Danville Patch reached out to all candidates for the SRVUSD Board of Trustees with identical questions about their background and their vision for San Ramon Valley schools. Here are the responses from Laura Bratt, the incumbent candidate for Area 3 in San Ramon.
What is your personal, educational, and professional background?
I am currently in my first term as Area 3’s Governing Board Member for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. For the last 17 years, I have been volunteering and serving leadership roles in public schools. As an elected Board Trustee and current President for SRVUSD, I serve on the TRAFFIX Board and as a Board Liaison for SRVUSD’s Equity Steering, Strategic Arts, Parcel Tax Oversight, LCAP Stakeholder, and Special Education Community Advisory Committees.
I grew up in a multi-racial, civics-minded family in the Midwest and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison with a degree in art. Having owned a Creative Services business for 25 years and taught visual design at SF’s Academy of Art, I am currently working as a Marketing and Communications Manager at UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life.
My husband, Shawn, and I are raising four insightful, independent-minded young adults in the Dougherty Valley after moving them from Martinez, to Grenoble, France, to Delaware, to SoCal and back to the Bay Area, grateful to have put down roots in the San Ramon Valley, near family and friends. Our older two are recent SRVUSD graduates and our twins are high school seniors.
How long have you lived in the area?
I have lived in San Ramon since August 2015. Prior to that I lived in San Francisco from 1996-2001 and Martinez from 2001-2004.
What brought you here?
After starting my career in Chicago, I moved to San Francisco, where I met my husband. His career took us to Grenoble, France in 2004 and then Delaware and SoCal. We were able to make our way back to the Bay Area in 2015 and chose San Ramon because of the exemplary schools and to be near family and friends.
How have you been involved in the community?
Since my oldest began preschool, I have been active in PTA, Educational Foundations, and School Site Councils, as well as volunteering in my children’s classrooms and with Girl Scouts and Destination Imagination. I am a 2022 graduate of Leadership SRV, a member of SRVUSD’s LCAP committee since 2016, and a member of PFLAG and Contra Costa NOW.
What do you feel are some of the biggest challenges facing SRVUSD?
As we work to ensure that each and every student in SRVUSD schools learns and thrives, three of the biggest challenges we face as a District are staff recruitment and retention, ongoing shifts in public education funding, and the continued implementation and accountability of the District’s Strategic Directions.
What are your plans for addressing them?
Staff Retention and Recruitment: Working with the governing board, I will continue to support our staff, paying them as much as our budget allows, and providing resources and support structures so that a career in education is sustainable. As a board, we must continue to approve policy that further develops the current HS teaching CTE pathway so students can learn about and be inspired to teach. And we must continue to build out the newly implemented residency program that links new teachers to SRVUSD positions.
Future shifts in funding: With Prop 98 projections, the end of one-time COVID $$, and declining enrollment, SRVUSD is looking at an additional reduction of $16.5 million to next year’s budget and further reductions in the following years. The Board needs to work closely with stakeholders to ensure equitable and responsible cuts that align with our strategic directions and the values of our community, maintaining the high level of academic and support standards as well as supporting staff recruitment and retention.
Continued implementation and accountability of the District’s Strategic Directions. At SRVUSD, we value deep learning and innovation, social emotional well-being, and equity and this is reflected in our strategic directions. We must continue to drive our systems, policies, and goals towards these values so that our students have the best educational experience they can — one where they feel safe and supported so that they can rise to the challenges that a rigorous education demands and find opportunity and success in the things they are passionate about. With reports throughout the year on the various priorities and goals within our Strategic Plan, I will assess the implementation and ensure that we are accountable to the outcomes we projected and that they remain in the best interest of the students, further developing and adjusting the goals as necessary.
What makes you the best candidate?
First and foremost, I am passionate about our students — empowering them and helping them to develop a life-long love for learning. I am a parent of 4 incredibly individual students who each have experienced education in a different way. This allows me to better understand the concept of “each and every” student and the need to meet them where they are, with equity and empathy, so that they can truly thrive. As an incumbent, including this year as Board President, I have 4 years of direct experience representing Dougherty Valley in an educational leadership position. I have proven that I can effectively work as part of a governing body, I have been an integral part of the development of the District’s Strategic Directions of Deep Learning and Innovation, Social Emotional Well-being, and Equity. I have ensured that the policies and budget reflect the values of San Ramon Valley’s educational community. Beyond this experience, I bring to the Board 25 years of experience being a small business owner, with an understanding of budget management; a background in marketing and communications, giving me expertise in effective communications and transparency; and a lived experience where i understand the value of empathy, diversity, inclusion, belonging, allyship, and educational empowerment.
Outside of politics, what do you enjoy doing?
I enjoy reading, learning, traveling, spending time with my family, and walking around the hills and canyons in the Dougherty Valley.
Any other comments?
In my first term, I have been able to bring a much-needed perspective to our school board by asking key questions, having real conversations with our community, and bringing my experience as a parent and an advocate to the dias in order to ensure that decisions are made through the lens of transparency, equity, and compassion.
Since 2020, I have championed initiatives grounded in deep learning and innovation, social-emotional well-being, and equity to ensure that each and every student learns and thrives. My collaborative efforts, as part of a highly effective governing board, have yielded significant achievements, including the development of a comprehensive learner profile; a steadfast and strategic move back to in-person learning post-COVID, Pride Month and Environmental Week resolutions; the renegotiation of the Superintendent and Assistant Superintendents contracts to remove the "me, too" clause and cap salary increases; greater transparency, communication, and accountability; and increased student voice, including the addition of a student board member, student senate, and student representation across all District Steering Committees.
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