available via personal preference, including:

• Email

• Text

• Social media

• Printed materials

• Mail

• School site communication efforts

1Casel.org

I am a veteran naval officer and a scientist by profession.  More importantly I am a father of two children who attend Parkside Intermediate.  In the military I learned that strong leadership is key to build a winning culture.  I hope to bring those lessons to our school board.  While teaching during my Ph.D. studies at Harvard, I experienced firsthand that support is essential for an educator to be effective.  I strongly believe that we need to prioritize investments in our staff and in modernized classrooms.  I have advocated for our schools over the last three years, serving on the Board of the San Bruno Education Foundation.  Over those years I became well informed on the various challenges facing our district but also on our many strengths we can leverage to build great schools.  With your vote, I will commit to collaborative leadership to ensure our kids and our community have the schools they deserve.