RHONDA BROWN

Rhonda Brown moved to Israel with her husband Stephen O’Dowd, who works at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and at the Consulate in Jerusalem. They have three children at the school in grades 12, 8, and 2. Israel is their fifth overseas assignment.

Rhonda has 10 years of teaching and school administration experience. She has taught English as a foreign language as well as IB Spanish. She has been a long term substitute, the Parent Liaison for Rose Hill Elementary School in Northern Virginia, and an interpreter for Fairfax County Schools. She has a Masters Degree in Public Health from John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, where she specialized in Maternal and Child Health. She has worked for non-profits in the U.S. and has acted as a consultant overseas for UNICEF, The Aga Khan Foundation, and the UNDP (United Nations Development Program).

School Board Participation

With children in each of the three schools, Rhonda sees the importance of inter-school cooperation, as well as strong overall academic programs that feed into each other. Not only is it important to prepare children for the difficulties that they will face in college, but it is equally important to give children a good foundation at each level, and a clear focus so that they can move on to other schools well prepared. She sees this as a priority since a significant percentage of the school population is transient and will move to other schools before graduating. She is interested in helping to maintain and enhance the high academic standards at AIS through curriculum review and faculty support.

She has been actively involved with the PTA since her arrival in August 2005. In her previous postings she was active in the PTA or the PTO, and served at their last post on the executive PTA board. She has also been involved as a room mother, classroom assistant, baseball coach, volleyball coach, international folkdance instructor and book review committee member.

Rhonda is currently serving on the Curriculum, Development & Negotiating Board Sub-Committees.

E-mail: rbrown@wbais.org