|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Longtime Livermore resident and mother of LVJUSD students, Amanda Pepper, is running for a seat on the district’s Board of Education.
While this is her first bid at elected office, she intends to apply her committee experience to the board seat and advance every student’s education.
“As a parent, I have successfully partnered with school administrators to support my students’ needs,” she said in a statement. “I would like to put that experience to good use for other parents so that we come together as a community for ALL our kids.”
Pepper is currently set to compete against five other candidates who have filed nomination papers for the two open seats vacated by incumbents Kristie Wang and Yanira Guzmán, both of whom are not seeking reelection.
Her opponents include Tara Boyce, Jean Paulsen, Margarita Tufts, Christiaan VandenHeuvel and Deena Kaplanis — who previously ran for the board in 2022.
As a board member, Pepper aims to retain the district’s talented teachers and staff and attract more of the same.
“Strong schools are a foundation for a strong community,” she told Livermore Vine. “A key basis of strong schools is great teachers, administrators, and support staff. We have that, and I’d like to maintain and continue to build on it.”
Originally, she got involved in the school district as a classroom volunteer, later becoming a PTA board member. At her oldest child’s high school, she served as site council president and participated in a committee to determine how and when to reopen schools during the pandemic.
Now she serves as vice chair of the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee, a group of community members that monitor the district’s bond financing to make sure the money is spent properly, according to the LVJUSD website.
Pepper also brings media literacy skills which she learned through earning her bachelor of science in communication, Radio-Television-Film and master of arts in writing, literature and publishing.
Additionally, she said that working in the textbook publishing industry for many years has prepared her for a seat on the school board. In this industry she learned about the connection between texts and ancillary materials as well as state and federal standards.
For more information about Pepper, visit her campaign media page, “Amanda Pepper 4 Livermore Schools” on Facebook.
