I am a PARENT.
I have three children ages 20, 18, and 15. Two graduated from Kennedy High School in 2021 and 2023, and the third will be a freshman there this fall. I have parented children through gifted & talented services, a 504, an IEP, ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and autism. Like all parents, I want what is best for my kid – and with three kids, that varies greatly with each of them. Multiple pathways and individualized learning is critical for all kids to succeed in our educational system.
I am a lifelong Bloomington resident and graduated from Kennedy High School in 1994. I am married to Andrew, a 1992 graduate. JFK Eagle blood runs thick in my family as my mother is from the first graduating class of Kennedy High School in 1966. The house my grandfather built still stands on the corner of 84th Street and 1st Avenue. I think my grandparents would be thrilled to know that their great-grandchildren are attending school in the same district in which they put roots over 70 years ago.
I am an EDUCATOR.
I am a former teacher in Minnesota, having taught middle school American History and English in the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school district from 1999 – 2006.
From 2007 – 2019, I substitute taught in both Bloomington and Richfield’s Early Childhood Family Education and School Readiness programs as well as Adult Basic Education.
I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in 1998 and earned a middle school endorsement from Hamline University in 2001.
I am a LEADER.
I was President of the Minnesota PTA (Parent Teacher Association) from 2017 – 2021. Minnesota is one of 54 congresses that make up National PTA. Minnesota has 200 local units, and approximately 7,000 individual members. I just finished a term on the National PTA Family Engagement Committee (from 2021-2023) and am still serving on the Minnesota PTA as Immediate Past-President.
I am the founding chair of the Bloomington Public Schools Advocacy Council, former chair of the Community Services Advisory Board, and former president/vice-president of Bloomington PTSA Council, Hillcrest PTSA, and ECFE’s Parent Advisory Council.
I completed a Minnesota Education Policy Fellowship Program in April of 2019, hosted by the Center for Policy Design in St. Paul, Minnesota and the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C. I followed that up with a National Advanced Education Policy Leadership Program from September 2021 – April 2022 where I was part of a cohort of participants from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
I have testified in front of the state legislature, met with congressional staff in Washington D.C., served on Governor Walz’s Due North Education Plan as a member of the Governor’s Education Roundtable, presented at numerous conferences including Minnesota School Board Association, Education Minnesota, Minnesota’s Future, and have served on several district committees and task forces.
