One of my favorite quotes about parenting is from the writer Meghan O’Rourke who says, “A mother is a story with no beginning.”

April 24 is a difficult day for me. It’s the day four years ago when we said good-bye to my mama.

My mother died a few weeks after the cancer that we thought she had beaten returned with a vengeance. When she got sick, I took our three children and went to Iowa to take care of her while Jeff finished out the semester at Texas State. It was an incredibly hard time in our lives, but this community opened its heart to us and rallied around me and my family in an amazing way. I will never forget the outpouring of love and support we received and it’s one of the reasons why Jeff and I are so glad to be raising our family in San Marcos.

My mom was tough, and smart, and funny. She didn’t pull any punches, and you could always count on her to give you her honest opinion. She loved to read and she loved children. When I was in elementary school she served as a class mom and co-led a Great Books club.

Born during the early years of World War II, my mom was raised on a farm in Iowa. My grandfather farmed and my grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse. They were frugal folks who knew what it meant to scrimp and save, who knew what it meant to conserve, who understood the value of a dollar. They didn’t have much, but they made do. And they placed a great value on hard work, responsibility, and education. Just as her mother had for her, my mother saw to it that both of her daughters received great educations.

I miss my mother every day, but I’ve been especially missing her lately. I know how much she would love to see our new house and to watch the kids play ball.

The other day my littlest, who was less than a year old when my mother died, said to me completely unprompted, “I wish your mommy was here to vote for you. I think she’d be really proud of you.”

Over breakfast this morning as I was packing lunches, signing homework folders, filling out field trip forms, putting white t-shirts for field day into backpacks, folding uniforms, bagging snacks for the team, and helping put the finishing touches on a mountain lion habitat, I was also clipping Box Tops and counting my blessings. I’m proud to live in a community in which so many people give so freely of their time, talents, and personal resources to support our kids. Like the PE teachers who sort all of the Box Tops that parents collect in order to buy basketballs and jump ropes. Like the parents and teachers who run the after school robotics, and gardening, and computer coding clubs. Like the many teachers I know who, after putting their own kids to bed, grade papers every night until midnight.

Tomorrow night, I will be joining other moms and dads in helping with the Crockett Carnival—our PTO’s annual school fundraiser. Come by and dunk Mr. Wozniak and play some games for a good cause. And then on Monday, get out and vote in early voting. Make a difference. Our kids are worth it.

Friends-

Like so many of you, I started my day early and I’m ending it late—so I’ll keep this short. Thank you. For talking school finance with me over coffee. For stopping me in the aisle at Target, giving me a hug, and wishing me good luck. For telling me about your experiences on the board when your kids were in school. For sending an email about me to your friends. For introducing yourself as we were waiting for tables at the Root Cellar. For taking my kids to and from baseball practice and violin class. For knocking on doors and handing out my flyers. For giving me a shout-out on Facebook. For critiquing my speeches. For waving at me across the check-out aisle at HEB. For honking at me in the carpool lane. For reaching out and asking me questions. For hosting a get-together for me and introducing me to everyone you know. For sending me a check. For getting my signs into yards. For offering to bring dinner over for my family, including homemade mac-and-cheese for the kiddos. For all of these things and so much more, THANK YOU. I very much appreciate your encouragement, support, and effort on my behalf, and I don’t take any of it for granted. And if, on May 9, I have the honor of being chosen for this position, I promise that I will work tirelessly to make our schools the best that they can be. Thank you!

–Anne

At last night’s board meeting, I was privileged to be part of a large audience honoring SMCISD’s teachers of the year. Teachers are selected by their peers for the honor, so it is particularly meaningful. Each teacher receives a plaque, a gift bag, and a check from the San Marcos Education Foundation—an important group of community leaders who volunteer their time in order to support our public schools.

