Kathy Green has long been involved with the goings-on of the Austin Public School District.

Friday, September 10, 1999

Kathy Green has long been involved with the goings-on of the Austin Public School District.

She currently holds positions on five school-related councils/committees, including chairing the Austin High School Parent Advisory Committee.

So for Green, running for one of four open seats in the Nov. 2 Austin Board of Education election was a natural progression.

"I’ve always been involved in what’s going on," said Green, who has taken a particular interest in grad standards.

"Parents are a missing person in grad standards," she said. "It needs to be taken a step beyond the classroom."

Green, a certified dental hygienist, is currently a stay-at-home mother with five school-age children, ranging from kindergartner to high school senior. Green’s husband is a dentist.

She didn’t make lightly the decision to run for election. She pondered it for three or four months, before deciding "OK, this is it," she said.

"One of the things I tell my kids is if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well," Green said. "I give 100 percent in whatever I do. I’m committed."

Understanding grad standards isn’t an easy thing to do. The standards are complex, and Green expects nothing less in whatever else she’s tasked to do as a school board member.

"There aren’t simple answers," Green said. "That’s how I’m going to treat it, because the district is complex."

Green does promote one simple idea: Support teachers first.

"The job of the school board is to set policy that works toward meeting the education needs of the district’s students," Green said. "That can best be accomplished by supporting teachers in the classroom."

Green has already made an impact in the district. She’s on the school board’s high potential advisory committee and the curriculum advisory committee, which plotted the current school-district-wide curriculum overhaul. A new K-12 reading curriculum was implemented last year and a new math curriculum started this year. More subjects are to follow in the coming years.

On the lighter side, she has volunteered time to assist reading, vision and hearing screenings, judged district spelling bees, chaperoned field trips and much more.

Her up-close-and-personal approach with the schools has led her to the following observation:

"Kids are often thought of last in the bureaucracy," she said. "Our kids need to be at the forefront."

In that regard, "I think I have something positive to give," Green said.