Rae Gallagher’s nomination was approved Tues. by the County Council.
Frederick, Md (KM). The newest member of the Frederick County Board of Education is expected to be sworn into office soon. Rae Gallagher’s nomination to the School Board was approved Tuesday night by the County Council.
“I’m just feel incredibly honored and excited to be joining the current Board of Education members,” says Gallagher. She will be serving out the term of Joy Schaefer, who resigned to become the Director of Government Affairs in the County Executive’s office. Schaefer’s term expires in December, 2020.
Gallagher says she has worked for youth-focused non-profit groups, and has been praised for her experiences working with young people who are struggling in school, or come from impoverished backgrounds. “There’s always room for different perspectives on any board and I think that some of my experience working directly with the young people who face a number of challenges, just to lift up what some of those challenges, and think about what the possible strategies are so that our schools meet all students where they are so that all of our students can be successful,” she says.
Currently, Gallagher works as a Program Director for the Center for Supportive Schools, which works with schools and school systems to improve how learning happens.
However, she says she does not have any experience teaching in the classroom. “But I do provide support and coaching for classroom educators, and do a lot of training facilitation and professional development for teachers,” says Gallagher.
She says she hopes to be sworn in as a Board of Ed member before Wednesday, January 22nd, when the School Board will hold a meeting.
As she takes on this new job as a member of the Board of Education, Gallagher will be working with her colleagues on drafting a fiscal year 2021 budget. “I have some experience with non-profit budget development, budget management, certainly not to the level that exists within the Board of Education,” she says. “But I do expect to get up to speed pretty quickly, as quickly as possible on the current budget priorities . I think that will be priority number one.”
Gallagher says she plans to run in the Board of Education election this year.
By Kevin McManus