Full Biography for Debra Sleigh

Candidate for
Board Member; Gold Trail Union School District

For those of you who don't know me, let me introduce myself. I am the parent of a recent Gold Trail graduate and a Gold Trail Sixth grader. My family and I have lived in the district for ten years and intend to stay for many, many more. For the last seven years, and through both of our girls, we have experienced and participated in every grade level in the district. I have spent many hours planning for and participating in classroom parties, activities, and field trips. I am proud to note that I have spent over a hundred hours preparing and serving burritos and enchiladas to our hardworking living history students and parents the the Petaluma Adobe. I have the honor of being able to say that I survived Heart Attack Hill twice at the Regional Learning Center in Sonora. I have seen our students develop a new level of confidence in both themselves, their peers and their teachers as they went on trust walks, teamed up in ropes courses and worked as a group to cross arms and catch a teammate or teacher falling backwards off a stage. I have camped overnight on the Gold Trail field for a spectacular star watch, hiked through the snow at Donner Summit and slept on a gymnasium floor in San Francisco with 80 eighth graders!! In this Sesquicentennial year, the Sleigh girls have spent several weekends in Coloma and Sutter's Fort under the careful guide of Mrs. Morgan and Plank participating as historical docents teaching children from all over the state and more recently from around the world how to dance and play games of the Gold Rush era.

Outside of the classroom and in an effort to better understand the operations of our district and the job of Trustee, I have participated in District Budget Advisory Committee meetings, attended Prospective Board Member training provided by the County Office of Education and have been in attendance at several Board meetings since last Spring.

I am also proud to say that both my husband and I were among a key group of Gold Trail parents and Board members who recently got and stayed involved when the El Dorado Union High School District had proposed changing our high school boundary lines. The High School Board was notably impressed by the tremendous turnout of Gold Trail parents meeting after meeting. The results were positive and our boundaries have remained the same.

Finally, I would like to share some of my personal qualifications with you. I have both my Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in Business Administration from CSUS. My undergraduate work has a specialization in Production, Operations, and Systems Management with a minor in Communication Studies. My graduate emphasis is Management Information Systems, better known as business computing or Information Technology.

For the last ten years, I have been employed by Vision Service Plan in Rancho Cordova. My current title is Technical Project Manager. In this role, I work daily in a team environment, listening to customer requirements, developing strategies and computer systems that support their visions. I manage a staff of business analysts, system analysts as well as software developers and am well-versed in matters of human resource handling. As far as fiscal responsibility goes, I have and do manage operational and project budgets that range from 3/4 million dollars to 3 million dollars.

I am a Past President of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Data Processing Managers Association and a graduate of Disney University's seminar: Foundations in Leadership.

Lastly and most enjoyably, I am an assistant martial arts instructor at Garrett's Karate Center in Cameron Park working with students ranging in age from 7 to 10, teaching principles of motion, self-defense and most of all respect and self-discipline.