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Schools

Board of Education President Deemed Industry Expert by Cambridge Publishing

After serving school districts for over 40 years, Polly Rauh will be recognized as an industry expert for curriculum instruction and development in "Cambridge Publishing's Top 101 Industry Experts."

Polly Rauh, Stamford Board of Education president and former educator and administrator for over 40 years, will appear in “Cambridge Publishing’s Top 101 Industry Experts” representing curriculum development and implementation. Rauh was nominated by her peers and joined the Cambridge Who’s Who network of over 400,000 business leaders in 2008 and was regarded a Who’s Who Expert in April 2010. Executives in this network represent the crème de la crème in their line of work.

“The real honor comes from touching the lives of youngsters,” said Rauh. “It is so exciting to be molding the potential of different people. It’s our future and their future.”

Rauh, originally an art history major, found her way to teaching almost accidentally after her father encouraged to pursue a traditional line of work to pay the bills. She began as a teacher for pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade students in Stamford Public Schools in 1968. In 1980, she received her Doctor Education from Teachers College-Columbia University and left to work as a superintendent in Ardsley (N.Y.) Union Free School District. She came back to SPS, however, to work as a principal for 14 years.

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“I left, but came back home again,” said Rauh. “Working as a principal was exactly what I wanted to do. I missed the children. The higher you go as an administrator, the further away from the children you get.”

After retiring, Rauh was elected to the Stamford Board of Representatives and served as the chair of the education committee. While still on the Board of Representatives, she now serves as president of the Stamford Board of Education. Rauh says that being an educator, administrator, elected official, and a parent has given her a “unique experience.”

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“It’s interesting to be sitting on the other side of the table now as a member of the board of education and not an administrator,” says Rauh. “The perspective is different. I see how different parts of the community make up this mosaic.”

Appearing in the Top 101 Industry Experts book and being a member of Cambridge Publishing’s Who’s Who network will have many people and organizations calling upon Rauh for advice, however her focus remains on SPS. According to Rauh, working on the board of education while the district is between superintendents is a full-time job and her primary responsibility.

“It certainly is an honor,” said Rauh, “but there are many of my colleagues who deserve this as well if not more than I do, but it’s nice to be recognized.”

“Cambridge Publishing’s Top 101 Industry Experts: Tools to Help You on the Road to Success, Expert Insights Without the Cost of School” will be released later this year. To read an excerpt from Rauh’s chapter, visit http://www.101industryexperts.com/expert-profile/ms-pauline--rauh-expt49...

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