Patagonia Elementary School District
Nancy McCoy
Nancy McCoy has been a member of the Patagonia Elementary School Board since January 2018 and is currently PES board president. She spent 20 years as an elementary classroom and gifted education teacher in Illinois before moving to Patagonia in 2002. McCoy then owned a local bed and breakfast in town and served on the board of the Patagonia Area Business Association as president and treasurer. She also serves on the steering committee of the Patagonia Regional Community Fund. McCoy believes even though PES is a small district it has much to offer students with an outstanding teaching and administrative staff in a community of talented and caring people. Working together she hopes the school can make a difference in the lives of students and help them fulfill their dreams.
Kathy Pasierb
Kathleen Pasierb, a resident of Patagonia for 30 years, is returning to the Patagonia Elementary School District Governing Board. She has been involved in public school education for 35 years. She was known as the “field trip” science teacher, introducing two generations of students to the natural history of the greater Colorado watershed’s natural history. Currently she holds a Santa Cruz County Board of Directors’ position with Arizona School Board Association (ASBA). She advocates for equity for all students in academics, visual and performing arts. She supports highly qualified, certified, creative teachers as well as community members willing to share their interests and skills.
Audrey Doles
Audrey Doles was born and raised Patagonia. Doles and her husband own Gathering Grounds, a well-known and successful establishment in the community where she wears many hats. Doles has three young children, one who attends Patagonia Elementary School. Now returning to school once again, this time as a parent, she looks forward to the seeing the amazing opportunities Patagonia schools provide to its students and is grateful to be a part of it, both as a parent and as a board member.
Marilyn Miller
Marilyn Miller’s training includes a BA in English with elementary teaching certificate, MA in teaching English to speakers of other languages, and a PhD in educational policy studies and evaluation. She taught English to speakers of multiple languages, including refugees, children, college students and businessmen. Then, she moved to faculty development, working with international and American teaching assistants and university faculty on their language and teaching skills. In her final career at USDA, she taught leadership courses, coached supervisors and managers on their leadership skills, and developed and ran a leadership program. She has been a resident of Patagonia since 2013.
Patagonia Union High School District
Harold Ronald Pitt
Ron Pitt, President of the PUHS Board, was raised on a ranch in central Montana and. Following high school, Ron earned a Bachelor’s degree in accounting, in 1966, from the University of Montana. From 1966 to 1969 he served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Chile, South America and then the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971. He attended graduate school at Oklahoma State University earning a M.S. in Accounting and a Ph.D. in Business Administration. He taught at Arizona State University from 1975 to 1981 and was a professor and administrator at Northern Arizona University from 1981 until his retirement in 2010. He currently lives in Elgin, Arizona.
Cynthia Matus Morriss
Cynthia Matus Morriss was born in Nogales, Arizona and is a life-long resident of Santa Cruz County. Cindy has served on the Patagonia Elementary Governing Board for 32 years and is currently serving on the Patagonia Union High School Governing Board. She has had the opportunity to serve at the county, State and national arenas of school board governance as well. Thanks to family and community support Cindy has been able to serve and govern in public education.
Paula Schaper
Paula Schaper is an entrepreneur and branding consultant who helps communities use their character for communication, decision-making and action. She is CEO/President of West-WordVision, a marketing and media company and Vice President of Mat Bevel Company, an arts and education nonprofit. After receiving a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance from University of Michigan, she booked and promoted concerts with jazz musicians at Eclipse Jazz. She also built fan communities for Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Aerosmith, Paula Abdul, and she and her business partner built the largest paid fanclub in history for New Kids on the Block.
Bo Simpson
Bo Simpson grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico where he also graduated from New Mexico State University with a bachelors degree in civil engineering. Bo has lived in Patagonia for the last six years, and works as a ranch manager at the T4 Ranch. Bo enjoys hanging out with friends and family, playing golf, going to the lake and exploring the beautiful places that Patagonia has to offer.
Sonoita School District
Nancy Webster
Nancy Webster is running for the Sonoita Elementary School Board because she believes that public schools are one of the essential cornerstones of our democracy. Serving as a volunteer on the School Board has allowed her to bring her professional expertise and life experience to one of her greatest passions: education.
After receiving a Masters in Curriculum Development with an emphasis on Early Childhood Education from George Washington University, Webster went on to 18 years of teaching in both the public and private sector. She specialized in preschool through third grade, becoming the inclusion teacher for at risk children. In addition, she served on numerous curriculum committees and was the President of the InterSchool Council in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania.
Webster has been a resident of Sonoita for 14 years and four of her grandchildren have progressed through Elgin School. “Although I’ve volunteered in many capacities in our community, from the Elgin Club to the Fairgrounds, my passion is truly for children and education,” she said. “It is with great pleasure that I serve our school and community.”