I’ve been a parent with two children in Seattle Public Schools for 8 years. Over time I’ve become increasingly active as a parent volunteer and advocate. I still remember my first school related meeting 9-10 years ago at Roosevelt High School when the community turned out to discuss capacity issues and the lack of space for all the kids bubbling up. Little did I know that would result in a chain of events that ended with the establishment of Jane Addams Middle School where I am now on the PTSA board , volunteer after school and serve on the Building Leadership Team.
In the intervening years my family has been part of the community at 6 different buildings: Greenwood, Bryant, Decatur, EEU, Jane Addams K-8 (now Hazel Wolf K-8) and Jane Addams Middle School. I’ve learned firsthand the difficulties navigating the special education system with a child in the developmental pre-k classes. You always worry as a parent but bringing up a son with special needs and getting the services you know are needed to help him thrive in school is especially nerve wracking.
A few years later, I started volunteering in my older son’s elementary school running the after school Math Club. Mathematics is my special passion and in the next five years the hours I’ve spent each week working with various students has been the highlight of each school year. I’m a strong proponent of problem solving and deeper Mathematics teaching. But most importantly I view the main goal of the after school programs to be discovering joy while doing Math. Advocating for more widespread systemic opportunities like this that are available in every building is one of my strongest desires. As part of this passion I’ve recently presented on Math Circles at several Math Education Conferences. This Fall I will be attending the 58th annual Northwest Math Conference in Tacoma and giving a 90 minute workshop on how to setup and run Math Clubs and hopefully spread the movement farther in our region.
In the most recent years, I become part of the PTSA board at Jane Addams Middle School. I’ve served as the co-chair of the Building Leadership Team. This is the site based management model used to run our school building. A group of teachers, administrators and parents jointly manage the school budget, continual improvement plan, professional development and many other building wide issues that come up. This experience has given me a much deeper insight into how a building runs and the pain of the shortfalls in the education funding system. Our schools are full of incredibly dedicated people whom I’m proud to have gotten to know and partner with. At the same time, they’re trying to make up the large gap between what fair and adequate public education should be and what we’re given to fund it.
All these experiences and the constant crucial policy decisions the district makes have brought to me this point. I think my passion for education issues and the range and depth of my experience is what is needed on the board today. After watching and advocating over the last few years I deeply understand its oversight role and how it creates policy that leads the district forward. Its important to understand and listen to the wide range of constituents within the schools from teachers to parents to students. Its also important to understand the incredible diversity within our schools and work to make the changes necessary for every student to succeed regardless of address, socio-economic status or race and ethnicity. At the same time, we need to always strive for a best of breed School System that has varied opportunities for every student and understands they all bring different passions that should be encouraged.
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