Candidate for
Board Member; San Ramon Valley Unified School District

Rachel Hurd was elected to the San Ramon Valley Unified School District Board of Education in November 2006 and currently is serving her second term as board president. She is on the district's negotiating team, serves on the TRAFFIX Board of Directors, and is a board liaison to the Special Education Community Advisory Committee, the district Climate Committee, the SRV Council of PTAs, and the SRV Council of PTAs Legislative Committee.

Prior to being elected to the Board, Rachel was an experienced parent leader in our local community, serving in a variety of capacities at her children's schools and at the district level. She and her husband, Alec, have three children: Dan (23) is a graduate of California High School, earned a welding certificate at Sierra College, and is now employed as an Iron Worker in the Bay Area; Adam (19) also graduated from California High School and attends the University of Colorado, Boulder; and Maddie (17) is a senior at California High School. Rachel's local volunteering began at Country Club Elementary, working in the classroom and serving on the PTA, site council, and Ed Fund. Her involvement expanded to the district through participation on the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs and on school district committees. She served as Council PTA President, Special Needs Chairman, VP-Communications, and an adviser. She was also a PTA representative to the district's Facilities Oversight & Advisory Committee and to the Reading & Writing Project Leadership Team.

Rachel was raised in Palos Verdes in Southern California. She lived in the same house her whole childhood. Palos Verdes is a community very similar to ours with high performing schools and a strong commitment to education and the schools. Rachel attended UC Davis, where she met her husband Alec, and graduated with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. She worked for McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Corporation in Huntington Beach and Long Beach for 7 years, as an engineer, a total quality management trainer, and in strategic technology management and business development, until a job opportunity for Alec took them to Stockton, CA. At that point, Rachel started a new career as a stay-at-home mom and a community volunteer. Three years later, they relocated to San Ramon, where they have lived since 1997.

Two of their children, Dan and Maddie, have dyslexia. The ongoing journey to understand and provide for Dan's educational needs is how Rachel first got involved in the special needs area of education. This soon expanded to advocating for the needs of all children who have special learning needs. In 2002, Rachel, along with five other parents, school board member Joan Buchanan, and a member of the special education administration founded the PTA Special Needs Committee, which has continued to provide information and support to parents and staff so they can help children with special needs succeed. Chairing the committee for three years provided Rachel with the opportunity to counsel and advise parents how to work collaboratively with the school district to meet their children's needs.

As a site council chair for 4 years at Country Club, Rachel worked to make intervention programs a priority. In 2005, she brought the Barton Reading & Spelling program to the school and began a volunteer tutoring program to deliver it. As a result of networking, the program spread and is used by many of other schools in the district. Students throughout the district, including her daughter have benefited from the change in approach.

In 2006-07, Rachel served on the district's Special Education Redesign Team to improve the culture of special education and three key processes. She was also on the subcommittee of the Special Education Steering Committee that researched and created the district's Special Needs Ombuds position that helps both parents and staff understand special education and address and resolve conflicts.

During Rachel's almost eight years on the Board she had been a strong voice for continued improvement in the quality of the educational experience the district offers to all of its students despite very difficult financial conditions. She co-chaired the campaign for the district's successful May 2009 Measure C parcel tax election and was on the campaign leadership team for the district's successful 2012 facilities bond. As the district has worked towards transitioning from the California State Standards to the Common Core Standards and from the Revenue Limit funding model to the Local Control Funding Formula and writing the accompanying Local Control Accountability Plan, Rachel has been a proponent of the good work the district is doing - participating alongside teachers on both the Literacy Task Force and the Math Task Force and attending all of the district's outreach forums, as well as an advocate for continuous improvement.

In addition to her Board responsibilities, Rachel continues to volunteer as a Barton tutor, a water polo team parent, on the boards of the Cal High PTSA and the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs, and with the Dougherty Valley/San Ramon Rotary Club. As a result, she is tuned into our schools and all of the district's initiatives. Through all of her endeavors, Rachel's focus has been to work collaboratively to improve education for all students, which is why she is an effective board member.