1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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First Name |
Middle Initial or Nick Name |
Last Name |
2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you resided in King County?
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25 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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Year of Run |
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In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
1. In a page or less, why are you running for this office? (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)
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First, I'm pasionate about kids and education--nothing is more important. When I was recruited for the School Board in 1998, I was excited about the opportunity to use my prior life experiences to help make a positive difference in Seattle Public Schools. I soon discovered that my past roles as high school teacher, trial attorney, judge pro tem, mediator, involved community member, active school volunteer and parent provided the perfect background for serving on the School Board. I was elected to the Board in 1999. My colleagues have elected me President the last 2 years. I devote full time and energy to this critical position.
As one can imagine, there is a steep learning curve to this position. With 100 schools, 5,000 employees and 47,000 students, there's a lot to learn. I've had 5 1/2 years of on-the-job training, and have formed many connections, networks and coalitions on behalf of Seattle Public Schools, both locally, state-wide, and nationally. For example, I was elected to the Washington State School Directors Legislative Committee, on which I served for 3 years I've established warm collegial relationships with teachers, administrators, staff, community partners, and city and state officials.
Despite the fiscal crisis of this past year, Seattle Schools have made great progress during my tenure. I've been an integral part of adopting rigorous academic standards for students, giving schools more autonomy, funding students more equitably, and providing more school choice. I'm also helping oversee such important things as Couragous Conversations About Race, work on new graduation requirements to ensure students are ready for 2008, the Literacy Initiative, value added assessment, and school transformation. Last, but my no means least, I've played a major role in the District's work to ensure fiscal intergrity and move to a culture of openness, collaboration and transparency
With the "retirement" of Barbara Schaad, I'll be 6 months shy of being the senior-most Board member. Since we'll have a new superintendent and at least one new member, I believe my experience and institutional memory are crucial to a smooth transition and continued momentum toward our mission of academic achievement for every student in every school. We've come such a long way toward being the world-class school system John Stanford imagined back in 1995. We must stay the course, for our kids. I'm in a position to help make that happen.
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2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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Some of my most closely held values are respect for others, personal integrity, and conscientiousness. These have all been essential traits for performing my role as School Board member, as I believe they would be for any position. Especially the last 2 years as I've been Board President, I've been in a position to treat speakers at meetings respectfully and civilly, even in the face of strong emotion from some. I believe that even people who may not agree with me trust my motives to do the right thing in an honest way. I also consider myself empathetic, genuinely trying to see all sides of every issue from multiple viewpoints. I celebrate diversity, and work to include all perpectives and voices in decision-making. I have made myself totally accessible to constituents by giving out my home and cell phone numbers, encouraging people to contact me any time, and attending community and school meetings several nights a week. I've directed that a contact sheet with Board members e-mail addresses be provided at Board meetings, and I've built a recess into meetings so Board members' can interact with members of the audience during meetings. I've always been collaborative by nature, and that characteristic was reinforced by the mediation training and experience I had working with victims and youthful offenders. I always look for common ground, and seek to represent the common interest--not just the special interest. I strive for consensus, and (maybe from being the mother of 2 teenagers), I have a great deal of patience. From my training as an English teacher, attorney and mediator, as well as all the speaking opportunities I've had over the last 5 1/2 years, I believe that I'm a good listener and communicator. And finally, I have a sense of humor, and I don't take myself too seriously.. |
3. Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.
4. Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.
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*Seattle School Board since 1998; President 2001-Present; Vice-President, 2000-2001 *Board of Directors, Alliance for Education, 2001-Present *Legislative Committee, Washington State School Directors Association, elected by Puget Sound area School Board members, 1998-2000 *It's About Time for Kids, Leadership Council member, 1998-2001 *Mediation Services for Victims and Offenders, board member and volunteer mediator working with troubled youth, 1996-1999 *Board of Directors, Burke-Gilman Place PDA, 1992-1999 *Board of Directors, Associated Counsel for the Accused, 1982-1999 (this was the public defender agency where I worked when I first moved to Seattle) *Board of Directors, And Me, Too!, 1994-1996 (a preschool at NOAA) Eckstein PTSA, member, 1995-1999 Roosevelt High School PTSA, member, 1999-Present *Eckstein Middle School Site Council, 1995-1998, Chair, 1996-1997 *Board of Directors, Friends of Coho, 1992-1995, Co-Chair, 1992-1994 *Parent Governing Board, Kapka Cooperative Primary School, 1991-1994 (Chair, 1991-1992) *Parent Governing Board, Latona Cooperative Preschool, 1986-1990 (Chair, 1988-89) *
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The School Board hires and evaluate the superintent, adopts budgets, sets strategic direction, adopts policies, approves contracts, acts as liaison between the community and the school district, advocates/lobbies for funding on behalf of Seattle Public Schools with city, state and federal legislatures, and generally oversees the work of the district.
The Board's role is governance, not micro-management. The superintendent is responsible for recommending policies, implementing Board-adopted policies and carrying out the day-to-day work of the district. Ultimately, the superintendent is accountable for student achievement and the fiscal health of the district. Therefore, I would say that hiring an excellent superintendent is the most important duty a school board has. I look forward to finding exactly the right person for this critical position, and facilitating his or her transition.
Of course, oversight of the fiscal health of the district is a major duty, as well. Public eduction in a district such as ours is expensive, and we need to maximize our resources to be able to support our students, teachers and schools. I've described above some actions we took this year. One of the recommendtions of both the audit firm and Committee for Fiscal Integrity was financial training for Board members, which we've already begun and will continue. We've directed many, many changes to the "financial side of the house," which will ensure long-term fiscal stability and health.
Working to have the State live up to its Constitutional "paramount duty" to fund education is also of major importance. Education reform at the state level ( and the No Child Left Behind legislation) both require quite a bit more of students, teachers, and the district that ever before. Adequate funding for implementation of these measures must follow. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website. It includes a summary of the candidate’s education. Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined). The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry. Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired).
Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.
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J.D., Georgetown University Law Center A.B., English, Stetson University |
FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT
The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement. Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below. We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted. Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined). It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important. If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes, deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed.
Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report. If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.
Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.
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Seattle School Board since 1998; President since 2001; V.P. 2000-01 Alliance for Education Board since 2001 Washington State School Directors Legislative Committee 1998-2001 Schools First Coalition since 1998 Eckstein Site Council 1995-99, Chair 1996-97 Friends of Coho 1992-95, Chair 1992-94 Kapka School Board 1991-94, Chair 1991-92 Burke-Gilman PDA 1992-99 The Children's Center Board 1993-98 Mediation Services for Victims & Offenders 1996-99 Associated Counsel for the Accused Board 1982-1999 |
Finished!
If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (rebecca@munileague.org). Mail and fax numbers are listed below. If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.
Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League: a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletters and other materials. Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Rebecca Cooper
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org