My Years on the Marin County Board of Education:
What I’ve Learned, What I’m Proud Of, and What I Want to Keep Doing
What this Board Does
Most people know their local school district board. Far fewer know what their county board does. Our work touches thousands of students across the county, often in ways that individual school districts can’t address on their own.
One of our most important responsibilities is adopting the Marin County Office of Education’s $60 million budget. To do that responsibly, a trustee should understand the many programs and services our office provides for students, teachers, families, and schools throughout Marin. Even after all my years on the board, I continue to discover more and more about the impact of our county office operations — and I am SO proud to be a part of it. Here are just some of the ways we impact the lives of kids.
Students with disabilities.
The children we serve have an extraordinary range of needs. They may have autism, hearing loss, developmental or learning disabilities, delayed speech and language, or complex physical and intellectual disabilities. Some need targeted help to communicate or learn; others may be unable to speak, walk, or care for themselves without extensive support. Some need help for a few critical years; others need it from infancy into young adulthood. With the right teaching, therapy, communication tools, and preparation for adult life, we can profoundly change what is possible — helping children communicate, learn, gain independence, discover their strengths, and build fuller lives.
Students who need an alternative to their “regular” school.
Some students simply don’t succeed in a traditional school setting. Others have fallen far behind, stopped attending, been expelled, entered the juvenile justice system, or faced circumstances that made regular school almost impossible. They may arrive discouraged, disconnected, and convinced that school has nothing left to offer them. With smaller settings, individualized attention, flexible ways to learn, and adults who refuse to give up on them, these programs offer something enormously important: a way back — to learning, to graduation, to a future they may have stopped believing was possible. For these kids we have Marin’s Community School.
Students who are finding their path.
Not every student knows what comes after high school — or needs a four-year college to build a successful life. We give young people the chance to discover what they’re good at and what excites them: building a house, repairing a car, working in health care, creating digital media, teaching children, or running a business. Through hands-on classes, internships, job shadows, and summer experiences, students can try out careers in the real world, develop practical skills, and begin to see a future for themselves — sometimes one they never knew was there.
Students facing extremely difficult times.
Sometimes students and schools face challenges they simply shouldn’t have to face alone. Our County Office works alongside Marin schools when students are struggling with mental health, when a suicide or other tragedy shakes a school community, when a young person needs a safe place to turn, or when immigration enforcement leaves children frightened about their families and their rights. Through mental health services, suicide prevention programs and crisis response, and expert support when the unexpected happens, we help schools protect students, respond when they are hurting, and create places where children can feel safe enough to learn.
Students who get to take learning outdoors.
For many Marin fifth graders, some of the most memorable days of school happen at beautiful Walker Creek Ranch. They hike the trails, explore the creek, discover plants and wildlife, study trees and habitats, and experience firsthand the natural world they’ve learned about in books. Science comes alive when children can touch, observe, investigate, and ask questions about what they see around them. We are incredibly fortunate to have a place where children can experience the wonder of nature — and begin to understand why it is so important to protect it.
Students who deserve great teaching: Every student in Marin!
Every student deserves a teacher with the knowledge, skills, and tools to help them learn and thrive. That’s why our County Office invests so much in the people who teach Marin’s kids. Throughout the year, expert staff offer workshops, trainings, and summer programs that bring teachers the latest research and practical approaches — from the science of reading and effective teaching strategies to new technology in the classroom. Supporting our great teachers is one of the best ways we can support every student.
What I Bring to the Board
My work in education has taken me from classrooms and counseling offices to nonprofits, curriculum development, and the County Board of Education. Each has given me a different way of understanding what children need — and what it takes to help them succeed.
Teaching and counseling.
My education in education began with the students themselves. I taught French and English in San Francisco high schools and French at San Francisco State University, then moved from teaching lessons to listening, guiding, and helping young people find their way as a middle school counselor in San Mateo. Teaching and counseling are very different jobs, but they both taught me the same essential lesson: start with the student — who they are, what they need, and where they are right now.
Building organizations for children.
I founded The California Study, Inc., where I continue to serve as Executive Director. We began by matching students with specialized tutors and helping schools find great teachers. In 1987, I saw another need: children without enough books of their own. In 1987, I founded The Book Exchange, an all-volunteer organization still going strong that has put free books into the hands of thousands of under-resourced children, locally and around the world.
Creating educational resources.
My passion for the environment led me in another direction: helping young people understand renewable energy and why it matters. As director of the Geothermal Education Office and later the Energy Education Group, I co-authored curriculum and produced educational videos, while also leading professional development workshops for teachers. That work culminated in Energy for Keeps: Creating Clean Electricity from Renewable Resources, a middle- and high-school text recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Smithsonian, and the National Science Teachers Association — and one I’m excited to be updating this year.
Serving on the Board.
First elected in 2000 and have spent the years since learning this job from the inside — its responsibilities, its programs, its people, and the students whose lives our decisions affect. There is no substitute for this experience.
Education and credentials.
BA in Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley; MA in French, San Francisco State University; California credentials in teaching, pupil personnel services (counseling), and school administration.
None of this was a career plan.
It was a long series of moments when a child needed something and I wanted to help.
Why continuity matters right now
Boards work best with a mix of new energy and long memory. Right now, this one is very short on memory.
Governance depends on somebody in the room being able to say: we tried that in 2011, here’s what happened. Or: that program exists because of a commitment this board made fifteen years ago. Or, sometimes even: I voted for that, and I was wrong, and here’s why.
Institutional memory isn’t a credential you can appoint someone into. It’s accumulated by being there. If this seat turns over, the board will begin its next term with very little firsthand knowledge of our longer-term projects and some of our most impactful programs.
That’s why continuity matters. I’ve watched which choices worked, which ones quietly failed, and which took five years to show their effect — and I remember which was which.