Maren Norton, Sue Walker receive WASA regional leadership awards

Maren Norton, left, and Superintendent Sue Walker.

Shoreline Schools was honored Friday, May 23 with two prestigious awards from the King County region of the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA). 

Retiring Superintendent Sue Walker received the WASA Award of Merit in recognition of her 40 years "of effective leadership in public education and for significant contributions to educational administration."

Maren Norton, center, with her parents Geneva and Brion Norton.

Maren Norton received the 2014 WASA regional Community Leadership Award "in recognition of outstanding community leadership and contributions to public education."

Maren is a Shoreline native and a graduate of Shorewood High School, where she was senior class president. She went on Stanford University, where she served as student body president, and the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as president of the Law School Student Senate.

Maren returned to Shoreline after law school and has become a true leader in our community. She was elected to the Shoreline School Board in 2007, serving during a critical time in the District’s history as it recovered from a financial setback and sought to regain public confidence. By the time Maren left the Board in 2011, the District was back on its feet and voters had approved the replacement of both Shorecrest and Shorewood High Schools.

Maren again stepped forward this year to chair Citizens for Shoreline Schools, the committee campaigning for the District’s two levy propositions in February. Both the maintenance and operations and the technology levy were approved by more than 72 percent of Shoreline voters.

And in March, it was Maren again, this time in her role as a trustee of the Shoreline Public Schools Foundation, at the microphone at the Foundation’s Spring Event, asking for the community’s support of our schools. And respond they did, raising more than 30 percent more than the previous year.