Candidate for
Board Member; Los Altos School District

I attended Stanford from 1973 through 1978, earning my B.S. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering. I moved from Palo Alto to Fremont in 1979. I first worked for the California Public Utilities Commission for one year, and then I moved to PG&E where I was responsible for negotiating contracts to purchase energy from alternative energy producers. I later moved into the Finance and Rates Department, where I managed professionals who prepared the forecasts that were used as the basis for PG&E's rate proceedings. I worked for PG&E for over fifteen years, including 4 years as a Director of the Revenue and Earnings Section in the Finance and Rates Dept.

My daughter was born in 1995 and she entered kindergarten in a public school in Fremont in 2000. The school had excellent academics but did not value the individuality of the child. The principal even said to me, "We expect to be able to treat every child the same way." Perhaps for a K-6 school of over 800 students, that is not surprising!

My husband and I value excellent academics, but we also believe that school should be a place where children are treated with respect for their individuality, given the support they need to succeed in school, and taught how to get along with others. We started looking at homes in other communities with excellent schools, including Palo Alto, Saratoga, and Los Altos. We found a nice home in Los Altos and moved here in 2001.

We live in the Oak attendance area, but Oak was full when we moved here so we were sent to Springer. I fell in love with Springer when I met the Springer principal and told him we had just moved from Fremont and why. He proceeded to tell me about Springer's Lifeskills program, and I knew we had found the right place to raise our daughter.

We were later transferred to Covington when Springer was downsized in 2003. The teachers and principal at Covington are also caring, dedicated professionals, and they clearly have the same philosophy of meeting every child's unique needs. This is a District-wide philosophy.

I have been involved with the schools ever since moving here. I have volunteered extensively on campus, serving as a volunteer teacher in Springer's "Parent PE" program, and also volunteering in the classroom, library, science lab, computer lab, noontime activities program, and hot lunch program. I served as Springer PTA Secretary and as Covington PTA Treasurer. Serving on the Covington PTA Board in its first year of operation was quite challenging, since our community was divided and we had to develop everything (like the PTA budget) from scratch. But we all worked together and we had a successful year.

My feelings for this District are so strong that, when the first parcel tax failed, I helped with the phoning for the Save Our Staff campaign and personally donated $7000 to help avoid teacher layoffs.

I have attended numerous School Board meetings and I have participated in public hearings on important issues such as the closure of a school and, later, the location of the Charter School.

I am running for School Board because I know that our schools are truly special. Our schools prove that you can "have it all." That is, you can have excellent academics, plus enrichment programs like PE, music, and art, plus values programs, plus teachers and principals who care about the needs of every child. I would like to contribute my time and energy to this position. I have the financial expertise, leadership skills, and knowledge of the schools to be able to serve as a Board Member.