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Education Foundation adds three to board

The Sonoma Valley Education Foundation recently welcomed the addition of Dr. Charles Young, Jean Barnier and Will Deeths as new members to its board of directors. 
They join Maggie Bafalon, Jan Davis, Jette Franks, Debra Garber, Michael George, Kevin Jaggie, Anne Kuschner, Maite Iturri, Susan Reber, Jodie Silberman, Adam Stein and Brinkley Capriola for the 2012 term.
            “With the addition of Dr. Young, Jean Barnier and Will Deeths the Ed Foundation has one of its strongest and most energetic boards ever,” exclaimed Executive Director Laura Zimmerman. I couldn’t be happier to work with this dedicated group at such a challenging yet optimistic time.”
            Dr. Young is an internationally recognized leader of higher education. He served as the Chancellor of UCLA for nearly 30 years, steering the university to become one of the highest ranked colleges in the nation.  During his time at UCLA, Dr. Young partnered with the community of Los Angeles and championed efforts to reform K-12 education there.   Under Young's leadership, UCLA grew from a small regional college with an operating budget of $170 million to a world-class institution with a budget of $2 billion. The Young Research Library at UCLA was named in his honor.           
Jean Barnier is a trial lawyer who began her career as an investigative broadcast journalist and then became a teacher. When she moved to Sonoma  Barnier joined the founding team for the Sonoma Charter School.  Barnier came to the practice of law after successful careers as an investigative journalist and television news producer and as a high school English and history teacher.  She taught middle school and high school at the Head Royce School in Oakland, and was also an accomplished Debate Coach, with her teams and individual students qualifying for state and national level competitions. Barnier obtained her law degree in 2003 from Empire College of the Law. She also holds a M.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Government from Mills College.           
Will Deeths started his career in education in 1998 as a student teacher at Sonoma Valley High School. After he earned his credential, his first paying job in education came as a substitute teacher at Altimira Middle School. In 2000, he was hired as a history teacher and activities director at Petaluma Junior High School. While at Petaluma Junior he began work on his administrative credential and in 2003 was hired as a part time assistant principal at Petaluma Junior. In 2004 he became a full time assistant principal at Petaluma High School. In 2006 he made a return to the realm of Junior High by taking on the position of assistant Principal at Kenilworth Junior High in Petaluma. In 2010 life and career came full circle, when he accepted the position of principal of Altimira Middle School.
            The Sonoma Valley Education Foundation has raised nearly 4 million dollars over the past 19 years, including $1.3 million for Sonoma Valley High School, $716,000 for technology enhancements throughout the school district, $533,000 for advanced computer skills training for teachers and $430,000 for reading, writing and literacy programs district-wide. Currently the foundation funds Science, Art, School Gardens and the Teacher Support Network.
SVEF is located at the Sonoma Valley Unified School District headquarters, which allows SVEF to interact with the school district in a seamless fashion. Please visit the SVEF at www.svgreatschools.org or phone Laura Zimmerman at (707) 935-9566.