Pride.  Passion.  Purpose.

For the future of San Marino schools.

These are the pillars of our community. 

San Marino is celebrated for its close-knit and safe environment, unique in Los Angeles. The pride of our community is reflected in events that we miss most in the midst of this pandemic – 4th of July at Lacy Park, Memorial Day honoring our veterans, City Club meetings, Grad Night, and so forth. The close-knit relationships built on years of service has lent itself to memorable school events that we will have to reimagine or forego this year, such as the Hauntington Breakfast, Valentine’s Fall Fair, Titan football games, and the Carver Carnival.

And yet, in the midst of all this, there is still a PRIDE for San Marino that continues. It is visible in the commitment of our businesses in creating safe shopping spaces for our families, neighborly Trading Post giveaways, and sidewalk art that celebrates the resilience of our community. It is this PRIDE that inspires people to serve our students in PTA and to donate to the San Marino Schools Foundation. It is this PRIDE that inspires our children to do more and to be more so they can take their accomplishments and give back to the larger community after graduation. It is this PRIDE that brings so many of our San Marino High School alumni to return and raise their families here. And it is this PRIDE that drives me to serve the San Marino schools.

For the last decade, I have served our San Marino students and schools PASSIONATELY across the different school sites. As my children span nearly 12 years, I have accompanied them through the elementary, middle, and high school experiences. I have graduated two children, and have two more in San Marino schools; I will be a SMUSD parent for at least another decade. Throughout each stage, I have served to support and innovate for all the students. From the early days of being a classroom volunteer to my most recent roles as Grad Night Co-Chair and Schools Reopening Task Force Parent Rep, my PASSION to support our public schools continues the work I started 25 years ago. 

As a graduate student at Stanford University School of Education, I studied the impacts of teaching and learning, school reform, and the need for reliable research to inform decision-making. Projects that looked at how teachers instruct their students and how school programs are evaluated for maximum effectiveness have been subjects that I have been studying PASSIONATELY for over two decades. My experience working with school leaders in education research in Princeton, New Jersey, informed my efforts to find a public school system that exemplified excellence and community values. The San Marino Unified School District is an exemplary public school system that consistently provides a high-quality education for exceptional students. I will passionately advance the District’s efforts to offer more academic opportunities in and out of the classroom, to support student wellness, and to support efforts to align curriculum and instruction.  

The PURPOSE and future success of our District will rely on creating a sustainable and comprehensive Educational Master Plan that balances successfully preparing our students for life after high school while supporting student wellness.   We will need to take a closer look at the goals of our school district in four key area: finances, curriculum & instruction, facilities and community engagement. A comprehensive plan can then inform SMUSD’s planning, decision-making, and resource allocations.