Vice President Candidate Rudy Edwards 

Rudy Edwards has been a member of the Snoqualmie Valley School Board for 14 years. He has served as Board President, Vice President and Legislative Representative. He served on the WSSDA Board of Directors as Director Area 2 representative. He has served as the Snoqualmie Valley School District representative to the King County School Directors’ Association at the Puget Sound Educational Service District. WSSDA service includes the Nominating Committee and Planning Committee. He has served as the PTA Vice President and is a member of the Snoqualmie Valley Rotary Club, Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce, Mountains to Sound Greenway Advisory Board and East King County United Way Board of Directors. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon.

Candidate Statement:

The Washington State School Directors’ Association is a great organizing tool for school board members. As your Vice President, I will work hard to give school board members the tools to do their jobs better through education, networking and organization around issues; provide leadership in state education issues by speaking out on behalf of students and local school districts; and, establish partnerships with other organizations for the benefit of students by helping make WSSDA an integral player when decisions are made.

Many in the state question WSSDA’s effectiveness as an organization and as an advocate for local education. We need to demonstrate that school board members bring a unique voice — as grassroots community leaders with a broad vision — to the discussions about student achievement, state funding for education and our country’s future greatness.

I am humbled and energized by the opportunity to run for Vice President of WSSDA. I believe WSSDA, as an organization, is in a wonderful place to make a difference for students, for our local communities and for progress in state education. If elected, I will work hard in the following areas:

· Giving school board members the tools to do their jobs better through education, networking and organization

· Providing leadership in state education issues by listening carefully and then forcefully speaking on your behalf

· Establishing partnerships with other education organizations so that WSSDA is a real "player" when decisions regarding educational reform affecting our students are made.

Many leaders in the state are questioning the purpose of WSSDA, and others are not even aware of our existence. I believe in WSSDA, but I also believe we can become both more responsive to our members and more pro-active agents of advocacy and change within the state. School board members bring a unique voice to state decisions on education. They come with a great diversity of skill-sets and life experiences. We are grassroots activists and locally elected officials, but through WSSDA we achieve a deeper understanding and broader vision of the needs of students across the state. It is imperative that our voices be heard as discussion regarding the reinvention of education for our state takes place in the challenging days ahead. We are entrusted as the elected stewards for our students’ educational future.