An active community leader and ever-present volunteer, Weirick works in the classroom and as a PTA committee member at La Cañada Elementary School where her children, Jack and Emily, are currently enrolled. She has also been heavily involved with the LCF Educational Foundation, having served as president during the 2008-09 school year. She is currently chairing its Endowment Committee and co-chairing its Grants Committee. She was also member of the parcel tax committe during the district’s successful parcel tax campaign last spring.
Weirick said she was “honored and flattered” to be singled out.
“I hope I can continue doing work on behalf of the school district and kids for a long time to come,” Weirick said. “While we do have a lot of volunteers, I always encourage more people to get involved.”
She compared the formula for successful public education to a three-leg stool. A district needs good instructors, smart administrators and invested parents to create balance. If one of the three is missing, the stool will fall over.
“You won’t see successful public schools without involved parents,” Weirick said. “I think you can have great teachers and great administrators, and that is important. But unless parents are getting involved at schools and are taking their kids’ education seriously and are a part of it at home you are in trouble.”
Current LCFEF president Jack Schaedel said Weirick has “worked her heart out” for the local public schools.
“As president, Deborah brought to the foundation not only her prodigious skills in non-profit administration, but a relentless energy to do everything she could think of to make the foundation better and serve our schools and kids better,” Schaedel said.
The Golden Apple award will be officially presented to Weirick at a breakfast ceremony for the Region XV of the Association of California School Administrators in February.
