I was the 2017-19 California State Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) President and currently serve as a Legislative Advocate for the State PTA. I am a firm believer in early childhood education and family and community engagement, I have worked with all education partners and community members to ensure the best outcomes for the children and youth in Californians and their families.
I served as a School Board Trustee for the Cloverdale Unified School District from 2008-2016 and served as a representative to the California School Boards Association Delegate Assembly. I have been an elected official in my community during the recession and I understand what is going to be asked of me in a trusted role to represent our community. Additionally, I have a deep understanding of school finance and school and government policy.
I have served PTA at the local, regional, and state levels in various roles including serving as a Family Engagement Legislative Advocate. While in this position, I focused on advocacy and policy work that targets early childhood education, child care, foster care, career technical education funding, and CalWORKs programs for low socio-economic families and support for military families. Additionally, I served as a Federal Legislative Advocate who focused on federal policy and all aspects of the state budget. This experience lends itself directly to the work that I am doing for the City of Santa Rosa, in that many of the same contacts and agencies are also dealing with the issues that the City is working to impact.
Locally I served two terms on the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). In partnership with the women of Sonoma County, the Commission on the Status of Women represents the needs, issues, and concerns facing women. The Commission ensures that women’s issues are at the forefront when the local government considers policies and actions that will affect women on local, state, and national levels. This commission has given me the opportunity to hear from our local women about issues and concerns that have plagued them in our community.
I am also a past member of the Creative Sonoma Advocacy team and a past Board of Director for the Rincon Valley Education Foundation. I am currently a member of the Sonoma Alliance Advisory Council. Locally I am involved and hear the concerns of what is happening in our schools, with families as well as our businesses in Sonoma County. I receive all of the updates for County District 1 which includes East Santa Rosa, Oakmont, and Sonoma Valley, and work with Supervisor Gorin on any matters that overlap both of our jurisdictions.
I was appointed in 2022 by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, to serve as Co-Chair for the California State Literacy Task Force. The goal of the task force is to ensure that all third graders in California are at the third-grade reading level by 2026. These connections can help our city in the efforts we are taking to build a new library.