Judy
Schwab

for Mukilteo School Board

My commitment to public schools began as a child living in public housing in South San Francisco, attending schools that served children mostly living in poverty and from diverse backgrounds.

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I am the oldest of nine kids. My dad put himself through college and medical school, while supporting our family as a door-to-door salesman. When he graduated, I was in third grade, old enough to have a sense of the sacrifice and hard work for him and us, his family, and to know what an achievement it was. Those times formed my thinking about the value of public education for all kids and the need to respect and to encourage their success in school.

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After college, I was accepted into a program at Claremont Graduate School of Education designed to prepare teachers to work with minority kids in low-income schools. We picked grapes with field workers and their families, lived in their neighborhoods, volunteered and taught in their schools, experiencing at least some of the struggles they confronted daily. For two years, it was life-altering.

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Then the real world happened. Optimism met reality when I came to realize public schools did not always support the dreams of the kids I had been preparing to teach. I learned that where I could make a difference was in the classroom, one student at a time.

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Many years later, these early experiences influenced my decision to run for the school board. It was, at last, an opportunity to advocate for an equitable education for all students.