Leslie Lundgren, a former and current Tam parent, is running for a four-year position on the Tamalpais Union High School Board. Leslie is a mother of two Tam graduates of 2006 and 2007. She also the mom of a current sophomore. After spending so many years being involved in the Tamalpais Union School Distict, she realized how much passion she has for it. “I discovered how much I care about public education in general. But especially how much I care about our district’s public education,” Lundgren said.

Lundgren, after being a registered nurse for 10 years, decided to get her degree in engineering. With 22 years of working in the engineering field, Lundgren believes her experience will be an asset to the board. Lundgren said, “So much of what I have done is included with being a board member. And that is overseeing really large programs, large budgets and having to find a way to provide program services with limited funds.”

Lundgren is aware of the large issues facing our district this year. She is concerned about the increasing class size and the decreasing budget. “There is not a parallel, equal growth in revenue. So we are going to have technically less dollars per student to spend. And so that is going to be the number one challenge.” Lundgren wants to be able to hear more input from students, teachers, parents, and stakeholders.

Mary Wuerth, AP Biology teacher, endorses Lundgren because she agrees with Lundgren’s position on issues. Wuerth said, “I think the biggest problem in our district for the past seven years has been the lack of input….The decision making was top down from the district office and…. Leslie feel strongly that the decision making in this district needs to involve everybody.”

Lundgren has a vision for the district. “[I would like it] to provide support for, I guess you could say for the total student. And all students, so students who maybe don’t want to go to college who are absolutely positive that they want to be a carpenter or a plumber, we should have a place for them.” she said. She wants to be able to give students options. She feels in modern high school everything is about college and it doesn’t help the health of students. “It is just very concerning to see students not sleeping and have the feeling in their lives that they will have such drastic consequences if they don’t get all A’s.”

Lundgren also believes there should be more transparency on the board. She feels that there needs to be clarity and information on decisions that are being made and what these decisions are based on. “Fundamental information that should be open readily available because those are items that should be part of your decision when you are developing something, yet it is hard to find, it isn’t all in one place.” After this previous year, Lundgren feels like the board should be more open with the information they acquire.

Wuerth believes that Lundgren will be able to contribute and add to the board because of her experience with her children in the district. “Leslie is going to be fantastic…. I think it is going to be a breath of fresh air.”