Hello! I'm Melissa Baten Caswell, former high-technology executive and current full-time school volunteer and parent in Palo Alto. I was born in White Plains, New York, and moved to Palo Alto in 1990. I am married to Lee Caswell, a high tech executive, and have two children, Lainie, aged 12 and Cas, aged 8. I love Palo Alto and am excited to have the chance to serve in our community.
 Over the last twenty years, both my professional and volunteer work have led me to this campaign for School Board. Here is a summary of the skills I have gained in my varied positions, and how I believe they can help on the Board:
Business Experience
I hold AB and MBA degrees from Dartmouth and spent fourteen years in the business world. For three years, I served as a corporate finance manager on Wall Street. After moving to the Bay Area and settling down with my husband, Lee, I served as a manager in educational marketing at Apple and Sun. In subsequent positions at other companies, I continued to gain more responsibilities and seniority. Over these years, I honed my skills in finance, marketing, and strategy on matters such as distance learning, chip design, artificial intelligence, internet commerce, and mergers and acquisitions. When I stepped out of the business world to focus on family and community leadership in 2001, I had been serving as a corporate officer and Vice President of Marketing at Calico Commerce, a publicly-traded software company.
While there are differences between business and education, I can clearly see ways that my business skills will contribute to our School Board. First, any Board must maintain the highest standards of fiscal stewardship. This task is especially critical when, as in Palo Alto, we are increasingly maintaining such a rich public-private partnership. In my years of corporate management, I learned firsthand that spending money is easy, compared with allocating it well. The latter requires skill, judgment, and, above all, a consistent vision and strategic plan. I have helped create such tools for virtually every organization I’ve worked in. I know how to set up plans which are clear, focused, and measurable, and my work has been tested in highly pressured corporate situations. I look forward to bringing these skills to the challenge of school board finance and leadership.
In addition, my years of business experience taught me the critical importance of teamwork. Each of my positions required me to consider a broad range of concerns. I found that this was true whether I worked on Wall Street, or as high tech executive managing large organizations, identifying and selecting markets, or overseeing the selection, acquisition, and merger of a new company. In order to move business forward, I had to be able to listen to stakeholders, focus priorities, and work together to accomplish what needed to be done. I think these experiences have been the best possible preparation for serving on the PAUSD School Board.
PTA Leadership
Since 2001, I have chosen to devote myself to full time volunteer service, with a focus on our schools. Most recently, as two-year president of the Palo Alto PTA Council, I oversaw the work of PTA leaders at all 17 schools in this district. Their combined efforts involved thousands of volunteers and included raising $1.9 million for our schools—money which helped, among other uses, to purchase classroom supplies and technology at our school sites. In addition, in 2006-7 alone, PTA volunteers logged approximately 200,000 volunteer service hours for our district—conservatively valued at $10 an hour, this is an in-kind donation of another $2 million.
As leader of this complex organization, I used my business skills to create a strategic plan and budget, and to monitor them regularly. During my term in office, I met regularly with the superintendent to discuss key district issues including academic standards, differentiation, diversity, facility management, special education, and disaster preparedness. I helped gather community input on the selection of our new superintendent, and I was one of only two parent leaders invited to join our Board visit to Poway to interview his peers, direct reports, and his manager to validate his appointment.
In the fall of 2005, I also spearheaded our award-winning Katrina Relief program. Again applying the teamwork and leadership skills I had honed in business and civic work, I gathered input from our diverse stakeholders and helped develop a clear, focused action plan. Bridge of Caring pulled together volunteers from our local PTA as well as diverse organizations such as our 6th District PTA, the Parents’ Club of Palo Alto and Menlo Park, Working Wonders, Youth Community Service, and PAUSD itself. In less than two months, we raised over $300,000 and began a yearlong partnership with a very needy school district in Louisiana that had been devastated by flooding. Palo Alto PTA received a state PTA award and a commendation from Mayor Judy Kleinberg. I was left with the conviction that if we can gather together so effectively on behalf of folks half a continent away, we Palo Altans can gather again on behalf of our own schools. We just need to focus, plan, and cooperate effectively. As a Board member, I’m committed to making that happen.
Other Civic Service and Leadership
In addition to my work on PTA, I have been honored to serve our community’s children and families in a wide variety of ways. I am a founding Board Member of Youth Community Service, a Campaign Cabinet Member of the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation. From 2001-2004 I was a Parent Advisory Board Member of the Downtown Children’s Center Preschool. I have also served on two mayoral teams—the Green and Red Ribbon task forces, and I am a trained Ambassador for Family Resources. All of these civic leadership jobs have called on my teamwork, strategy, and planning and financial skills.
While I have appreciated these policy-level challenges, I have also been grateful for the opportunity to serve our kids directly in many settings. As leader of my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop, I balanced my board level work with pinning badges, planting seedlings, and even, on one occasion, teaching table etiquette. In addition to being a PTA President, Secretary, Room Parent and Lice Checker at Duveneck School, I taught Junior Great Books, hands-on art, and Biz World, a 4–day business simulation program in which fourth and fifth graders and launched a mock friendship bracelet business. Just to stay on top of things at Duveneck, I have also been in charge of its e-news for the last three years. Finally, I have also lent a hand as needed as a volunteer helper on my children’s AYSO, CYSA, YMCA, and Little League teams. I’ve done everything from handing out orange slices to toting nets and making banners. I have appreciated every one of these chances to get to know our kids, families, and schools more deeply.
Personal Interests
In addition to serving as a volunteer and as a consultant for local companies, I am also an artist. I work in watercolor, oil paint, and pencil and I make jewelry. Besides education and my family, my other passions include reading, skiing, tennis, hiking and swimming. I am also a graduate of the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School.
Please Vote for me on November 6th!
All children enrolled in PAUSD deserve a top-quality education which will promote their full academic and social development so that they are fully ready for the years ahead. Working together, we can make this happen. Here's the link to my official ballot statement.
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