Memorandum from Mary Kay Murphy
Mary Kay Murphy, Ph.D. District 3  School Board Member marykaymurphy@aol.com

June 9, 2009 

Representing District III Constituents  

As your School Board Member representing District III in Gwinnett County, I am currently working to represent you and your public education interests on four initiatives. Included are the following: 

SBOE Local School Board Advisory Committee. 

Since April 2009, I have served as the Seventh District of Georgia representative to a committee convened by the State Board of Education. Ms. Wanda Barrs, Chair of the Georgia Board of Education, serves as leader of this important initiative. 

There are 11 members of the Local School Board Advisory Committee, one for each Congressional District in Georgia. Our collective work is to develop Standards for School Board members for the 180 public school systems in Georgia. 

It is a pleasure to represent District III and Gwinnett County on this important leadership initiative. Our work will continue through December 2009 and be linked to the Governor’s Task Force on Governance of Public Education. This initiative likely will be action during the 2010 session of the Georgia General Assembly. 

Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Regional Education Committee. 

Since 2006, I have been a member of the Regional Education Committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. This initiative has provided an opportunity for collaboration with business, civic, and education leaders throughout the metropolitan Atlanta area to identify projects for collaboration on behalf of public education in the large school systems as well as all of public education in Georgia. 

This fall, the Metro Atlanta Chamber will convene an Education Summit to advance the work of public education in Georgia and beyond. I am pleased to participate in the Planning Committee for the 2009 Education Summit, a first of its kind for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. 

Fifth District Board Member for the Georgia School Board Association. 

I began my service on the Georgia School Board Association in 2006, having been elected to represent public education in Gwinnett County, Fulton County, the City of Atlanta, and the City of Decatur public schools. In 2009, I was re-elected to a second three-year term on the Board of GSBA. 

In June 2009, I was the elected delegate from the Gwinnett County Public Schools to attend the Summer Conference of GSBA. In conjunction with the Conference, the Board held its annual summer meeting in Savannah. 

Major topics of discussion included continued advocacy on the part of GSBA for the students in Georgia’s public schools. Also, discussion centered on School Board Governance initiatives underway in Georgia and the role that GSBA might continue to play in education and training of School Board members throughout the 180 districts of the State. 

Center for the Reform of School Systems. 

As one of five elected Board members on the Gwinnett Board of Education, I continue to participate in the training program of the Center for the Reform of School Systems. In May 2009, I attended a three-day training program, held on a week-end in Williamsburg, Virginia, for the purpose of continued study of the appropriate role of the School Board governance team, including elected or appointed Board members and the school system superintendent. 

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation of California has provided a scholarship for the Gwinnett County Board and Superintendent to participate in the second group of the nation’s public school systems to undergo training led by Dr. Donald McAdams and his Reform Governance in Action program. 

In May 2009, the Broad Foundation announced its slate of the top five public schools in the nation to move forward on closing the Achievement Gap relative to academic performance of whole school systems. 

The Gwinnett County Public School system is one of the top five public schools in the nation in 2009, according to the Broad Foundation, and is in contention for First Prize of $1 million in student scholarships. The 2009 winner will be announced on September 16, 2009, in the U.S. Capitol. The Gwinnett County Board of Education and Superintendent have been privileged to be invited to this award ceremony and we plan to attend. 

As your District III School Board member, I continue to work at the local, state, and national levels to represent the 20 schools in District III as well as all public schools Gwinnett County. Thank you for the privilege of serving our community in this capacity. 

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