Anne Moore will be sworn onto the Issaquah School District board Dec. 14 as its newest member.

A mother of three, she has two girls attending Issaquah High School. She’s participated in district PTSAs for 15 years, including serving on the PTSA Council.

Once an electrical engineer at IBM, she is now a stay-at-home mom at her Bellevue home.

Q Why did you run for the school board?

A Anne Moore: For a long time I’ve had a focus on public education here in Issaquah, working with the PTA and school district committees. It seems like a natural next place to go to have an impact for even more kids and improve education here. It allows me as a parent to make sure that that focus stays on the kids.

Q What is the biggest issue facing Issaquah’s School Board this year? What’s your approach going to be?

A The biggest issue is the budget cut. The idea coming from the governor to cut four days from our school, I’m not going to support that. Our job with the school district is keep providing a high quality education to our kids in spite of all the cuts that are happening, and to continue to see what we can do out of the classroom. There are limits to what can be cut. Teachers are the essence of our school. I don’t think I have an answer yet. I have a lot to learn on how we’re going to do this.

Q The governor proposed reducing the school year by four days. Should the district accept fewer school days or should it cut elsewhere?

A I prefer we don’t cut the school days. It will depend on how she (the governor) puts it into law. As a part of the law, if it limits schools to 176 days, we don’t have a choice. If it’s just the money, then we have choices in how we can implement that.

Q As a board member, what issue or subject do you plan to focus on the most in these next four years?

A One of the things I’d like to keep a focus on is STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), making sure our kids have all the opportunities they need to go into the science field. I have a science background. All kids should have the opportunity to go into math and the sciences and not have the door shut.

Q The community raised enough money to pay for a major piece of the new elementary science curriculum. Should the district continue to rely on the Issaquah Schools Foundation for curriculum money?

A I would wish we don’t have to, but that may be our reality. Our kids and teachers need good tools in their classroom.

Q Another capital issue is being discussed to improve several schools, including Liberty High School. Do you support a bond?

A I was on the bond committee that created the package that went to the superintendent. I believe these are all projects that we need to do to maintain the facilities of our school district. We have aging buildings that need to be taken care of. They are expensive to maintain, so we can save money from our operations budget. Right now we also have a favorable climate for construction. We found that for IHS and were able to do more.

Q What issues do you see teachers facing today? How can the district help?

A I know with the budget that one of the issues that has the teachers concerned is class size. And I know the district has done what it can to keep the classroom small. There is a limit to how far that can go. For teachers, a new thing that is coming from the state that sounds great is the principal and teacher evaluation pilot. It creates a four-tier evaluation system for teachers and it has new rubrics for how teachers are evaluated. Right now the district is in the early stages of setting that up. Right now we have an evaluation system that has been around for a really long time; it’s very out of date.

Q You’re a stay-at-home mom. What do you think a parents role should be in their child’s education?

A I think parents’ roles are key in a child’s education. They’re a strong supporter in what they do. It conveys to them not only the importance of education but also provides the support and the needed resources to get their job done. Kids are in training from the very beginning. They need to know homework is something important, and it’s something we need to do first.