Candidate for
Board Member; Palo Alto Unified School District

Hello! I'm Melissa Baten Caswell, current PAUSD School Board trustee and experienced community leader, and I hope you'll support my reelection campaign.

Here's my background: I was born in White Plains, New York, where I spent my childhood. After receiving my MBA degree from Dartmouth, I spent fourteen years as an executive in finance, marketing and strategy; first on Wall Street and then in Silicon Valley high tech firms. My husband Lee Caswell, also a business executive, and I moved to Palo Alto in 1990. We have two children: Lainie, age 17, and Cas, age 13. We love this town and I am looking forward to extending my deep, longstanding commitment to it.

My civic contributions include:

1. PAUSD Board Committees:

• Board Policy Review
• School/City Committee
• Stanford University/School Committee
• Regional Housing Mandate Committee Liaison
• Partners in Education Liaison
• California Association of Large Suburban School Districts
• Regional Occupational Program Policy Council

2. Palo Alto Volunteer Service:

• President, Palo Alto PTA Council, 2005-07
• Executive Vice President, Palo Alto PTA Council
• President, Secretary, and Parliamentarian, Duveneck Elementary School PTA
• Founding Board Member and Vice Chair, Youth Community Service
• Board member and Campaign Cabinet, Palo Alto Art Center Foundation
• BizWorld Instructor
• Junior Great Books Instructor
• Meet the Masters Instructor
• Member, Two Mayoral Task Forces
• Ambassador, Family Resources
• Leader, award-winning Hurricane Katrina relief program
• Parent Advisory Board, Downtown Children's Center Preschool
• Troop Leader, Girl Scouts
• Parent volunteer, AYSO, CYSA, YMCA, and Little League teams
• Lice Checker, Duveneck Elementary School

3. Relevant Awards:

• PTA Council Continuing Service Award, 2009
• Duveneck PTA Golden Oak Award, 2010

In 2001 I stepped away from my corporate executive career to focus on family and community. Over the next decade, I was honored to serve as a PTA leader in six different elected offices, including Presidency of the PTA Council for two years, during which I spearheaded an award-winning "Bridge of Caring" relief program for survivors of Hurricane Katrina. I was Vice Chair and a Founding Board member for Youth Community Service and a board member of the Palo Alto Art Center, as well as member of two mayoral task forces. As a mother of two active kids, I have also been a Girl Scout troop leader, classroom volunteer, team helper on AYSO, CYSA, and Little League teams, and even a volunteer lice checker at Duveneck Elementary school!

Whether leading community-wide meetings or handing out snacks to little kids after sports games, I have seen a consistent theme: our community is packed with excellence. We have remarkable intellectual, athletic, and entrepreneurial adult achievers here, raising children who stand out in multiple measures of talent. But in times of shrinking resources, our schools--arguably a crown jewel of the town--simply cannot nurture and hone its young people's gifts fully without a key factor: community-wide collaboration.

Because of my own commitment to this teamwork, I have worked constantly as your School Board Trustee over the last five years to build effective partnerships among all stakeholders in PAUSD. Whether deciding on strategic plan processes, math curriculum or on bond money oversight, my goal has been to listen fully and openly to all points of view, to assemble effective advisory teams, and to make fair-minded, respectful decisions.

After five years, these rich and respectful conversations have deepened my understanding of our schools and our community. I understand how our District works, and how we can pursue continual improvements in the ongoing crucial work of helping every child thrive. You can count on me to continue my record of deep listening and practical decision making, while extending the partnerships and educational program innovations that are making a difference.

Business Experience:

I hold AB and MBA degrees from Dartmouth and spent 14 years in the business world. For three years, I served as a corporate finance manager on Wall Street. After moving to the Bay Area and settling down with my husband, Lee, I served as a manager in educational marketing at Apple and Sun. In subsequent positions at other companies, I continued to gain more responsibilities and seniority. Over these years, I honed my skills in finance, marketing, and strategy on matters such as distance learning, chip design, artificial intelligence, Internet commerce, and mergers and acquisitions. When I stepped out of the business world to focus on family and community, I had been serving as a corporate officer and Vice President of Marketing at Calico Commerce, a publicly-traded software company.

While there are differences between business and education, my experience as your trustee has shown me clearly that great schools cannot be sustained without the highest standards of fiscal stewardship. This task is especially critical at this time in Palo Alto, when we are increasingly creating such a full public-private partnership. In my years of corporate management, I also learned firsthand that spending money is easy, compared with allocating it well. The latter requires skill, judgment, and above all, a consistent vision and strategic planning. I have drawn upon all of them in my work on the Board.

To these ends, I began my term in 2008 by using corporate connections to secure pro bono assistance from a major consulting firm to develop a landmark Strategic Plan for PAUSD which provided clear, focused, and measurable goals for our schools. I have also pushed for consistent, careful oversight of the public's bond monies as we moved forward with an ambitious K-12 facilities overhaul and the purchase of new land adjacent to the Cubberley site. Today, that work is on schedule and within budget, and I am committed to keeping it that way.

In addition, my years of business experience taught me the critical importance of teamwork. Each of my positions required me to consider a broad range of concerns. I found that this was true whether I worked on Wall Street or as high tech executive managing large corporations, identifying and selecting markets, or overseeing the selection, acquisition, and merger of a new company. In order to move business forward, I had to be able to listen to stakeholders, focus priorities, and work together to accomplish what needed to be done. On our school board, I have worked consistently to hear all stakeholders and to make clear, fair-minded decisions about key issues. In particular, in order to pursue our recent renovation and land acquisition goals more effectively, I have supported stronger working partnerships between our school district and town officials, and I am committed to extending them over the next four years.

Personal Interests:

In addition to serving as a volunteer and as a consultant for local companies, I am also an artist. I work in watercolor, oil paint, pencil, clay, and I make jewelry. Besides education and my family, my other passions include reading, skiing, tennis, hiking, and swimming. I am also a graduate of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.