Ladue Board of Education

Q: Why did you choose to run for election to the school board?

A: Largely, it was gratitude. My kids both went through Ladue and had just fantastic educational experiences. Beyond them, their friends had a great experience. I wanted to continue that tradition, wanted to give back to help.

Q: What sort of policies in the school board are you passionate about? What change do you want to see?

A: I want to see teachers paid better, to be honest. I’ve been here 19 years. I understand nationwide teacher pay is bad, that’s just a fact of life in America. But we keep getting ranked as the number one school district in Missouri. We should be paid number one. That doesn’t affect me, because I’m retired, but I just want to give back and show my gratitude for the work that these teachers do here.

Q: In national media, we’re seeing a lot of pushback against DEI initiatives nationwide. How do you kind of respond to those?

A: I’m horrified, absolutely horrified. In the military, DEI, at least when I was in it, was a good part of our training, of our communication skills. To see it yanked is devastating.

Q: Obviously, not everyone in Ladue holds the same beliefs. How do you plan on, kind of working with everyone to ensure that you’re representing everyone well?

A: Being open to everyone’s ideas. In the school board meeting, you could come and talk for three minutes. You could email school board members and they would never shut somebody out. You got to listen to what people say in the district.

Q: That’s all I had; is there anything you want to add to this conversation?

A: It’s very exciting, and I got such wonderful support from the community. I was using social media, and then these positive comments started pouring in. I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s great.’ I just wanted to let people know and get them to show up on election day to support me. So, that was rewarding, that people were supporting me in that way.