2021 Oregon School Board Member of the Year
Congratulations Laurie Danzuka!
The Warm Springs K-8 Academy offered a particularly poignant setting Monday for awarding the 2021 Oregon School Board Member of the Year to Laurie Danzuka. The Jefferson County School Board chair was a driving force behind building the school in 2014 on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs reservation northwest of Madras. The school, an intergovernmental collaboration between the Tribe and the district, has been instrumental in engaging Native American students in both their culture and their education and creating a community gathering place. OSBA Executive Director Jim Green presented the award to Danzuka in a surprise ceremony during a school board meeting, although she was a little suspicious when the meeting started filling up with colleagues and friends. Read more ...
Criteria
Must be a current public school district, community college or education service district board member in Oregon who plans to continue board service. Must serve on a member board of the Oregon School Boards Association. Cannot be currently serving on the OSBA Board of Directors. Cannot have previously received the award. Must show initiative in the following areas: advocacy, leadership and student achievement.
Timeline
A selection committee of OSBA Board members and staff will choose 10 or fewer finalists. Winner picked by a committee of three to five former Oregon school board members and a designee from the Oregon School Board Members of Color Caucus. OSBA staff will select those to serve on the committee, whose members cannot cast a vote for a finalist with whom they have served on a school board. The winner will be notified prior to the November OSBA Annual Convention.
Recognition
Recognized at the OSBA Annual Convention in November ● Announcement sent to media statewide ● Given free registration to OSBA events for one year ● Given an honorary keepsake ● Name listed on the OSBA website ● Name engraved on a plaque kept at OSBA offices in Salem
Previous winners
2020
Alicia Hays, Eugene School Board
2019
Merle Comfort, La Grande and InterMountain Education Service District school boards