LETTERS OF SUPPORT

Gretchen has been my colleague and friend for nearly 30 years, and I can tell you that she is a fine person, a concerned educator, and a dedicated advocate for students and parents.

She is fair and willing to listen to both sides of every story; energetic and creative, a person who always is moving forward.

I met Gretchen when we were teaching in adjacent classrooms at Stratford High School in the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston. Gretchen was teaching ESL, which means she had high school students from all over the world in her class to learn English. Sometimes they were mostly from Mexico, Central, and South America; occasionally from Russia. Sometimes they came from Asia, sometimes from Europe, and often from the Middle East.

Because Houston is an international city, much of her class’s population from year to year was determined by political situations, or oil companies transferring personnel. This gave Gretchen a variety of experiences determining the needs of others. Students relied on her almost as they would a mother. Yet, she was not a soft touch, but willing to listen and take action -- the same skills needed on a school board.

Later, Gretchen was promoted to an administrative position, where she used her abilities to plan, budget, and organize on a larger scale, and to negotiate with parents, teachers, local, state and national administrators.

Gretchen is able to listen, analyze, and plan, no matter the challenge.

Needless to say, there are many challenges of all kinds to be solved right now, ones that take dedication, creativity, experience, and a willingness to listen and to act.

Gretchen has all these qualities.

Jan deVault