5-term member of Utah State School Board voted chair-elect of national association

Janet Cannon, a long-time member of the Utah State Board of Education, has been voted chair-elect of the National Association of State Boards of Education. | Utah State Board of Education

SALT LAKE CITY — Janet Cannon, a five-term member of the Utah State Board of Education, was elected chair-elect of the National Association of State Boards of Education at the close of its recent virtual convention.

Cannon begins her term on the association’s board of directors immediately. Her term as chairwoman of association’s board of directors begins at the close of its 2021 annual conference.

Cannon was first elected to the Utah State Board of Education in 1994, serving four terms through 2012 and vice chairwoman for seven years. After a four-year hiatus, Cannon was elected to the board again in 2016 and is now serving her fifth term.

Earlier this year, she filed to run for a sixth four-year term representing District 8. The district encompasses part of Salt Lake County, including Holladay, Murray and Millcreek.

This was the first election State School Board candidates could file for office as partisan candidates. Cannon, who filed as a Republican candidate, was unopposed.

Cannon served seven years as vice chairwoman of the state board and also four years on the Utah State Board of Regents. Cannon is a certified speech pathologist.

As a mother of five children, she has long advocated for children and in elected office seeks improvements to public education system, a press release states.

Cannon has also served on the Utah College of Applied Technology Board and was liaison between the state board of education and the Utah State Charter School Board. She also chaired the School and Instructional Trust Lands Nominating Committee, where she sought experts in oil, gas, mining and real estate to help build a permanent fund that sends trust lands dollars to every Utah public school.

She is a graduate of University of Utah. She also attended the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, and the University of Toulouse-Bordeaux in France.

Cannon previously was the national state school board association’s western area director and is a recipient of its distinguished service award.

“NASBE is a vital asset to state boards of education across the country,” Cannon said. “I am honored to have an opportunity to serve in this great organization.”

Byron Ernest, a member of the Indiana State Board of Education and a former Indiana Teacher of the Year, was installed as chairman of the association’s board of directors at its recent convention.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/2I2CFxB