I am very excited about having the privilege to serve on the Classical Charter School Association Board.  We moved to Appleton two years ago with the dream of becoming part of what I feel a school should be . . . and here we are.

I have two children at Classical School.  Olivia is in 8th grade and Iain is in 4th grade.    I have always been a big fan of E.D. Hirsch, and we have always supplemented their educations with What Your Nth Grader Needs to Know.   We love reading all the great history and literature in them.  My husband is a professor of art history, so he loves that Hirsch includes so much fine art in the Core Knowledge curriculum.

I have an undergraduate degree in Child Development/Family Studies, and my graduate degree is in Early Childhood Special Education.  I learned very early in my teaching career that if I had specific goals and objectives for my students and taught them using teacher-directed, explicit instruction, we could move mountains together.  Then when my own children started school, I realized that my way was somehow outdated and an ideology had prevailed over common sense and all children were now expected to “construct their own knowledge.”  I like the traditional teacher-directed model, and we are thrilled to be part of a school that believes in a solid educational background for all.  I am a huge fan also of Saxon Math!

I have taught at the university-level in teacher education for seven years.  I have fought many battles over ideologies and curriculum.  I have seen first hand the heartbreak of students who did not have solid K-12 educations, and were forced to give up their dreams of becoming teachers.  As a family, we have traveled to the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands.  We have witnessed what a national curriculum and true academic rigor can do for the national intellect.  We know we can do better as a nation, and we are proud to be part of a school that values a rich and rigorous curriculum for all.