Candidate for
Board Member; Redwood City School District

Maria's Biography: A Solid Record of Service and Achievement

Maria was born in the small, warm town of Moroleon, Guanajuato Mexico. Her family immigrated to Texas in the early 1960s, but sweltering Texan heat, and the fact that they had extended family members who had immigrated Redwood City in the 1940s, led the Diaz' to their "Climate Best by Government Test" hometown.

A real Redwood City lady, Maria is a graduate from Hoover and Sequoia. She then attended the College of San Mateo, receiving both an AS degree in Aeronautics and a Library Technology Certificate. Her BS degree in Business Management was also earned locally at Menlo College in Menlo Park. Maria is also a graduate of the Peter Block School of Management and the Redwood City Leadership Academy.

Maria learned the importance of family, education and community activism through the examples set by her mother, who despite having a full-time job in the health care field and six children of her own, managed to help out needy neighborhood families and make the best tamales this side of the border. While Maria hasn't been able to recreate those famous tamales, she did keep the recipe for community involvement-her greatest passion.

She has been involved with several organizations including, the Woodside Foundation, Great Schools, CARON, the Sequoia Union High School District and Frontiers in Leadership. She is also a current member of REFORMA, Bibliotecas Para La Gente and the American Library Association. Expanding the Redwood City archive of the town's large Latino population is also an ongoing project of hers.

As a teen, in 1974 Maria took a job at the Fair Oaks Library, where amazingly enough she works today designing and creating programs for the community she loves. Apart from her community efforts through the RWC Libraries, Maria has been active in the Redwood City schools for over ten years. She has served as a room parent at Roosevelt Elementary and has been a member of the PTA for several years.

For two years Maria has contributed on the Site Council for McKinley Institute of Technology and helped write the Charter for Site Based Management Shared Decision Council at Woodside High School. Maria has also contributed through her work on the Teaching and Learning Committee at Sequoia High School, the Anytime Anyplace Committee and other district-wide committees.

In August 2001 at the 2nd Annual Middlefield Cultural Festival Maria Diaz-Slocum was recognized for her community contributions by the North Fair Oaks community of Redwood City. She is married to Warren Slocum, and is the proud mother of Jonathan and Justin two Woodside High School Students.

Maria has served for the past four years as a member of the Redwood City School Board and currently serves as president. She is seeking re-election at the November 8th, 2005 election.