ELECT

HEATHER

YOUNG

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PUTTING OUR STUDENTS FIRST

FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE

MONROE SCHOOL DISTRICT

DIRECTOR, DISTRICT 3

Meet Heather

Retired Tech / Legal Nerd

Disabled US Army Veteran

Special Education Advocate

Candidate for Monroe School Board

I LOVE BIG CHALLENGES

With declining enrollment, rising costs, and a rapidly evolving federal landscape, most would agree that our public schools are struggling. Now, more than ever, we need leaders that are dedicated to respectfully engaging with our students, staff, and divided communities in constructive dialogue across diverse viewpoints.

We need a school board committed to finding solutions that will prepare ALL of our students to be successful now, and throughout their futures.

I love big challenges. Throughout my career I have succeeded in roles that required deep subject matter expertise and diplomacy, world-class change management, negotiation, and communication skills, and extensive legal and financial acumen. Thankfully my military service strengthened my ability to navigate whatever may lay ahead. My decades of personal and professional successes working at the intersections of legislation, policy, practice, and people will help me ensure our district is successful in managing all the moving parts needed to bring meaningful change - particularly when it comes to public education’s legal and budgetary frameworks.

Our public schools are a critical part of our community. The long term success of our kids, families and local public schools are closely linked, so the choice of school director is an important one. You can learn more about me in the FAQ section below, or find additional details about my experience through my resume here.

I appreciate your thoughtful consideration, and look forward to earning your support - and your vote.

GUIDED BY PURPOSE
COMMITED TO RESULTS

If elected, I will focus on three key areas to strengthen our schools and support every student’s success:

Improving Student Outcomes

Our students' success must be the core of every district decision. I am committed to focusing on improving test scores, increasing graduation rates, and boosting attendance. I will also work to ensure that budgeting priorities are aligned with student needs, and that the district adopts effective measurement and reporting methods tied directly to the goals of the strategic plan — ensuring transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Expanding Meaningful Engagement

Our school board must do a better job engaging our community in decision-making processes. That includes offering more accessible meeting times, providing communications in multiple languages, and ensuring public input through open comments, responsive emails, and real conversations. Equally important is engaging directly with our teachers; understanding what's working in classrooms, what needs improvement, how homework expectations are set, and how Professional Learning Community (PLC) efforts can be better supported.

Strengthening Interventions

I will advocate for earlier and more effective interventions by expanding access to quality Pre-K and transitional kindergarten programs. I will work to build new community partnerships, update district safety plans, and improve bullying prevention strategies with real accountability. Special Education must also become more accessible and transparent — ensuring students receive the services they need, improving support in general education classrooms, addressing substitute shortages, and helping our district navigate the impacts of evolving federal laws.

Throughout my career, I have shown up — consistently and passionately — to advocate for the needs of all students, ensuring our public schools serve as the foundation for a stronger future.

Why are you running for this office?

I care deeply about our community and am committed to the success of public education. I am the proud product of the local public education system from days gone by. (Everett High School Class of 1990!) Our schools have come a long way since then, and in many ways are even better than before. For example, the increased level of inclusion and support for kids with disabilities has significantly changed many lives for the better. Unfortunately the Monroe School District has suffered over the last decade with a succession of leaders with regressive ideas and problematic decisions which ultimately hurt the kids. With the added uncertainty due to the changes happening at the Federal level, we need to ensure that local district leadership are prepared to effectively navigate any resulting gaps. I am a passionate advocate for the kids in our schools and have the time, the talent and the tenacity to work on these issues to drive lasting improvements for all our kids.
What qualifications do you have? What experience do you believe you can bring to the position you are seeking?

