Ron Baker has two children in Palo Alto schools and has served the last two years as an officer in the PTA at Terman Middle School.  He studied Spanish beginning in second grade, spoke some Dutch at home, studied French and German in college, and spent four years in Indonesia as a foreign legal advisor, where he was able to speak well enough to get around in a country where English is not spoken outside the biggest cities.  Professionally, Ron is an investment advisor and attorney in Palo Alto and through his life experiences has thought much about language learning.  He says, “I bring with me certain preconceptions about the type of programs that might be most useful to PAUSD students.  That said, I am completely open to new learning, expect to listen and ask hard questions, and cannot tell you now what type of FLES program I would advocate at the end of this process.”

Terry Godfrey has lived in Palo Alto since 1999 and has two children in the regular program at Escondido Elementary School in grades 3 and 5.  She has been active in the school, serving as PTA president in addition to other leadership positions. She participated in the last PAUSD strategic planning process in 2004.  Professionally, Terry has many years experience in the high tech industry (1988-2004) and with the Stanford Business School (2004-2007) where her roles involved planning, analysis, benchmarking, goal-setting, and measurement.  Terry says, “I am interested in serving [on the FLES Committee] as I believe as a community we need to understand if FLES is right for us and then decide the way forward.”

Jennifer Landesmann has a 5th grade student at Addison Elementary where she is active as a parent volunteer.  Jennifer spent 14 years in executive positions at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers in New York City, specializing in Emerging Markets, and developing new products for international clients.  Her family is multi-lingual - her husband is from Austria, she is from Bolivia - and between them, they speak five languages.  As a family, they have a personal history of acquiring languages at a young age, and varied experiences in trying to provide such opportunities for their daughter.  Jennifer says, "I have no special agenda, though I think about this subject very much, have continuously analyzed different viewpoints on it, and it is important and interesting to me.”

Elizabeth Most has two children at Nixon Elementary School in grades 2 and 4.  She has been active in the school both as a parent volunteer and as a member of the school site council. Elizabeth brings to the committee a solid knowledge base in FLES.  She holds a Ph.D. in education from Stanford University with a focus on language issues in education.  She has written a number of research papers on FLES as well as participated in a large FLES research project.  She says, "FLES has always been a relevant issue for me, but now even more so as the parent of elementary school students … I would welcome the opportunity to participate in a discussion of FLES in Palo Alto."

Should you have questions or concerns contact Becki Cohn-Vargas

Revised October 2007