Marin education board member exits after 35 years
Novato resident Patricia Warren has stepped down from the Marin County Board of Education after a 35-year tenure.
“I feel it is time,” Warren said in a June 21 resignation letter to the board. “I am looking forward to the next opportunities before me.”
The resignation took effect Thursday.
Warren was appointed to the county board in September 1986 and then elected and re-elected for three decades after that.
Before joining the county board, Warren was a member of the Novato Unified School District board for nine years.
“Her contribution has been immense,” Patty Garbarino, president of the county board, said Friday. “The commitment she made to Marin children, to give them the best experience they could have, was done with grace.”
Garbarino said she has worked with Warren for more than 20 years.
“She’s quite a lady,” Garbarino said. “She’s an example for us all.”
In addition to her commitment to helping children, Warren was an an early leader in women’s rights in Marin. She was one of six women to co-found the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame in 1987.
Starting in 1986, she was staff coordinator to the Marin Women’s Commission. She developed a workshop on preventing sexual harassment for the Marin County staff and became the county employment trainer in this area.
“In her role as staff to the Women’s Commission, she helped to address discrimination issues across the county,” said Mary Jane Burke, the Marin County superintendent of schools.
Warren worked as a staff member at Planned Parenthood starting in 1969. She was on the organization’s advisory committee beginning in 1979.
In the late 1970s, she was a staff member at Marin Abused Women’s Services and was also a Rape Crisis Center board member. It was later known as Community Violence Solutions.
In 2003, the group dedicated the Patricia Warren Center of Community Violence Solutions, recognizing her work on behalf of women, children and families. The dedication highlighted how she “steadfastly stood against violence, sex discrimination and injustice.”
Warren also supported education projects to help youths with substance abuse problems, special needs or alternative education, and regional occupational programs, according to Burke.
“Through budget cuts and budget windfalls, staff layoffs and staff hiring, program take-back and program development, Pat never lost sight of trying to do what was best for students and families while also meeting the needs of local districts,” Burke said.
“She was always thoughtful and maintained a reasoned approach to deliberations,” Burke said. “She stayed strong in the challenging times.”
Warren also served on numerous nonprofit and service club boards. They included the Novato Parents Nursery School Board and the Novato Youth Soccer Association board of directors. She was also a docent and a board member of the Environmental Forum of Marin and a longstanding member of Rotary Club of Novato Sunrise.
“Pat Warren is a visionary who has been truly dedicated to educational excellence and has given untiringly to children and youth in our schools,” Burke said. “She is one of those special individuals who has simply gone about the community doing good things because she believes that is what good people do.”
In her letter to the board, Warren said she feels “so very fortunate to have been part of a team addressing the many changes and challenges in education.”