I have: a successful track record of creating, implementing, inspecting and maintaining policies involving diverse stakeholders with competing interests. facility with the intersection of legislation, policy, practice, and people and how they can (and should) play together. previous experience serving on a board of directors, including as Chairman of the Board. previous experience with public education legal and budgetary requirements. extensive training and experience with public speaking, communications and press relations. deep understanding of special education laws and related processes. developed, used and mentored others in world class negotiation skills. experience managing and inspecting complex, multimillion dollar budgets. a successful track record of rebuilding broken trust among communities. appropriately managed highly confidential materials and information throughout long career. experience with indirect management and oversight of multi-layered organizations and multi-million dollar budgets. a successful track record of working to drive positive change of complex systems from the inside. been consistently involved and showing up to push for safer, more inclusive schools. My full resume is available at https://www.linkedin.com/in/heysam/.
There is a shortage of Special Education teachers and teachers of English Language Learners. How would you address this shortage?

I believe it starts with giving them the things they need. In addition to compensation that reflects the additional challenges these teachers work through daily, we must provide them with the resources they need to set them -and their students- up for success. Too often we cut paraeducator roles, for example, leaving teams understaffed and unable to prevent escalations or increases in problematic behavior. Earlier intervention require less effort, have better outcomes, and ultimately cost less in the long run. Cutting these roles may be a penny saved, but ultimately our kids lose. We also need to do a MUCH better job at engaging with these families. If you have a student with Autism, or who doesn't speak English fluently, we need school teams to recognize that it's probable that one or more of the adults in that student's home are in a similar situation! We need to go beyond the usual notes home to ensure that there is true communication, engagement and understanding with these families, ESPECIALLY when it's hard.
How do you feel about the current way that public schools in Washington State are funded?

As a founding member of our district's budget advisory committee, I've spent the last three years delving deeply into our district's finances, as well as the mechanisms behind them. Here's the problem: The prototypical funding model is *~*B*~*R*~*O*~*K*~*E*~*N*~* beyond belief. The reliance on levies and bonds to supplement state and federal funding just exacerbates the inequities. More affluent districts can more easily pass smaller levies on higher value homes, resulting in funding for more and better resources. It also can make it harder for less affluent districts to recruit and retain talented teachers. The unfunded mandates in IDEA are also hugely problematic, because they create a financial motive to place students into more restrictive environments (a segregated special education classroom rather than in general education with a 1:1 aide). If elected to represent our district on the school board I would seek to also serve as our district's legislate liaison from the board. We need legislators to understand what's happening in our public schools and to partner with them to find lasting solutions to the tough issues facing our communities.
Do the teachers in your school district reflect the diversity of the students in your district? If there is a disparity, how should it be addressed, if at all?

Our district staff is not currently a good reflection of the diversity of our community or our kids. For example, close to a quarter of students and families speak Spanish at home, yet our district has very limited staff with Spanish fluency. We should be specifically recruiting staff with dual language capabilities, especially at the elementary level. We could offer additional pay, for example, for staff who are proficient in targeted languages. Not only would this improve student outcomes, and increase their sense of belonging earlier, it would enable better community involvement and encourage more families to engage.
What steps need to be taken to make every student feel safe and provided for in our schools?

Every student should have at least one adult with whom they have a genuine connection at school. Someone who gets them, truly sees them, and greets them every day. Someone who would notice if they were feeling down, or if they were absent. Someone they feel safe to talk to if they're struggling, or if they're being bullied. It can be a teacher, but it could also be a lunchroom volunteer, a janitor, or office staff. Bullying and harassment are an epidemic in our (Monroe) schools, and very smart adults with very good intentions are making the problems worse, not better. In most cases bullying isn't even being reported or tracked because it's become so pervasive. Kids who report bullying and get no help are unlikely to keep reporting when their reports are ignored. When our admin does begrudgingly engage, they either drop the issue without resolution or, worse, push the victims to engage in a "reparative" talk with the bully - effectively traumatizing the victims again. Look, there is absolutely a time and place for this kind of thing, but I'm not yet convinced that an elementary or middle school principal's office is it. We need to do a better job not only proactively educating kids on the ways to deal with conflict without bullying, but also create meaningful, age appropriate consequences for bullies.
What do you plan to do to eliminate racism, homophobia, bullying, and other hate speech at school?

