An online ‘Meet and Greet’ for Highline School Board Candidates for District 4 will be held from 5 – 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 29, 2021.

This will be a virtual event via Zoom.

Five individuals have applied for the Highline Public Schools school board position vacated by Bernie Dorsey, who stepped down in June because he is moving out of state.

The open position represents District 4, which geographically encompasses Marvista, North Hill, Madrona, and Bow Lake elementary schools, Chinook Middle School, and Tyee High School, as well as other educational sites. Applicants must live within the boundaries of District 4.

The School Board will appoint one of the candidates to the open position at its Aug. 4 meeting. The successful candidate will be sworn in on Aug. 18.

The public will have the opportunity to meet the applicants at a Meet and Greet on Thursday, July 29 at 5:00-6:30 via Zoom.

Please click to join the webinar

Passcode: HPS72921
Or One tap mobile :
US: +12532158782,,98808057380#  or +13462487799,,98808057380#

Applicants for School Board Director, District 4 include:

Mardi Anderson

As a graduate of MRHS and mom to 2 MRHS graduates (2014 and 2017), I have had many years to observe and participate with the district. There were countless meetings with teachers, counselors, administration, school nurses, coaches in support of my own kids and others.

Going all the way back to Marvista days, I received the PTSA Golden Acord Award for heading the Community Involvement team.  I spoke at a Board meeting to encourage hiring of a qualified MRHS Cheer Coach to ensure the safety of the current and future squads, along with writing letters on the same topic. It was my honor to be involved in the interview process for the most recent Choir teacher (Mr. Stromberg), as I had been very active with Choir fundraising for their NYC trip with Ms. Stricherz.  In May of this year,  I penned another letter to the Board to advocate for continuing the Choir program.

Carrie Howell

I worked as a secondary ELA teacher for the Highline School District for 18 years, from September 2001 to June 2019. I worked at Tyee High School, help start and worked at ACE (the Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment) a CES small school on the Tyee campus, and at Mount Rainier High School.

I left HSD two years ago to pursue a career as an instructional coach. I now work in a middle school in Kent (Meridian Middle School) as the ESSA instructional coach. In this role, I look at student data, assess effectiveness of instructional practice, and provide differentiated professional learning for teachers in my building. I serve on the school’s Instructional Leadership Team as well as the Multi-Tiered System of Supports Team.

I have also served on a variety of district level committees, as a teacher in Highline and as a coach in Kent. Most recently, I co-facilitated a committee that brought tens of thousands of culturally responsive texts to our secondary ELA classrooms.

Joey Martinez

Parent of two Highline students Class of 2018 (MRHS) and 2023(MRHS). Spouse is a graduate of Tyee (1996).

Volunteer and paid football coach at MRHS from 2014-present. Paid football coach at Pacific Middle School from 2015-present.

I extensively work with our student-athletes through out the year to provide mentoring on all aspects of their lives.

Previously served on the CFAC community council for the last bond that successfully passed.

Ryan Rule

My step-son went to Aviation high school and graduated before it moved to Tukwila and I will have three daughters in elementary school this coming year.  One attended Marvista (our neighborhood school) for two years and was accepted for highly capable services, but we transferred her to Madrona at that time because Spanish and Diversity are more important than the challenge program.

I was PTA President at Madrona for two years, brought the first weekly PTA-sponsored after-school activity that anyone could remember and I made sure that children could attend even if they couldn’t pay.

On the Highly Capable Advisory Board, I discovered that the COGAT was used which heavily values English-based associations and I pushed for language-neutral evaluations instead.  I discovered that the district-approved educational tool Khan Academy was blocked on Madrona-issued Chromebooks during the pandemic and I pursued that injustice until it got corrected for all Madrona students.

Bobbie Jo Shockley

I currently have an 8th grader at Sylvester and a 5th grader at North Hill. I have been a part of Highline since 2014 and have had various volunteer experiences over the years.

Working with a group of community members, I helped create the community led plan for redrawing boundary lines in 2018. We helped minimize the disruptions to as many students as possible with the proposed changes and ensured all students would stay with students from their elementary school through high school. In this process, we wanted to create win-win situations, so it was important to hear from families from all over the district. We created ways for all families in Highline to have their voices be heard and share input about their needs, regardless of technology that they had accessible to them.

Previously, I was a substitute teacher for grades K-12 in Michigan and family members were/are teachers in multiple states. So, I have been influenced by teachers’ viewpoints as well.