All of the members of the Championing Students’ Success Board have a history of commitment to public education. They believe that education is the backbone of democracy, and that teachers and the educational community can make a difference for all students, no matter their race or income. All have worked in education at many levels to support teachers and student learning. Schools daily face extraordinary challenges and limited resources, and, nevertheless, still perform daily miracles for students and their families. These obstacles to education have been true throughout history, but never more so than now. At this time, given the stress to the educational system, they felt it was even more important to recognize the incredible work schools have done.
Bob has worked in many levels of public education, from junior high to universities to school districts to state agencies.
A former school district and state administrator, he is an award-winning state educational researcher. Bob has had a lifetime commitment to students of diversity.
Bob's interests include baseball, tennis, traveling, and his grandchildren.
Michael has taught at all levels in public schools from junior high to graduate school, with a particular emphasis on serving disadvantaged students.
A former school district and public housing authority administrator, he has a degree in Educational Psychology and has been recognized locally and nationally for his work in educational research and evaluation.
Michael’s interests include hiking, skiing, and writing fiction for children.
Nikki taught English both at the high school and college levels. While teaching, she helped to start a National Writing Project site and later became its first co-director.
Throughout her career over two states, she continued to work with the National Writing Project. After teaching, she held several administerial positions where she developed curricula, assessments, and instructional support materials at the state, district, and national levels as well as conducted workshops.
Her final educational position was as the Director of Language Arts for the Smarter Balanced national assessment. Her interests include reading, hiking, yoga, and learning Spanish.
Michelle has served as a teacher and administrator at all levels in the K-12 public school system. She is presently the principal at Ridgecrest Elementary School in the Puyallup School District. Under Michelle’s leadership, Ridgecrest was recognized as an Exemplary High Performing National Blue-Ribbon School in 2020. She was also honored to be the very first principal in Washington state to receive the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding School Leadership from the U.S. Department of Education (Michelle M. Fox, Ridgecrest Elementary School, East Puyallup, WA – Learning from Great American Schools (ed.gov)). In 2019, Michelle completed her educational doctorate degree at Washington State University; her research focused on the districtwide implementation of an Early Warning Intervention System designed to identify students off-track for graduation. Outside of work, Michelle enjoys spending time with her husband and family, working out and lifting weights at the gym, meal prepping, cooking, baking, entertaining, shopping, hiking, and boating.
Pat began his profession as a School Psychologist. His career has followed a winding road as he pursued work as a Certified Mental Health Counselor, college instructor, member of a dot-com startup, and finally as Director of Research and Evaluation in the public school system. There he saw first-hand the systematic inequities that elevated some but suppressed many. Now retired, Pat enjoys long walks listening to audiobooks, podcasting, helping family and friends with technology support, and any excuse to visit his grandkids.
Nancy has worked as a language arts teacher, counselor, professional developer, and school district administrator. She has taught numerous classes to educators across the state in Habits of Mind, Thinking Skills, Integrated Curriculum, and Environmental Education.
Nancy holds a Masters of Teaching degree and has a passion for supporting teachers in broadening their instructional skills. She has authored a number of curriculum resources including Reader’s Workshops and integrated units focused on environmental topics.
Nancy’s interests include cooking, knitting, and travel.
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