Courtesy photo
- Occupation: social work/community organizer
- Hometown: Frisco
- Years in Summit County: 35
- Civic involvement: The Summit Foundation past president and board member, 2002-present; The Summit Foundation Outstanding Citizen Award recipient 2017; Building Hope founding organizer and board member, 2016-present; Family and Intercultural Resource Center founding organizer, 1994; Summit Prevention Alliance founding organizer, 1990; Lake Dillon Optimist Club past president and member, 1989-1994; Advocates for Victims of Assault volunteer, 1990; Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center board of directors, 1988-1990; and Red, White and Blue Fire Protection District volunteer firefighter, 1981-1986.
I have dedicated my past 35 years to working for the
betterment of children and families in Summit County. I want to continue
helping children as a member of the Summit School District board of directors.
I first came to Summit County in 1981 to work with the
Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center. After five years in outdoor education, I
earned my master’s degree in social work. I was fortunate to return to Summit
County after graduate school as the director of youth and family services. After
13 years with the Summit County government, I started a consulting business
focused on community organizing, facilitation and strategic planning. Through
the years, I have worked with more than 40 organizations locally and across the
state of Colorado on topics ranging from early childhood education to community
health planning. In addition to my professional work, I have spent countless
hours volunteering for nonprofit boards related to children including The Summit
Foundation, Lake Dillon Optimist Club, the Breckenridge Outdoor Education
Center and Building Hope. As a mother, I raised two successful graduates of the
Summit School District.
Through my years of service, I have had a myriad of
opportunities to create innovative solutions to community needs. Early in my
tenure at the county, there was a growing trend with substance abuse in the county.
Working with numerous community partners, I helped create the Summit Prevention
Alliance, an organization dedicated to the prevention of substance abuse. A few
years later, Summit County experienced a need to better support the growing
population of working families. Again, working with local representatives, I
led the planning process to create the Family and Intercultural Resource
Center. More recently, after the community experienced a rash of suicides, I
worked with a group of concerned citizens to launch Building Hope, an
organization dedicated to increasing assess to mental health resources.
In addition to community-based projects, I have worked
extensively with the school district over the years. I was on the planning
committee to create the School Based Health Centers and the after-school
programs in the early ’90s. More recently, I facilitated the process for developing
the universal preschool program and convened the school district’s land-use
planning process. As a parent, I
volunteered in the classroom and helped with various school events.
All of these experiences have prepared me to be an effective
school board member. I bring extensive leadership, knowledge of the community
and creative problem-solving skills to the position. I am motivated to run
because I believe there are numerous opportunities to move the school district
from a good district to one that is truly exceptional.
My three top priorities for the district are as follows:
Ensure that every student thrives academically
Every child is unique and has unique needs. I will fight for
specialized programs to guarantee every student thrives and grows into a
successful adult, including programs for learning disabilities, English as a
Second Language and gifted education learners.
I will support smaller class sizes, increases in school-funded tutoring,
and specialized training for teachers.
Advocate for better wages and resources for
teachers
Research has documented that the single most important link
to student success is the quality of the teaching staff. The cost of living in
Summit is approximately 25% higher than other communities. I will advocate for
an increase in teacher salaries and paid training opportunities. I also believe
the district must actively pursue affordable housing options for teachers.
Guarantee that students are emotionally and
physically healthy and secure
Students cannot learn if they are emotionally distraught or
feel unsafe. With one in four high school students reporting that they felt sad
or hopeless almost every day in the past two weeks, we must do a better job of
supporting the emotional needs of students. I will fight for additional
counselors, curricula, parent trainings related to mental health and enhanced
prevention programs to tackle the vaping epidemic. I will also work to create
improvements in building security and to increase the reach of effective
anti-bullying programs in the schools.
To achieve these goals, I will rely on the same skills that I have used through the years to create effective community and school programs. I will start by promoting effective planning processes that include engagement of all stakeholders — including administrators, teachers and parents — completing thorough research, and creating clear and measurable goals for the district. Working together, I believe the Summit School District can become one of the most respected and effective district’s in Colorado.
Find more election coverage at SummitDaily.com/election.