Finding ways for kids to develop relationships with those they would have "othered" is one path forward I will champion. An example is the Unified Sports teams I've worked with the district to create. These bring together kids with and without disabilities to plan on the same team. Kids who would not normally have a reason to cross paths become teammates, and in many cases friends. This exposure not only drives inclusion and acceptance in our schools, but ultimately in our communities as these kids become adults. This is going to be a long term focus for our district. Monroe is "purple" politically as a community, with our neighbors falling all across the political spectrum. Unfortunately there is a history of racism and bigotry in our area, and some kids bring the slurs they hear at home into our schools. Couple that with the lack of meaningful efforts by past superintendents to curb bullying and harassment, and it's truly become an epidemic. There have been a few highly publicized issues over the last few years, but you only have to read the comments in local social media groups to see that it's a persistent problem that's going largely unaddressed. Not only are we going to need to change the culture and hold people accountable, we are also going to need to earn back the trust of our students who have reported these aggressions in the past without help from the adults who were supposed to protect them.
How would you increase safety in schools?

Ultimately common sense gun reform is the answer here, which is obviously a beyond the purview of our school board. In terms of actions that can be taken within our district, focusing on the necessary cultural changes is likely the biggest focus in the near term to drive lasting change, especially around inclusion and against bullying. Also I will continue to refine and expand the emergency planning that I initiated in our district. For background, our district's previous safety manager had been instructing teachers in special education classrooms that they should "leave the kids behind and tell the first responders where to find them" in the event of an emergency. Yes, you read that right. I was beyond appalled, and began to push the safety manager, superintendent, and even current board members for change. Once the recent leadership changes took place members of the admin team were able to connect with me to create the first safety plan for ALL our kids and staff. While it was a fantastic, long overdue first step, more needs to be done.
What steps can be taken to ensure that students make the best nutritional choices both on school grounds and off school grounds?

It has to start early, and continue throughout elementary school. We need to help kids understand the choices they are making daily, what those choices do within their bodies, and ultimately teach them HOW to choose, not just WHAT to choose. That being said, we also need to bear in mind that for many kids, choice is a luxury. Far too many families are currently food insecure, and with latest Federal cuts more families are sure to join them. Kids can't learn when they are hungry or hurting. We need to partner with local organizations to ensure that kids have access to the things they need so they can stay in school and focus on the learning.
Does the current efforts across the district focusing on attendance help or hurt students?

Recently there has been a huge focus in our district on improving attendance. Every school is measuring it, reporting on it to the superintendent, and pushing to drive the numbers up. And while it's true that students with higher attendance do better in school, I think this approach is missing the bigger picture. Instead of simply focusing on improved attendance, we need to start by understanding WHY kids are missing school - and then figure out how to help knock down the barriers. In most cases it's not just kids skipping school for fun. Sometimes it's a lack of clean clothing, or a struggling parent who is unable to get a young child ready for school consistently. Too often it's due to bullying that's either been reported but continued, or that was never reported at all. Many of the reasons kids are missing school contribute to their overall difficulties at school. If we can intervene to stop the bulling, connect them with needed resources or find other ways to help, they'll be in class more often AND do better while there.

"I had the privilege of working with Heather in two different roles at Microsoft, where she led major programs in Software Asset Management and Software Assurance. Heather is a gifted strategist, a recognized industry expert, and a strong, empowering leader. Her unmatched expertise in licensing, compliance, process strategy, and partner development is respected across the software industry. Beyond her professional excellence, Heather brings warmth, care, and integrity to her leadership — consistently delivering outstanding results while building strong, trusted teams. I wholeheartedly recommend Heather for senior leadership roles requiring deep expertise, careful stakeholder management, and exceptional attention to detail."

John Griffin

Operations & Program Management Leader

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