Candidate: Janie Ruddy

Janie Ruddy: Dedicated Educator and Advocate for Flagler County Schools

Janie Ruddy, a dedicated educator with 13 years of teaching experience and 8 years in educational technology, is running for Flagler County School Board, District 3.

A resident of Flagler County for over 20 years, Janie is deeply rooted in the community. She is married to Tim Ruddy, an Assistant Principal, and together they are raising three daughters. Janie and Tim's two eldest daughters are graduates of FPC and now attend the University of Florida. Their youngest is looking forward to starting her first year at FPC this fall.

Janie is the Director of Professional Learning for n2y, where she leads a department responsible for delivering professional development to schools across the United States. Janie's blend of classroom and business experience will make her an effective school board member on day one.

Career

Janie was a middle grades teacher at Indian Trails Middle School and later at Rymfire Elementary. During her tenure at Rymfire, Janie achieved National Board Certification and was named Rymfire Teacher of the Year in 2014. She served as an academic coach, created lesson resources published in the Florida State repository known as CPALMS, and played a pivotal role in expanding the Future Problem Solvers programs for which scores of students have won state and national awards as recently as June 2024.

Janie transitioned into the educational technology field in 2016, first as a software trainer for Instructure, the makers of Canvas, the world's leading Learning Management System. She traveled the country helping educators from kindergarten to college construct curricula and engage students using data-based practices, instructional design principles, and technology. Janie then became Manager and later Senior Manager of Learning Services at Instructure, where she led teams to expand services and develop new operational efficiencies as Instructure expanded solutions.

In her current role as Director at n2y, Janie leads a department developing professional learning experiences specific to the unique needs of special education classrooms. Janie employs extensive business practices including vision and goal setting, project management, capacity planning, and financial forecasting.

Community Involvement

Janie has always been deeply involved in her community in various ways. In 2020, she served as an election volunteer. She proudly served as a Girl Scout Troop Leader for three years and a Flagler County Youth Soccer Coach for two. Janie currently enjoys volunteering as a performing member of the St. Augustine Orchestra.

Vision

Janie believes Flagler County Schools has many positive attributes making strides to increase communication and transparency between teachers and parents, upgrading the safety of our schools, and the Superintendent as a strong vision. However, she acknowledges that there is progress to be made. Three critical issues:

1. Career & College Readiness:

Our students should be recruited for direct-to-career opportunities or scholarships if they wish to pursue trades, technical, or college studies. It is the job of our district leaders to help shine that spotlight. Even when Flagler was an 'A' school, our students were largely supported with in-county scholarships and opportunities. More can be done to open those doors for our students after high school and motivate students today.

2. Strategic Collaboration

Increase collaboration at every level, starting with district academic leaders providing needs analysis and listening tours to deliver resources and guidance on what works to close the learning losses left by COVID. Provide opportunities for school leaders to share initiatives, results, and lessons learned. Test strategies and share results beyond the walls of each school helping us return to an 'A' rated district.

3. Positive Culture & Teacher Retention:

Culture eats strategy for breakfast. A culture founded on mutual respect, trust, and assumption of positive intent is required for progress to be made. A great culture will establish Flagler County Schools as an organization where experienced educational talent does not want to leave, resulting in a waitlist of applicants who are top in their field for every opening.

Conclusion

This election is critical as we face challenges posed by a rapidly growing community, recurring anxieties that staff and students face due to threats of violence, negative impacts on our culture from social media comments that are not productive, and COVID learning losses. Janie emphasizes that community is about "we" rather than "me". She believes we can meet these challenges when everyone focuses on our mutual goals: helping each child reach their full potential and creating memorable, positive experiences for our children that they will look back on fondly.

Janie Ruddy's extensive career and dedication to students make her a strong candidate for School Board seat.

Learn more at ruddy4schoolboard.com.