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New SRVUSD Board Member Advocates for Children fiscal challenges.
Considering private education? Start here.
By Dana Guzzetti
Newly elected San Ramon Valley Unified School District board member Denise Jennison officially joins the board’s ongoing budget battle for the first time this month. Although Jennison is new to the board, she is not new to the district’s
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As past PTA president of the San Ramon Valley Council of PTAs and former president of PTA at Diablo Vista Middle and Golden View Elementary Schools, the Danville resident has also represented the local PTA at the state level. Three of her four children
attended school in SRVUSD and one of them is still enrolled. Jennison has been a familiar face at board meetings and any other gathering that might help sustain and improve local schools. “I wouldn’t be able to do it if my husband was not so supportive,” Jennison said. “My volunteer work has been extremely important to me. When people ask me how I find time for myself, I say, ‘That is what I do for myself.’ Jennison recently returned to school to earn a teaching credential and taught in the classroom on a substitute basis. Her plan was to turn her passion and background experience as sites manager for Gymboree Corp. into a profession as a school principal or as a board member. “In these difficult times the children need someone who genuinely cares for them to speak out and advocate on their behalf,” Jennison states. As a SRVUSD school board member, Jennison plans to fight for a fair share of state funding. “Things are dysfunctional at the state level. People don’t see how it impacts local schools. The legislators don’t come to see what we are doing on a day -to-day level. “ I w i l l c o n t i n u e my advocacy on a volunteer basis at the state level,” Jennison asserts. “We have lost $1,000 per pupil. There has been an infusion of federal funds, but those funds tend to go to districts with more Title 1 students. Explaining that legislators appear to miss the connection between health and human services and education, Jennison said that state funding for health and human services to counties has been reduced, and schools are mandated to provide $1.5 million in services, including special education, without any way to raise the revenue to pay for it. “We have to stop cutting t h e r u g o u t f ro m u n d e r education. The future success of this state depends on it,” Jennison remarked.