The most important influence in school board candidate Linda Robinson's life is her parents.
"It sounds hokey, but I've never met two people more honest, with more integrity, who live their lives right, rather than just talk about it," she said.
Linda Robinson, director of a faculty development program at Kansas University, says that if elected to the school board she would work to maintain the high status of Lawrence public schools.
Robinson's dad worked for the U.S. Postal Service and is renowned around Winfield for his ability to fix anything mechanical. Her mom operated a day-care facility.
"They grew up in the Depression," Robinson said. "Some people know the cost of things, but the value of nothing. They know both.
"I like to think I learned a lot from my parents, things that would serve me well on the school board."
Robinson's parents didn't go to college, but all four of their children did. Linda became a teacher, while one brother is an accountant and another brother a physician.
Her sister was killed in an auto accident her car was swept away in a flash flood while she was driving to a class at Wichita State University.
An optimistic view
Robinson, 50, said she didn't run for the school board because she thought the district was in shambles.
"I think the Lawrence public schools have enjoyed a high status throughout the years. I'd hope to work to maintain that," she said.
Here are her top priorities:
Students Needs of children come first, which requires the board to focus on curriculum and instruction.
Salaries Competitive compensation for teachers and all other school employees is necessary.
Involvement The board needs to urge parents and community groups to be more involved in making schools successful.
Wearing many hats
Robinson left Winfield to enroll at Kansas State University, but transferred to Kansas University after two years in Manhattan. In 1971, she married Randy Thompson, a union that lasted 10 years. She earned a KU education degree in 1972 and taught English for a year at Baldwin Junior High School.
Robinson worked two years as a writer of teacher training modules in the KU education school.
In 1976, she completed a master's degree in counseling at KU and started working in KU's admissions office. She served one year as KU's coordinator of new student orientation programs before appointment in 1980 as KU's director of admissions, staying in that role four years.
During this period, she married Scott Robinson, who is medical director of Lawrence Memorial Hospital's emergency room. A son, Bret, is at Southwest Junior High School, and a daughter, Erin, attends Quail Run School.
After moving to California in 1984, Robinson was director of outreach services for four years at California State University in Bakersfield. She then worked as a counselor and instructor for four years at Modesto Junior College in California. The Robinsons also had two children.
"We decided that we wanted to raise our children in the Midwest," Robinson said.
Then-Lawrence Supt. Al Azinger hired Robinson in 1992 to become director of a new Lawrence School-Business Partnership.
She was paid a salary by the school district and worked out of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce office. Her objective was to show companies, organizations and civic groups how each could best help Lawrence schools. Robinson signed up 100 partners in her six years in that job.
"I was able to bring that dream to a reality," she said.
Last year, she returned to KU as director of a faculty development program. The Wheat State Whirlwind Tour takes new faculty on a one-week bus trip of the state. Faculty learn about Kansas and serve as ambassadors of the university.
"It's fun and educational what a combination," she said.
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