In the course of my professional career I have been on numerous hiring committees. I’ve evaluated hundreds of resumes and hired dozens of people. Just this week, I was advising a couple of soon-to-be Texas State graduates on their forthcoming job searches. In addition to stressing the importance of a great cover letter, I said they need to make sure their personal references are solid.

I know that personal references are critical to the hiring process. That is why I was particularly glad to see the board unanimously approve the administration’s recommendation to place Amber Owens and Richard Duvall as principals at Hernandez and Miller at last night’s board meeting.

As I’ve toured each of our campuses over the last few weeks, I’ve had a chance to see a number of our district leaders in action. In the last few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of meeting both Owens and Duvall, and I believe they are both strong, sound choices who will continue to work hard and do great things for our kids. This is not just my impression. From parents, to teachers, to other administrators across the district, I have heard only the very best things about both of our new principals.

I value the good words of my fellow parents, our teachers, and community members invested in the well-being of our district. I’m particularly proud that my very grassroots campaign has received the endorsement and support of a broad base of people, including friends who also have children in the district, parents of children who play baseball and softball with my children, teachers, ministers, retirees, local business owners, professors, university employees, musicians, as well as former colleagues.

–Anne

As my fourth grader and her classmates begin Round Two of the STAAR test this week, I’ve been asked several times about my opinion on student testing.

I think we should set high educational expectations for our students and I think classroom instruction is critical to achieving those expectations. I am all for removing unnecessary barriers to learning and for giving teachers the in-class time and resources that they need to effectively teach our kids.

I am glad that the state reduced the number of tests students are required to take. I am glad, too, in speaking with administrators across our district, to learn that we adhere to the state-mandated cap on the number of days students are allowed to take practice tests and benchmarks. I believe that in our district we are prioritizing depth of instruction and the education of the whole child.

We don’t yet know what the legislature will do this year, but for the moment the STAAR test is how districts all across Texas are measured. It is a fact that how our students perform is how we will be rated.

This does not mean, however, that we should direct our teachers to teach to the test. This means, instead, that we encourage our teachers to teach beyond the test.

I have seen teachers across the district doing this hard work. When my daughter Sadie took her 3^rd grade STAAR test last year, her teacher not only alleviated the students’ pre-test anxiety, she managed to make the test itself an empowering experience for her class.

I was amazed to see Sadie come home beaming after the exam and saying that “It was so much easier than what we do in class all the time.”

This same thing happened when my daughter took the two-day writing exam a couple of weeks ago. Her teacher had prepared the class well. My daughter understood how to craft an essay. She had learned how to organize her thoughts. From using punctuation for effect and altering her sentence construction, to incorporating relevant detail and descriptions, she understood the writing rubrics.

And after both days of testing, Sadie came home not stressed or anxious, but excited to tell me about the test prompts and the essays that she had written in response. This is because my daughter’s teacher has consistently taught the class that writing is not only a necessary skill to master and then given them the tools to do so, but she has taught them that writing—and learning in general—can be enjoyable.

My daughter’s daily classroom experiences do not reflect the harried rote drilling that may come to mind when one thinks of standardized testing. Instead, in her classroom the test becomes one part of the teacher’s skillfully adapted curriculum.

I want all of our teachers to have the chance to provide similar experiences to every student in our district—to give our kids the chance to feel that pride, to know that they have learned much more than a test expects them to learn. It is, after all, still a minimum skills test, and we want students to think of the test as a low hurdle.

The best teachers are drawn to school districts that hold high standards and let them teach. We need to be a district known as a home for educators who are committed and who excel at really reaching our students. That should be our first priority.

I met a retired teacher yesterday who asked me if I’ve been very involved in our schools.

My kids have been enrolled in San Marcos CISD since their first days of kindergarten. My husband or I drop off our kids at school each morning, and I pick them up every afternoon. I have been to parent teacher conferences, math nights, open houses, field days, choir concerts, carnivals, and science fairs. I’ve read to my children’s classmates in the classroom, helped with math activities, attended holiday parties, and eaten many school lunches. I’ve been on countless field trips, at countless in-class presentations, school assemblies, and back-to-school nights.

