Meet Virginia

A Voice from
the Classroom,
for the Classroom.

Virginia is an educator, advocate, and leader. She has over 25 years of classroom and leadership experience. Since being elected to an open slot on the St. Louis Park School Board in 2022, she has strongly advocated for advancing the district’s plan for Racial Equity Transformation.

Virginia has been residing in St. Louis Park along with her husband and daughter since 2004.

Virginia with her husband (Mark) and daughter (Audrey)

Serving the St. Louis Park Community

Virginia has supported and provided oversight on the following initiatives:

Improving working conditions and workload for SLP educators and support professionals
Ensuring K-5 staff receive training in Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS), a Minnesota Department of Education-approved literacy program
Contracting with Knutson Construction, a local SLP company with a racial equity business model
Hiring of Restorative Justice Circle leaders
Moving the gender and sexuality protection policy from only covering students to covering all SLP staff
Negotiating the Technology Levy and Building Bond Referendum

As a board member, Virginia has worked diligently to view all decisions through a racial equity lens.

School Board Committees Served:

Financial Advisory Committee

District Instructional Programs Advisory Council (DIPAC)
Lenox Community Center Advisory Board
High School Liaison

Additional Experience

20+ years as an English Language Arts teacher
2021 WEM Outstanding Educator Awardee
2020 NEA Foundation Global Learning Fellow
2014 Minnesota Teacher of the Year Finalist

Educator

Leader

St. Louis Park Human Rights Commission Chair

Board of School Administrators Classroom Teacher
American Federation of Teachers Human Rights Commission

2016 Education Minnesota Human Rights Awardee

Advocate at the State Capitol for
The READ ACT, Non-exclusionary discipline policy, and increased funding for guidance counselors and mental health support staff