Laura Anderson, Chuck Ford, and Sheri Mowbray were elected to the Tamalpais Union High School District Board of Trustees on Tuesday night, replacing retiring trustees Monica Bonny, Susan Schmidt, and John Wright.

Anderson is a parent of three children, two of whom are currently students at Redwood. She has past experience with the Tam District, serving as co-chair of the 2011 TUHSD parcel tax renewal campaign and as a board member of the Redwood Foundation.

“I’m not running because something needs to be fixed, I’m running because I’m passionate about public education,” Anderson said recently in a phone interview.

She described how she wants to improve the lines of communication between all stakeholders and work to ensure that all TUHSD students have the opportunity to succeed, regardless of socioeconomic status. “I would like to see the achievement gap reduced, which is a problem across the district,” Anderson said.

“I do not come in with an agenda, I do not have a special checklist of things that need to be fixed. As a parent, I’m fully invested in what is happening,” Anderson said.

Ford is the former teacher of the TEAM program, which he ran for 21 years. He has received the Golden Bell Award for Outstanding Program, two Golden Bell Awards for Outstanding Teacher, and the Tamalpais District Teacher of the Year Award. One of Ford’s goals is to improve the transparency of the board and the administration.

“I do think that in the last six or seven months there has been a much greater effort from the board and the administration to be open with the students, parents, and staff, but I’d like to see more of that,” Ford said in a phone interview. “I’d also like to see more options for students in terms of classes and curriculum, particularly something that will begin to bridge the performance gap between boys and girls.”

Mowbray is a local business owner and a parent of two Redwood students, who has spent six years, including two years as Board President, as a trustee in the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District.

Her priorities include improving communication between the district and its stakeholders, utilizing more technology in the curriculum, and lowering alcohol and drug usage rates. “I am concerned about the alcohol and drug consumption levels in our schools, and the fact that they’re about double the state average is very concerning to me,” Mowbray said in a phone interview.

“I think the most important thing that sets me apart is that I’m a parent. Of the two board members remaining on the board, neither have children who are currently enrolled in the schools, and of the five candidates, only two of us are currently parents in the district. I think it’s very important that we have parents on the school board.”

The next meeting of the TUHSD Board of Trustees is on Nov. 13 in the Kreps Conference Center at Redwood.