Meet Cheryl
For over 30 years, Cheryl has been passionately advocating that ALL students deserve a great education! With her breadth and depth of experience, she offers a fresh perspective for the Fort Bend ISD Board of Trustees.
Cheryl began her career as a teacher and spent ten years in the classroom. After earning her two Masters degrees, she went on to work in community development and on education policy at the federal, state, and local levels. She has experience addressing many of today’s most pressing issues – closing the minority achievement gap, advanced academics, workforce development, and student well-being.
Cheryl completed her MPA degree at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in 1988. She also met her husband, Kevin, while he was in law school at UT. Together, they spent their first years of married life in Houston, where Cheryl worked at the Rice Center and with Houston area nonprofit organizations. Kevin’s career went on to take them around the country, ending up in Virginia until Kevin’s retirement from NASA.
At the U.S. Department of Education, Cheryl evaluated supplemental programs seeking to close the achievement gap for at-risk students. Despite the many depressing statistics, she also learned of exciting efforts that have achieved extraordinary results. Seeing what’s possible, increased her fervor to unleash our teachers’ creativity, expand community partnerships and draw on successful models across the country.
As her children grew, Cheryl spent countless hours over the course of 15 years volunteering in their public schools. Her children were blessed to qualify for gifted and talented programs, and she learned to be a strong advocate for rigorous yet appropriately tailored academic standards and programs, challenging each student to achieve their best. Cheryl successfully led an advocacy effort, increasing state support for the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She also served on the education policy advisory committee for Governor Glenn Youngkin’s campaign.
In 2021, Cheryl and Kevin moved back to Texas and settled in Sugar Land. Cheryl immediately began looking for places to serve. Last fall, she helped develop a tutoring program for K-3rd graders, organized by David Hamilton, supported by the Gulf Coast Community Action Agency, and hosted at the Christian Bible Church in Missouri City. She served as the program coordinator, assisted in creating the volunteer schedule and parental logs as well as working directly tutoring students.
Cheryl and Kevin have two adult children; their son serves as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and their daughter works in marketing. Cheryl is actively involved in Crossbridge Church, and enjoys frequenting the Sugar Land Farmers Market, eating chocolate and cooking with exotic spices.
