It was an honor and privledge to serve on the Snoqualmie Valley School Board. I have lived in the Snoqualmie Valley for over 19 years and have been a SVSD parent since my oldest daughter, Marika began first grade at Opstad in the MAP (Multi Age Primary) class. She is now a 2010 Mount Si Graduate. She also received her Associates degree from Bellevue College a week after graduation. She was accepted and attended University of Washington and Bellevue College following graduation and will soon be entering nursing school. I was impressed with the district she started attending Opstad and have become increasingly so over the years as I have spent countless hours in the schools, on various school and district committees as a volunteer and a parent of three SVSD students who all have very different academic needs. I have a vast understanding of the challenges that our kids face. As a family, we have been a part of North Bend Elementary, Opstad Elementary, Snoqualmie Middle School, Twin Falls Middle School and Mount Si. We have also taken advantage of our new Online Academy for several classes. Currently my daughter Anika attends Mount Si and Bellevue College and my son Gerrit is a Twin Falls student. Over the years as a volunteer and school board member I have had the privledge to work with parents and staff from all of our schools and we have some incredible talent and dedication throughout our Valley.
As a school board member I was able to participate in the leadership training that has been provided to our leadership team as they plan and figure out ways to get even better as a district. I was able to put my own leadership skills to work while serving as President, Vice President and multiple stints as Board Liaison to various committees. As I walk around the schools and visit schools I see the strategies discussed in planning sessions being executed in the classrooms. Since I am self-employed and had quite a bit of flexibility in my schedule that allowed me to visit schools or sit down with a staff member to get more details about a certain initiative or program. The most recent example was visiting Snoqualmie Elementary, Chief Kanin and Mount Si with Nancy Meeks, our Director of Special Services to see the Netbook, Smartboard and Ipad technology pilot in action. It was amazing to see how the technology engaged and challenged each of these special students. In my previous career, I rolled out technology on a large scale in a corporate environment, so I could appreciate the work our Director of Technology, Jeff Hogan and his team had done in the way of logistics, security and creative methods of maintenance and mobility of the actual hardware. The Ipad charging solution was one of my favorites. The Technology Kick-off Event and Summer Academy for the teachers was an exceptional opportunity for our teachers to get trained on the latest technology and learn strategies and skills to use the technology effectively to engage and instruct our students.
I have seen continuous improvement and success in our district while on the school board despite the budget cuts, challenges and adversity. This does not happen by accident. I have witnessed the planning and training that goes into the work that is done by our district staff and teachers. My role on the school board was to help facilitate student achievement by providing policies, support and resources so that each of our students can define and achieve life success in their own way.
As the need for 21st century skills increases and we move away from specific career paths and into developing skills that can be used in a variety of careers, we will continue to be creative and open minded. While I will no longer be serving on the school board, I am by no means going away. I will continue to do field and special project work in the schools and the district. We have much to be proud of and we have some exceptional staff and students and I am excited about our future and community. As long as the school board continues to make it about the kids and not about themselves or their individual communities we can and will go far.
No comments:
Post a Comment