Candidate for
Board Member; Cincinnati City School District

A native Ohioan, I moved to Cincinnati in 1977. I met and married Jim Reed, a native Cincinnatian and Withrow High School graduate. We have six grown children and eight grandchildren . I have always had a passion for children, often caring for children other than our own. In 1987 Jim and I were named Hamilton County Adoptive Parents of the Year.

After practicing clinical social work for several years, I attended the University of Cincinnati College of Law, graduating in 1984. While married with children, I made the Moot Court Team. My Administrative Law Team won 1st place in the National Administrative Law Competition and I was awarded the Shmieg-Weil Award for being the Outstanding Moot Court Competitor in 1984.

After Law School, I became a staff attorney for the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. I served as a Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor before being tapped as a Juvenile Court Referee. During my stint at Juvenile Court, I spent three years handling truancy cases in Juvenile Court. These cases were heard at the school site and it was there that I developed a thorough understanding of attendance issues in the Cincinnati Public School system.

In 1992, then Mayor Tillery appointed me to the Mayor's Commission on Children. While serving on the Commission, I opened and became Director of Children's Defense Fund in Cincinnati. For the next 11 years, I advocated for children in Cincinnati and eventually, across the state. My staff and I documented the needs of Cincinnati children in child health, child welfare, early childhood care and education, and k-12 education and used those statistics to propose sound policies to legislators from the federal to the local level.

I was appointed to both the Ohio Department of Education's Achievement Gap Task Force and the Early Childhood Task Force. While serving on those bodies, I learned about educational issues across the state and noted how Cincinnati did in comparison to other areas of the state. Under Steven Adamowski, I became the only community member of the CPS Redesign Team where I developed a thorough understanding of the CPS method of assessing school and student achievement. During that time, my CDF staff and I were responsible for engaging parents and community in both the academic redesign process and, subsequently, the CPS $1 billion building program.

Elected to the School Board in 2005, I am completing my first full term. During that time, my colleagues have chosen me as President two of those four years. In my second year as President, I guided the Board through the Superintendent Search Process which yielded Superintendent Mary Ronan.

As a Board member, I've advocated for Board development, accelerated academic achievement and fiscal stability and transparency. I have represented the Board on the Mayerson Academy Board and the Executive Committee of Family and Children First. As the Board representative to the Council for Great City Schools, I was chosen to be a part of its Executive Committee and have ensured that CPS has been able to access its resources from the use of key performance indicators to a curriculum assessment.