Two new Board Members were sworn in at the State Board of Education Meeting in January (both photographed with Chair Peter Maier).

Western Washington Region 3: Mary Fertakis, M.Ed.
Mary Fertakis, M. Ed. is one of the five elected members and represents Western Washington Region 3 on the State Board of Education. She served on the Tukwila School Board for 22 years, and remains active with school Boards, advising on various topics including equity.

“It’s a great pleasure and honor to join this group of people,” said Fertakis at this month’s Board Meeting. After many years of working on education policy, while data is something that informs what I do, I am always seeing children’s faces behind the numbers. One of the greatest pleasures of my time on the Tukwila Board was to wake up Saturday morning in 2009 and see that our school district had been named the most ethnically diverse by the New York Times…that was an incredible honor to be serving in an environment like that.”

Fertakis says during her time on the Tukwila School Board, she had the opportunity to have some “hard conversations about what we do and how we do it.”

“Our system needed to change because our students had changed.”

Private Schools Representative: Jan Brown
Jan Brown was elected as Private Schools Representative. She brings art and music teaching experience to the Board and has thirteen years’ experience at Seattle Pacific University’s (SPU) Center for Professional Education. After her time at SPU, Jan taught choral music, was a school administrator, and has consulted in school development for over 15 years.

“There are two highlights in my journey, one is the development of a private classical school with an arts focus. All kids came to that school,” said Brown after her swearing-in. “And the other would be at Seattle Pacific University, developing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) for educators within the private sector, which can sometimes be underserved.”

“You have a profile that’s written, it’s in the vision, that’s the heartbeat. That vision has a deep respect for students and learning, and that’s what rose up in my heart when I was considered for this position. I care. I really care. I am honored to be here.” 

Learn a little more about Mary and Jan in the About Us section of the SBE website.