School Board Selects Tony Moore for Position 5 Board Seat

On Wednesday evening, April 30, the Federal Way Public Schools Board of Directors selected Tony Moore to fill the director, position five, opening created by the resignation of Dave Larson. 

The board interviewed two candidates, Ron Walker and Tony Moore, in a public meeting Wednesday evening, asking questions pertaining to their knowledge and experiences.

“We were very impressed with both candidates,” President Ed Barney said.  “They were well-matched and both very well-qualified.  In the end, the board members felt that Tony’s ideas and experience fit best with the goals that the board is currently focused on. Not only are we looking locally, but we’re thinking globally. We’re asking ‘how do we prepare our students for this new global economy they’ll be part of in the 21st century?’”

Mr. Moore’s response to a written question about the role of the school board touched on that very subject: “In my opinion, the board’s job is to assist in the pursuit of educational excellence on a worldwide stage … to assist in directing the vision with the compassion not to leave anyone behind.”

Regarding the district’s greatest challenge, Mr. Moore says that it is “finding and implementing an effective plan to close the achievement gap. I believe we should look inside and outside of the district for proven ideas.”

Mr. Moore observes that the district’s strengths include a “world class staff led by a fantastic superintendent. Our job, as I see it, is to give them world class tools.”  He adds that he believes that we all should have a stake in the education of our children, but that his primary interest is in “recruiting disenfranchised parents, encouraging them to get involved.”

Tony Moore is married to Federal Way Public Schools Family Partnership Advocate Trise Moore and has two children attending high school in Federal Way.  He is a businessman and 17-year resident of Federal Way. He has served on the Citizens for Federal Way Schools Committee, helped start a community church and served on the city’s planning commission.  He has also served with the district’s Heritage Leadership Camp mentoring program.

He will be sworn in on May 13 at the start of the next regular board meeting.

May 2, 2008