Ecuador RPCV Linda Jackson picked for school board seat to the San Rafael Board of Education



"I want to do the work to sustain the excellent educational programs we have," Jackson said after the meeting. "I want to work on the improvements needed to make sure that every child that starts high school has what they need to go on to higher education."

Ecuador RPCV Linda Jackson picked for school board seat to the San Rafael Board of Education

Planner picked for school board seat
Jennifer Gollan

IJ reporter

Linda Jackson, a San Rafael city planner, was appointed Wednesday to the San Rafael Board of Education.

The board voted unanimously in favor of Jackson's appointment, effective immediately, to the board through November 2007.

Jackson will serve the balance of the term in the fifth seat vacated by former trustee Norman Hering. Hering was initially elected to the board in November 2003, and quit his post last December to spend more time with his family and work.

Jackson, 51, was selected from a pool of three applicants for the post. The other applicants were Barbara Dittmann, a retired San Rafael elementary school teacher, and MaryMelissa Grafflin, a retired school teacher from the San Francisco Unified School District.

"I want to do the work to sustain the excellent educational programs we have," Jackson said after the meeting. "I want to work on the improvements needed to make sure that every child that starts high school has what they need to go on to higher education."

Jackson has three daughters, two of whom have graduated from San Rafael schools and one who is a freshman at San Rafael High School.

The board praised Jackson for her involvement in the schools.

"I think she will be a great team member with our board," said Natu Tuatagaloa, the president of the board. "She has the qualifications to get us through the next two years."

Jackson was born in Redwood City and raised in Santa Clara. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in urban studies from Wellesley College and went on to earn a master of science degree in community and regional planning as well as a master of arts in Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jackson served two years in the Peace Corps in Ecuador before returning to California. She moved to San Rafael in 1990.

The San Rafael City Schools District has a $47 million budget for the 2005-06 school year. The student body is 3,497 in the San Rafael Elementary School District, and 2,068 in the San Rafael High School district.

The appointment follows a tumultuous year in the San Rafael schools in which the board has been a key player.

Unions comprised of nearly 400 elementary school teachers and district staff have launched a series of missives to the district board that have called for Superintendent Laura Alvarenga to be sacked, citing her "autocratic" leadership.

The board responded last November by declining (for now) to renew Alvarenga's employment contract - the first time since she took up the post in 2001- beyond the 2006-07 school year.

In a separate matter, taxpayer groups and some members of a citizens' watchdog group - of which Jackson is a member - criticized the board after an Independent Journal report detailed how the district had failed to account for $161 million in bonds approved by voters to renovate the district's facilities.

"We welcome her and look forward to working with her," said Tom Kernan, co-president of the San Rafael Teachers' Association, which represents 250 elementary and middle school teachers in the district.

The board's last appointment was in 2000, when Jon Loberg replaced Gary Anspach, who stepped down for health reasons.

Contact Jennifer Gollan via e-mail at jgollan@marinij.com

When this story was posted in February 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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