[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 162 (Thursday, November 14, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1664]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING CINDY MARKS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JEFF DENHAM

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2013

  Mr. DENHAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge and honor Cindy 
Marks, the 2013 President of the California School Boards Association. 
I want to recognize Cindy for her dedication to education over the past 
fifteen years. In addition to being a junior high and high school 
Health Education speaker, she spent the past thirteen years as a host 
family for unwed pregnant teens, and the past eleven years as a mentor 
at an inner city Apartment Complex in Modesto working with at-risk 
youth and youth gang members. These are only a few among her many 
achievements that deserve to be recognized.
  As President of CSBA, Cindy chairs a number of CSBA Task Forces and 
Councils. These include the Educational Legal Alliance Steering 
Committee, the Linked Learning Task Force, and CSBA's Superintendents 
Advisory Council. She is a member of the Cities, Counties and Schools 
Partnership Board of Directors and she represents CSBA on the Education 
Coalition, a consortium of education stake holder groups.
  In addition to serving in these leadership positions at a regional 
and state-wide level, Cindy has served on numerous county-wide 
committees pertaining to at-risk youth and student achievement. She was 
appointed by the legislature to the ``Joint Committee to develop a 
master plan for education--Kindergarten through University.'' She is 
currently a member of the task force on k-12 Civic Learning, a joint 
task force established by Chief Justice Tani Canti-Sakauye and State 
Superintendent of public instruction Tom Torlakson. The task force will 
bring definition to the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that 
students and community members need to be informed of. Cindy leads the 
sub-group on Business and Community Partners.
  In 2013, President Cindy Marks was named, ``Elected Woman of the 
Year'' by California Women Lead, a nonprofit, nonpartisan association 
of women holding--or aspiring to hold--elected or appointed office. She 
was among five women honored by the organization this year.
  Moreover, Cindy has served on a variety of prestigious national 
governance-related committees including the ``100 District Leader 
Network for Citizenship and Service Learning,'', a collaboration among 
national education associations such as the National School Boards 
Association and the American Association of School Administrators. She 
also serves on the National School Boards Association Pacific Region 
Board.
  Cindy is also a board member for the Latino Emergency Council, the 
city Ministry Network, and a founding member of the Dr. Parker Steering 
Committee to address the achievement gap and how it relates to African 
American students.
  Cindy's passion for education, her expertise across a wide-range of 
policy areas from school finance and fiscal reform to dropout 
prevention and school discipline, safe schools, and state and federal 
legislative issues make her one of California's outstanding education 
leaders.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in commending Cindy Marks for her hard 
work, dedication to education, and for serving as an inspiration to 
others around her. I wish her great success in her future endeavors.

                          ____________________