Joy Anderson is running for Seattle School Board West Seattle District VI. The West Seattle resident is challenging Martha "Marty" McLaren, Nick Esparza, and incumbent Steve Sundquist in the Aug. 16 primary. The West Seattle Herald interviewed all four candidates and so far has run a story on McLaren and Sundquist.

The top two vote-getters are chosen by voters in their district where there is a primary race, four of the seven districts in this election. Then all of Seattle votes for their favorite candidate in all four districts. In addition to Sundquist, other incumbents being challenged are Peter Maier in District I, Sherry Carr in District II, and Harium Martin-Morris in District III.

Joy Anderson's Bio

Joy Anderson was born in Madison, Wisconsin. At age 2, her family moved to Great Britain where her father was stationed in the Air Force. They then lived on Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire. She moved to Seattle in 1989, to West Seattle in 1994. Her British husband is a stress engineer. They have a daughter, Olivia, 8, who attends Gatewood School.

Anderson attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, earning her BA in English. She was a syndicated radio personality in Milan, Italy, also, a producer for Seattle KIRO 7 with their guest editorial feature. She worked as a case worker, Seattle Mental Health, Youth Care, with counseling at-risk youth, and as a group home manager for developmentally disabled adults for Starkey, Inc.

Anderson gets involved

Anderson has spent the last three years advocating for residents of the Delridge community which included fighting the closure of Cooper Elementary School. She was in charge of the Cleveland/Stem lawsuit, NSAP lawsuit, Department of Education Compliance Review due to school closures, and participated in two attempts to recall the four incumbent Seattle School Board Members.

"The problems they have here, I am aghast," Anderson said of the Seattle Public School system. "I just think there is more turmoil here, and now, than in the school boards where I grew up and attended, and more than in those school boards in cities where my out-of-state friends with children live.

"My interest in running all began while I was minding my own business, taking my child to kindergarten at Cooper School. In November, 2008, Arbor Heights was slated for closure. Their PTA worked with Sundquist to get off the (school closure) list. Suddenly we were on the closure list. No community input or explanation. They are supposed to give you a hearing if closing the school. They said that they were not closing the building, but changing one program for another.

"I went through all the channels you're supposed to go through to object. I complained. I sued. I did everything. We didn't get any due process. Sundquist didn't help us at all. We finally said, 'You need to represent us, to have a meeting with us.' He showed up with another board member and said, 'We are a quorum and don't have a transcription so we can't answer any questions.' Sundquist treated us so poorly so the whole Delridge community lost their school. I sued as a parent. (with other parents.) I was going to school board meetings, advocating for kids, and parents who didn't speak English. People began calling me.

"If you move to town with two children, they go to the same school. But if you live here already, and one of your kids is in 3rd grade and another is entering kindergarten, that second child will not necessarily go to the same school. We should have a system to grandfather the children into the same school. At a meeting Sundquist just said that having your children at different schools is a 'lifestyle choice'.

"Sundquist did say (at the meeting) if we are patient 'it's going to all work itself out'. I said, 'How dare you experiment on my only child. You should have worked this all out before you foisted it on other people.' The School Board simply does not listen to the parents. I tell my child, 'You don't always get what you want, but at least I listen.' I didn't vote for these people so that they can big brother me to death.

"I am not a one issue candidate at all," she continued, referring to the Cooper School closing. "If I win, I know that as time goes by there are going to be issues other than school closings. There are plenty of people who just want their children to have a decent education. They're paying taxes for it. It shouldn't be this hard, this disenfranchising for people. The district does not disseminate information effectively. Parents don't always find out when there are policy changes. Most of this information is sent online. What if you don't have a computer? I'm lucky. I have time to attend School Board Meetings.

Hates Discovery Math

"I hate Discovery Math. We are discovering people can't do it. You don't discover it. At (age) 5 or 6 they are not conceptually based. You have to do rote with them. Discovery Math does not work for fragile learners. Schmitz Park is the only West Seattle school that opted out of Discovery and their PTA bought Singapore Math. When those students go to middle school they are two years ahead in math. I'm about to go the way of the math tutor, and pay forty dollars an hour for Olivia."

Anderson said her parents had high expectations with her math education growing up.

"My father was a prisoner of war in Korea. In order to motivate us, he did the guilt thing and said, 'I did not spend 28 months in a cage in Korea so you could get a "D" in algebra. My mother was an English teacher and loved British literature. When we lived in England she was in complete heaven. We were scared to death if we said something grammatically imperfect. We'd be at a bus stop and she'd say, 'I'll give you five dollars if you can tell me the plural of "crisis". I try to help my daughter with English usage, too. Already she cannot stand dangling prepositions."