Trustee Spotlight: Bernadette Nutall

Representing District 9 (South Dallas and parts of Downtown Dallas, Pleasant Grove, Deep Ellum, Uptown, and East Dallas), Bernadette Nutall was elected to the Dallas Independent School District Board of Trustees in December 2009.

Nutall earned a Bachelor of Arts in business management from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. She received a Certificate of Competence Training Program in instructional leadership from the University of North Texas in Denton. She also attended the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Summer Changes Everything National Conference at Johns Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning.

Nutall was a community liaison at Dallas ISD from 1995 to 2003. In this capacity, she coordinated and managed more than 95 volunteers from nonprofit agencies, churches, schools, and various corporations. She coordinated community events and fund-raising programs and worked with local media to highlight the achievements of the schools in which she served. As a community liaison, she developed innovative programming such as Running for Success and E-Mentoring and conducted educational workshops.

She also helped high school seniors obtain scholarships from various sources and collaborated with counselors on the coordination of college recruiters, student recruitment, and financial aid workshops for both students and parents. Nutall organized the National Take Our Daughters to Work: An Educational Mentoring Program for Minority Young Women at three Dallas ISD schools in conjunction with the City of Dallas.

Nutall is an active member of her community and in 1999 cofounded Circle of Support, Inc., a comprehensive academic and enrichment summer learning program for students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The program provides summer educational programs for more than 250 boys and girls in math, science, art, and reading.

January is School Board Recognition Month, a time to thank local leaders for their dedication and willingness to serve as advocates for children and public schools.