I trust my children’s teachers to teach, and I don’t get in their way. I make sure my kids show up at school ready to learn—with full stomachs, properly dressed, on time, and with good attitudes. I model for my children respect for their teachers and staff, including the janitors, lunch ladies, secretaries, and bus drivers, as well as the principals. At home, I support the work my children’s teachers do in the classroom. I do not interfere with or undermine the way in which my child is being instructed. If I have a concern, I meet one-on-one with the teacher or administrator and discuss it.

I know that 73% of our San Marcos students qualify for free or reduced school lunch. I know we have a highly mobile population of students in our district. I’ve spoken with school administrators who have talked about how many of our students are served by the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center, the Children’s Shelter, CASA, and the Hays County Food Bank.

I know that often it falls to our teachers, school nurses, counselors, and parent liaisons to get our students prom dresses and winter clothes, food and housing, medical care, and more.

I have seen first-hand in my children’s classrooms the need that some of their classmates have for school supplies, undergarments, coats, long pants, sweatshirts, food. As I have been able, I have purchased and donated—either directly to the classroom, to the Rattler Closet, or to the food bank—school supplies, undergarments, coats, long pants, sweatshirts, food.

I have seen the ways in which our schools are working to break the cycle of multi-generational poverty that engulfs too many families.

I believe in the promise of public education. I believe that a solid public education system is the best pathway out of poverty. I also know that our schools can’t do everything and I’m grateful that we live in a community that gives so generously of its time and money to those in need.

I’m grateful for the work done by First Presbyterian Church serving students at Mendez Elementary in numerous capacities. For School Fuel, a partnership of First Baptist Church, CTMC, and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, which, every Friday, provides hundreds of kids with nutritious food for the weekend. I’m grateful for the Purple Bus, which delivers hot meals to kids during the summer. For the efforts of the Unitarian-Universalist Church which purchase classroom supplies for hundreds of children every year. For River Stone Church’s mentoring program at Travis Elementary. I’m grateful for the Meals to Grow ministry of First Methodist Church which provides a healthy breakfast and lunch to 50 Pre-K kids every week.

These organizations, and so many more like them, make me proud to be raising my family in San Marcos.

No one is more invested than I am in the success of San Marcos public schools. No one is more willing to work hard on behalf of our kids than I am.

I’m not a political insider who hopes to use the board as a stepping-stone. I’m not running on behalf of any political party or political action committee. I am a stay-at-home mother with a great deal of professional experience who cares deeply about the well-being of my family, this community, and all of the children we entrust to our school district.

Please join me during early voting from April 27 – May 5, and on election day, May 9, in delivering on the promise of a high-quality public education for all of our kids.

–Anne

I love Anne for more reasons than I can list here. At the top of that long list is that she acts on her principles, inspired by her compassion for others, with a competence and creativity that has enriched my life more than I can say and that gives me hope for the future.

Anne’s approach to life is rooted in her upbringing. Just before we became engaged to marry, Anne brought me to her Iowa hometown to celebrate her father’s retirement from a 40-year career teaching high school chemistry and biology. Her mother threw an extraordinary party, where, it seemed, the entire town had come to toast Halsey’s life’s work. I was blown away by the community Anne’s parents had built, and have come to understand that such a healthy community was no accident. Together they worked—through the public schools, as co-founders of the town’s volunteer ambulance service, as foster parents, as managers of the local public pool, as members of their church—to raise a thriving family by investing their time and energy in the lives of their neighbors. This model runs deep in many generations of Anne’s family. It is a model of happiness and community built through service, and it is at the core of Anne’s character and at the heart of her reasons for running for a position on the school board.

