July 6, 2011 -- DINNER: Tacoma School Board Candidate Forum
Join us at our July 6th dinner for presentations from Tacoma School Board candidates.
The candidates will talk about the issues facing their districts and what they each hope to accomplish if elected.
RSVP via email by Tuesday, July 5, at 12:00 pm. Members: $25; Guests of Members: $30; General Public: $35. Members may attend for the "program only" rate of $8 and skip the meal. The $8 rate includes free parking, and coffee and dessert. This is only open to current City Club members. Pre-payment is required and no-shows will be billed.
Wine reception starts at 6:00, dinner at 6:45, and the program at 7:00 pm.
This program coordinated by Ronnie Bush and Clark Mather
Bios of Candidates
Joseph Devlin
Education: B.A. Business Administration University of Washington, J.D. Seattle University School of Law.
Employment: Quality Control Manager and part time solo law practice.
Family: I have been married for sixteen years.
The reason that I am running is that I want to give back to the community that I work and live, and that I believe a solid basic education is vital for children in order to succeed in the world.
Miss Betsy P. Elgar
Born in March 6, 1961
Newport, Rhode Island
Advocate/Business/Caregiver
Relegion: Catholic
College: Computer/Workplace Fundamental, Pierce College,Lakewood, WA
Alameda Adult School, Alameda College
Some Social Work courses San Francisco State University
Bachelor of Science in Social Work
Some Social Work courses Cal State Hayward, Hayward, CA
Ferdinand Vocational School
Facts and Achievement
Advocate for Pierce Transit employees and passengers
President of National Association of Social Workers
Promoted First-time homebuyers, Alameda, CA
Parent Advocate/Commmunity Facilitator of Woodchip Healthy Start, Alameda, CA
Kim Golding
Kim is the mother of two young adult sons. Kim earned a degree in Respiratory Care from Tacoma Community College in 1999, while her children were still in school. She has worked for eleven years at Tacoma General Hospital, caring for patients with respiratory problems. During the years that Kim's two sons attended Tacoma schools, Kim was actively involved with the PTA. She learned to advocate for her children (for ALL children) while holding leadership positions in local, city and state PTA. In 2005, Kim was elected to the Tacoma School Board. Kim's parent voice and perspective have helped her to effectively serve the community.
Dexter Gordon
- BA. Theology, Hons. Emphases, Education and Psychology –Jamaica Theological Seminary Kingston, Jamaica.
- MA. Communication Ethics, Wheaton College, Wheaton Ill.
- Ph. D. Communication and Culture; Minor Emphasis 19th Century African American Social and Intellectual History. Indiana University, Bloomington IN.
- I come to the Tacoma School Board with well over three decades of experience as an educator, preacher, scholar, and community servant and advocate, with close to a decade of that time dedicated to teaching, community development, and leadership in Tacoma.
- Currently I am chair of “The Conversation” (http://www.conversationtacoma.blogspot.com/) which is in its sixth year.
- I hold the title of Distinguished Professor at the University of Puget Sound where I teach in the areas of public culture, media, communication and African American studies.
- I head up the university’s African American Studies Program as well as its Race and Pedagogy Initiative http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/race--pedagogy-initiative/
- I provide leadership to a range of initiatives and efforts all geared towards education and social justice. As part of the Race and Pedagogy Initiative I provided leadership in two conferences focusing on closing the achievement, resource, and opportunity gap Achievement Gap Summit (2006, 2008). The first gathered 350 educators and the second gathered 160.
- Focusing on the broader questions related to justice and education I lead the first and second Race and Pedagogy National Conference (2006 and 2010).
- As a direct response to the request of k-12 educators and families from Tacoma the Race and Pedagogy Initiative organized our first Parents and Guardians Conference 2009.
- I am a co-founder and the head of research for the Tacoma Civil Rights Project which worked in collaboration with the Washington State Historical Society to mount an exhibit titled Tacoma's Civil Rights Struggle: African Americans Leading the Way (2008) http://www.washingtonhistory.org/wshm/featuredexhibits/tacomascivilrightsstruggle.aspx. The exhibit was also mounted in the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle (2009) http://naamnw.org/PastExhibits.html. The Tacoma Civil Rights Project also produced an accompanying full length documentary on the same topic. These efforts are geared at educating our community about the historical struggles for justice and equality in Tacoma.
- I am a member of the Black Collective, a Senior Fellow in the Tacoma, Pierce County American Leadership Forum, and at a level that is both personal and public I have been engaged as a parent in the district for nearly a decade.
Scott Heinze
Scott Heinze lives in Tacoma with his wife, Amy of 16 years. They have three children, ages three, five, and eight, the eldest of whom is in the Tacoma Public Schools. Scott received his BA from Eastern Washington University, MA from Gonzaga University, and is currently finishing his Doctorate in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University. He is a former police officer, aide handling K-12 education issues for Congressman Adam Smith, gubernatorial policy advisor for homeland security, and is currently a partner in a veteran’s owned small business that builds medical facilities. Scott is the board chair of Communities in Schools of Tacoma.
Andrew Milton
I live in Tacoma with my wife Sandy. I have 3 children, 16, 12 and 3. My oldest attends Wilson High, and my 12-year-old attends Truman Middle School.
I have been an 8th grade language arts teacher in Steilacoom school district for 5 years. For 9 years I've also served as adjunct professor of international relations at Troy University, at the Joint Base Lewis McChord campus, not the Alabama campus.
I earned bachelors degrees in political science and in economics from the University of California-Davis, a PhD in political science from the University of Oregon, and a teaching certificate from Pacific Lutheran University.
Karen Vialle
Karen is a lifelong resident of Tacoma and a graduate of Wilson High School. She has been married to her husband, Marvin, for 41 years and has raised three children in the city. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound with a BA in Political science and received her MA and Ph.C. from Washington State University. She served as the mayor of Tacoma from 1990 to 94 and was a member of the Tacoma city council for two years before that. She is currently a substitute teacher for Tacoma Public Schools, spending most of her time teaching at Lister and Sheridan Elementary Schools. She has extensive budget and management experience at the state level and in a private consulting practice.
