I am a mother of 4 children who attend Loomis schools. I was born and raised in Placer County, leaving only to attend college. I met my husband while finishing my undergraduate degree and after we were married we moved to Los Angeles where I pursued my career while he worked on his graduate degree. After my husband graduated with his juris doctor, we permanently returned to Placer County to raise our family.

My children’s education has always been extremely important to me, and I have always been very active in their schools, volunteering in the classrooms of the Dry Creek and Loomis School Districts, working with teachers and attending field trips. As was the case with most families, the covid lockdown was very hard on my children. All 4 of them were on various computers scattered throughout my home, and it was tough navigating the minefield that was online school—and even tougher trying to make sure they learned something over zoom. The learning loss was very real and the emotional and social setbacks were heartbreaking. One thing was certain: my kids needed to be back attending school in person.

I attended nearly every school board meeting with the hope that my local board would listen to the needs of the students and parents they represented. Dismayed, I watched as every concerned parent’s comment was summarily dismissed by the board, and parents were told they were “unreasonable,” and that the board was powerless to do anything to help. I was discouraged to see that the board members had no interest in listening or responding to parents’ concerns. By its own admission, the board would only follow what it deemed a “safe” course, mimicking the failed policies and positions of the Los Angeles and San Diego Unified School Districts—this made no sense to me. Loomis has nothing in common with those two big cities and the bloated and bureaucratic urban school districts have even less in common with ours. Our school board was completely unresponsive to parents’ concerns, completely ignoring our local community, and obtuse to the academic needs of the students.

I am running for school board because I want to change how our school board operates. I want our Loomis school board to represent Loomis students and parents and what we feel is best for our school district—in social policy as well as academic curriculum. I want parents to know they have a say in what is being taught in our schools and are partners in their children’s education, and not an enemy. Locally elected school boards are there for a reason: to reflect and be responsive of the parents and students attending local schools. The current school board has seemingly forgotten that one size does not fit all areas of the state. We are not Los Angeles. We are not San Diego. We are Loomis, and we deserve school board members that will fight for our students, our parents, and our way of life.

Locally elected school boards are there for a reason: to reflect and be responsive of the parents and students attending local schools. We deserve school board members that will fight for our students, our parents, and our way of life.