Since we met 19 years ago, and during our 13 years of marriage, Anne has been inexhaustibly and passionately committed to using her immense talents not just to improve her own life, but also to invest in the quality of life of those around her. Anne’s commitment has been clear whether she was making lifelong friends and colleagues while managing a multimillion dollar corporate budget; producing award-winning programs that brought the arts to the public; consulting on higher education policy; working with the local school council; co-leading the parent preschool cooperative here in San Marcos; volunteering with seniors; being the team-mom for our kids’ ball teams; or volunteering for the Food Bank. Most days, I am proud to say, I have to run to keep up with Anne as she leads our family’s engagement with our community.

I know Anne better than anyone—and I support her run for the School Board more than anyone—and not just because I grow to love her more every day. I support her, most of all, because I know in my heart she will approach her work on the SMCISD board with the same integrity, creativity, and hard-won competence that she continues to bring to our family, to her remarkable professional career, and to her many years of community service.

I urge you to vote for Anne on May 9 because you will be casting a vote for a better San Marcos for all of our kids.

—Jeff

Yesterday, the San Marcos Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon at which they asked each candidate what unique qualities he or she would bring as a school board member. Here’s what I said:

• I am the mother of three children, two of my kids are currently enrolled in SMCISD and my youngest will start kinder in the fall. As such, I understand the way in which our schools and classrooms work and I am completely invested in seeing our district succeed.
• I have considerable professional experience in the corporate and nonprofit sectors, and much of my professional career has been focused on supporting significant education initiatives.
• Prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom, I was on the senior staff of a national nonprofit organization where I directed a multi-million dollar media initiative.
• I got my start in the business world directing and implementing marketing campaigns for several cable networks, including Bravo TV where I managed a $12 million budget.
• I will bring to the board a fresh perspective, common sense voice, and exemplary work ethic.

In talking with parents across the district, I have repeatedly heard of their growing concerns regarding disciplinary issues among the students* and high turnover of the leadership at Miller Middle School.

As we have seen in the success at Goodnight Middle School, the key to improving Miller will be the strength and stability of a seasoned leader. The Miller community needs a veteran problem-solver who will lead by example, support our students and families, and win the confidence of our teachers. Miller needs a principal who can rebuild morale, establish trust with the community, and change the climate by creating a path to academic success.

As a parent, I expect the district to enforce a structured, equitable, and fair discipline policy at each and every campus. As a board member, I will work with the administrative staff and teachers in our middle schools—where our students spend their most crucial years of adolescence—to act swiftly and with great care to provide a safe environment conducive to learning.

I’m hopeful, but I’m not naive. I know our district isn’t perfect, but I am driven by my belief in the benefits of confronting our concerns head-on and in good faith as we work diligently and constructively to fix the problems that exist.

Having interviewed and hired many employees in my professional career, I know there are numerous factors involved in finding the most qualified candidate. For instance, we must take care to schedule the job search so as to ensure that the very best candidates are applying for the position.

Timing is especially critical for school district hiring. At this point in the school year the most qualified candidates are very likely under a contract elsewhere—either in SMCISD or in another district—and focusing on serving the students currently under their care. 

We need a principal at Miller who will hit the ground running and be ready for the upcoming school year. As a board member, I will be fully vested in the district’s hiring procedures and timelines. I will insist that we hire the most qualified candidate in time for the summer planning term.

In the meantime, it is critical that the administration fully supports the Miller students, staff, and families. Given the current level of community concern, I believe it is the job of the school board and administration to support the people taking on daily challenges like those Acting Principal Aguayo is facing during this time of transition.

Similarly, it is essential that the board and the top-level administrators work hard in public and behind the scenes to quell the anxieties of parents and teachers, and to prevent concerned parents—parents who have long been committed to sending their children to San Marcos schools—from pulling their kids from our district. That is, of course, the kind of dedicated leadership that our schools need and deserve.

–Anne

*I’ve made an open records request on data pertaining to these concerns and will share that information when I receive it.