I am running for a position on the Chapel Hill Carrboro City School Board. I am passionate about public education in general and this school system in particular. CHCCS effectively educates many children and has highly dedicated teachers and staff. However, like any other institution, it can improve.

I will bring useful knowledge and skills to the School Board. I have worked for almost my entire career for non-profit organizations that strive to bring youth through the tricky years of adolescence. These agencies work to prevent teens from sidelining themselves with adolescent pregnancy and juvenile crime. My role in those non-profits has been to advocate for improved public policies, raise funds through grants and educate the public. My knowledge of adolescent behavior and youth programs will be useful in my service as a School Board member. School failure often goes hand in hand with other risky behavior. Service on the School Board will allow me to work on youth issues from a new and important angle.

On a more personal level, I volunteered in CHCCS elementary classrooms each of the ten years that my girls attended Seawell and Estes Hills Elementary Schools. Helping in the classroom allowed me to watch some of our finest teachers work their magic. I have tremendous respect and appreciation for the men and women who educate our community’s children. I have worked outside the classroom on numerous committees including service for a year as the Chair of the Estes Hills Elementary School Governance Committee. Also, working with the staff at Lincoln Center and with local historians, I composed a timeline of the district’s history. I am especially proud that I was able to merge the histories of both our black and white schools so that the information is available in one place. That project gave me a particular appreciation of the failures, successes and ongoing challenges that our district faced during the integration years.

I will bring my knowledge and skills to a district that will continue to strive for improvement particularly regarding the minority achievement gap. I look forward to an opportunity to help our district educate all our children to the best of their potential.