After eight years on school board, Lowe moves on

Straight from the fiscal war zone of Sacramento, Sandra Lowe’s warnings at almost any meeting of the Sonoma Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) would sound like cries from Cassandra. Cuts and more cuts would be coming, she would tell them – so get ready. “You’ll get through this year, but next year, it won’t happen – not without something major going on,”  she said. After eight years, she is stepping down. But is she stepping out?
“I got on this board so I could take care of the fiscal situation in the district,” she said, “so we could keep the budget balanced and secure raises and engage in an honest and open conversation with the community.” So far, all those goals have been met, she said, except the fiscal one, and that is one she will continue to work on, from a different vantage point.
“I’m working at the state-wide level,” she said, “to make sure we have an economy at the state level that supports our schools – and that also means health care, too, [because] you can’t teach kids that are sick. And you can’t send them home to parents who can’t get proper medical help. It’s a bottom line, on a moral level. If you really believe in values, you’ve got to take care of people first. Everything else is gravy.”
Former SVUSD superintendent Dr. Marilyn Kelly, who retired in 2001, said Lowe, who was then teaching in the high school, made a major contribution in getting the bond measures in ’94 and ’96 passed. “She worked really hard,” said Kelly. “And that should be part of her legacy.”
Her colleagues on the board say they will miss her, her dedication and her special expertise. “She’s been really good for the board,” said SVUSD board president Cam Hawing. “She’s inside the politics. She knows the way the system works from the inside. And she knows a lot of procedures about administrators and staff and teachers, and how the state can help the districts. She has weight, and experience. We’re going to be calling on her.”
Barbara Clementino, co-president of the Sonoma Valley High School Boosters Club, said, “I think one of the strengths that she brought to the board is her extensive background In the policy-making legislation through her work with the California Teachers Association. She was able to bring a real pragmatic familiarity that the other board members may not have had. She can look at what’s coming and say, ‘You need to be thinking of the budget!’”
On the board, Lowe stated her positions clearly, often adamantly. “When you cut schools,” she told the trustees at their last meeting, “and when you cut jobs in schools – classified jobs, certificated, management jobs, contractors, whatever – that is the opposite of economic stimulus. The people in government have to recognize that keeping the schools running efficiently and well staffed is an economic stimulus to every single other economy around this valley. Because when teachers and bus drivers and managers are working and helping kids, they’re also buying gas, going to dinner, shopping at Target, bringing home a bottle of wine, and all that other stuff that keeps everybody else employed.”
Mayor Pro Tem Ken Brown, whose campaign she supported, praised her political acumen. “She knows the political landscape both in Sonoma and Sacramento, and has been a tireless worker for student, teacher and employee rights,” he said. “She helped me with my election. We’re politically, philosophically on the same page.” And, most importantly, he added, “She’s dedicated to the well being of the teachers and the staff and always had the best interest of the kids at heart.” Dan Gustafson, SVUSD board member, agreed. “I think Sandra’s brought a lot of wisdom to the board. If you viewed her as an adversary, she’d be formidable. She brings a lot to the party. I also know she’s a sensitive, caring person, too. Loves kids, and is a total advocate for teachers.”
SVUSD board member Nicole Abaté Ducarroz said that while she and Lowe may have different styles or occasionally different approaches, they both share basically the same idea. “We want teachers to be paid high, to be supported. Teachers are second parents. They’re the front lines.” Ducarroz said that after four years, she has learned much from Lowe. “I have learned that she is a beautiful person, inside and out. I have learned how incredibly intelligent she is, how passionate she is, how dedicated she is and most of all, I have learned that she is for children first. I’m going to miss her.”
Melanie Blake, a teacher at Sonoma Valley High School, remembers Lowe from her first days in the district, when she was a bilingual high school math teacher and part of the team that developed and implemented the first English Language Learner program at the high school. “I’m hoping that she will continue actively as [a kind of] volunteer consultant because she has so much expertise,” she said. “[As] we said at the board meeting, she will have our admiration and gratitude for many, many years to come.”