hen newly appointed trustee Deborah Rappaport took her seat on the Portola Valley School District Board October 26, she was up and ready to go.
Ms. Rappaport, 42, is well-schooled in the issues and challenges facing the elementary school district after five years of extensive experience in the district as an active parent and volunteer. She helped kids and teachers in the classroom, served on the Portola Valley Schools Foundation board, and campaigned to pass the school bond measure in 1998 to build and renovate facilities at both Ormondale and Corte Madera.
Under her leadership as chair of the Corte Madera School Site Council, a revised homework plan for students was finally worked out and approved early last month after years of being what some called, "the biggest bugaboo" on the middle school campus.
While Ms. Rappaport was the lone resident to apply for the one-year vacancy, board members said after interviewing her October 19 that they couldn't ask for a better candidate.
Ms. Rappaport said she plans to run for a four-year term in November 2001, when three seats are up for election. She takes over from Trustee Pat Steuer, who resigned after seven years and was honored by her colleagues during the board meeting last week for her responsible leadership.
"I feel very committed to the school district," said Ms. Rappaport. "Our family made a conscious, positive decision this year to stay in the school district. I can't imagine a better place for our kids to be through eighth grade."
Ms. Rappaport and husband Andy Rappaport, a partner in a venture capital firm, moved to the Skyline area of the district five years ago. They are parents of identical twin daughters, Rebecca and Sara, 13, now eighth-graders, and Leah, 10, a fifth-grader, at Corte Madera. Mr. Rappaport serves on the district's fiscal oversight committee for the $17 million bond measure.
As a trustee, Ms. Rappaport said she would "keep an eye on the big picture," making decisions on "what's the best decision for all students, even if it's not best for my child." She also said she would be "as constructively supportive as possible to staff and families," but wouldn't "shrink from acknowledging where things could have been better."
A former editor and English major at the University of Massachusetts, Ms. Rappaport said the district could improve communication among administrators, teachers, parents and students.
"Parents and students feel more a part of the school community when they have accurate, timely information about issues that are important to them," she said. She suggested the board take a leadership role in this area by increasing the use of the district's Web site, the weekly Tuesday Post newsletter, and other means to reach out to parents and students on a regular basis.
She also has ideas about extending student education by integrating the fine and performing arts into the curriculum, and opening up other avenues of learning for all students. She said the district doesn't have to "worry about failing children, metal detectors at the door and gangs," but it needs to be more assertive in supporting new programs (such as the counselor position at Corte Madera) and the faculty at both schools.
"I would like to see kids on both campuses have a better idea of how they fit into the real world," she said during an interview with trustees. "The real world doesn't look like Portola Valley," she continued, suggesting there be more opportunities for students to participate in community service and become better citizens of the world.
Interest in arts
Art education is a recurring theme for the new trustee. She is vice president of the board of directors for the San Jose Museum of Art and a board member for the past four years with a strong interest in introducing young people to the arts.
She says her passion is collecting art by emerging and mid-career contemporary American artists. Before moving to the Peninsula, she was a board member of the Children's Museum of Boston.
Among her community activities, Ms. Rappaport wrote the first marketing plan for the Peninsula Community Foundation and assisted with the formation of the Venture Philanthropy Center. She served on the steering committee that developed and organized fundraising for the gravity-powered vehicle race, the Sand Hill Challenge, and also helped bring performing artists to Bay Area schools through the Young Audiences program.
What does she do when she isn't volunteering or driving to and from Skyline Boulevard? She loves to read, cook, bake bread on a rainy day, and do some sketching, she said.
