The following Murch parents are running to serve as next year’s LSAT Parent Representatives: Miriam Cutelis, Keena Lee, Bethany Little, Valerie Mallett, Martha McIntosh, and Sebastian Sprenger. (See below the candidates’ statements of interest.)
Click HERE to vote now.
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https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2012-13MurchLSAT
Voting is open now and will conclude at midnight on Monday, May 21.
Candidates’ Statements of Interest
Miriam Cutelis: My name is Miriam Cutelis and mom to two students at Murch ES, Luke (7) and Nora (4). I am also the visual art teacher at Murch now for three years and weekly service every child in the school. Through working at Murch, I have gotten to know hundreds of Murch families by name and feel confident that I’d represent the community in an inclusive, fair and comprehensive manner. Aside from my work within the immediate community, I also actively dedicate my energy and free time as an education advocate and closely work with other parents and parent groups across the District to tackle local education ‘reforms’ that too often lack parent voices. I believe as parents we have the unique potential to work collaboratively towards informed and common sense school policies that will directly help improve the educational experience of all children at Murch.
Keena Lee: My name is Keena Lee and I am the proud mom of 4th grader Kobie Frazier. I would like to nominate myself for the LSAT team. I have a strong Educational and professional background in education. I am also an advocate for educating children and ensuring that they are given all opportunities to succeed. I was born and raised in DC and am a product of the DC school system and the daughter of an outstanding DC school teacher. My knowledge about the system would allow me to share ideas on how to embrace and incorporate the changes in the school system. Thank you.
Bethany Little: I am grateful that Murch has an LSAT where parents can help shape our children’s education in partnership with our teachers, principal, and one another and I would be honored to participate for a second year. As a member of the LSAT, it would be my goal to help Murch offer all students, from English language learners to gifted students to students with disabilities and those who excel in the arts or sports, the opportunity to shine and succeed both personally and academically. I have chosen education policy as a career because I feel strongly that a good education is the most important gift we can give all children. Most recently I served as Chief Education Counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, but left that job to start a non-profit organization focused on educational excellence and equity, while also having more time to focus on my own children’s education. I have worked on education at the White House Domestic Policy Council, the U.S Department of Education and as an advocate at the Children’s Defense Fund and the Alliance for Excellent Education. I have learned a great deal about education policy, practice, and research and have had the opportunity to engage with educators on issues ranging from standards and curriculum to budgets, student support services, and classroom management. However none of that knowledge prepared me for the learning curve of being a parent trying to ensure my child is getting the best education possible. I feel very lucky to have my son enrolled at Murch as a rising 2nd grader and look forward to my other son joining him next year. I hope to participate in the LSAT again next year to support our teachers, principal, students and parents in continuously improving our wonderful school.
Valerie Mallett: With leadership experience covering a wide range of issues relevant to both the public and private sectors, I feel that I would be a strong asset to Murch’s Local School Advisory Team. My experience, also, as a member of Murch’s auction committee both last year and this year has provided me with a strong familiarity with the parent-staff bodies that are so crucial to many of the key decisions — strategic planning, budgetary, and policy — affecting the school. Although relatively new to the Murch community (my son started as a second grader in the Fall of 2010), I look forward to being able to contribute to Murch in a meaningful way as it moves forward with its ambitious plan of achieving its strategic goals in math and science, and also reading. I have a life-long commitment to and experience with public schools, as a student in the public school system in Arlington, Virginia, from Grades K – 12.
By way of professional experience, most recently, I was director of external affairs at Pfizer, Inc. pharmaceutical company, where I was responsible for the company’s strategies to broaden its base of support among key stakeholders, including organized labor. Prior to that, I served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce in its International Trade Administration, where I managed a $4 million budget and staff of over 50 international trade specialists. Earlier in my career, I practiced employment law and litigation at a Minneapolis law firm and clerked for a federal appeals court judge. Immediately following college, I was a legislative staff aide to Senators Lloyd Bentsen and Albert Gore, Jr., jobs that gave me exposure to a broad range of policy issues. I would be thrilled to have the chance to use some of my experience to benefit Murch.
Martha McIntosh: My name is Martha McIntosh and I am the mother of Logan, a rising second-grader, and Lorelei, a rising kindergartener. I have had the honor of representing the Murch parent community on the LSAT this past year, and I would be proud to have the opportunity to continue that representation for the coming year. I have learned so much over the past year about the behind-the-scenes work at the school and want to build upon that knowledge to further the goal of providing the best education possible for all our children.
This past year at Murch was one of transition with new leadership at Murch, and now it is time to hit the ground running. I want the LSAT to be a driving force in developing strategies and initiatives for helping all our students succeed at the basics. At the same time, we must find ways to challenge all students and provide a well-rounded education for our kids. It is not an easy task, but it is an essential one.
My work on the LSAT is aided by my past experiences as a mother, a federal prosecutor and a government-relations professional. The skills that are essential for a member of the LSAT are the same skills that I honed through those work experiences: learning new information quickly, synthesizing facts, advocating a position, and working with others to reach consensus. I appreciate your consideration.
Sebastian Sprenger: My wife and I became Murch parents when our son Daniel entered the pre-K program last year. I am excited about the idea of a community-supported school in our neighborhood, with opportunities for all parents and staff to contribute.
I believe in aiming high. To me that means putting great emphasis on music, arts and theater as subjects that reach into all aspects of learning. I want to be a part of facilitating solutions toward a high-quality, rounded education with those principles in mind.
I work as a journalist, covering national-security issues at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill for Inside Washington Publishers, a Crystal City-based news company. I enjoy music of all sorts; I play piano and began dabbling in classical guitar a few years ago. I’ve also lugged my didgeridoo to Daniel’s class once and can get a tone out of it. (The instrument is much harder to master than I first thought.) Born and raised in Siegen, Germany, I recently became a bike commuter and avid cyclist.
My wife, Amber, is cognitive psychologist at the University of Maryland, specializing in memory, learning and decision making. We’ve been living in the Washington area since 2003. We’re looking forward to our daughter Sophie joining the school in a year or two.
