January marked School Board Appreciation Month in Colorado.

Active veteran members (and titles) on the Summit School District’s Board of Education whose terms expire in 2017 include: Margaret Carlson (president), J Kent McHose (treasurer) and Marilyn Taylor (secretary); Sue Wilcox (vice president) was re-elected to another term this past November. At the close of this month of recognition though, the Summit Daily News offers an introduction to the board’s three newest additions, each a seasoned resident of the community who was also elected in November and began her assignment that same month — Terry Craig, Lisa Webster and Cindy Bargell:

Terry Craig:

Bio: Craig moved to Summit County in 1978 and taught at the Keystone Science School for a few years. She has most recently been working at the Keystone Policy Center, an institue her late husband Bob Craig founded in 1975, for a year.

Summit Daily News: What is it about public education that’s so important to you?

Terry Craig: I just feel a strong education system means a strong, sustainable community. I feel that the school system is just a really important part of the community.

SDN: What’s something specific about the district with which you’re happy?

TC: Through the two previous superintendents, I’m very impressed with the outreach of the schools and the many ways that parents and community members can be involved in the schools. They get to be supportive but also interactive with their children and the classes, and also in supporting the future of education in Summit County, too.

SDN: Do you have any particular goals in your new role?

TC: Just to be a good board member: to learn and listen and contribute. But I don’t have anything specific thing that I think needs to be changed or moved ahead. I think the school district is in remarkably good shape now, and I feel honored to be a part of the school board. I know we have challenges; I’m not naïve about that. I feel strongly that having a community member — I don’t have children in the school system — to have the community involved with the education system is important.

Cindy Bargell:

Bio: Bargell grew up in Boulder and eventually attended law school at the University of Denver. She has been a Summit County resident since 1998, has two daughters in high school and is a practicing attorney specializing in real estate and natural resource law.

SDN: What is it about public education that’s so important to you?

Cindy Bargell: I come from a family of teachers, my dad, my mom, my sister, my brother — pretty much everybody but me. So public education was a big piece of my growing up, but education generally was something instilled in our family. My dad made it clear that we would all be taking our education pretty seriously.

SDN: What’s something specific about the district with which you’re happy?

CB: This community is an amazing place. People are involved. It seems like in a small community there’s an opportunity for everybody to make a difference if they choose. And I guess that’s why I’m here.

SDN: Do you have any particular goals in your new role?

CB: It’s just looking out for the district and really building on each others’ strengths and determining how we can best implement our new five-year strategic plan, called Vision 2020, and also being fiduciaries to the district and the kids. I think Summit has a unique board where individuals’ specific agendas are secondary and really nonexistent to the overall good.

Lisa Webster:

Bio: Webster first visited Summit County in 1988 while attending the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. She and her husband bought a condo in the area in 2000 as an investment and moved up to Summity County full time in 2010 after she completed a 20-year career in the Air Force as a C-130 transport aircraft pilot. Webster also has a son in middle school.

SDN: What is it about public education that’s so important to you?

Lisa Webster: Summit County, we’re a pretty good community to help groom our kids. Essentially we’re grooming them for post-secondary life and it takes a village. Our kids get a lot of personalized education and the teachers are able to determine their strengths. With my kiddo, for example, he does pretty well in math, he’d get ahead of the group, so the teacher would have find some ways to enrich him further after he’s mastered what everyone else has to kind of get it deeper and more broad, which I appreciate.

SDN: What’s something specific about the district with which you’re happy?

LW: I’ve been impressed by the school district since I’ve been up here. I think the openness and receptiveness of the leaders and teachers is wonderful. If my son had issues, there wasn’t an issue with setting up an appointment or them actually approaching me about some things, either good kudos or some challenges. I appreciate that because they have my child for eight hours a day, and sometimes some of those actions aren’t seen at home. It’s good to be able to have that open conversation.

SDN: Do you have any particular goals in your new role?

LW: The school district is on an upward trajectory, and I just want to help keep that going, continuing to improve and make our kids, so that they grow to be successful, happy adults.

Editor’s Note: These interviews have been edited for length and condensed for clarity.