Leadership Rooted in Community

My name is Tauna Rodarte and I was born to an American father and German mother. She was born in what is now Poland towards the end of World War II and after the war, she grew up under communism in East Germany; from which her family escaped in the early 1960s. Living in West Germany as refugees, they waited for housing and work opportunities. Once they settled in, my mother met my American father in Berlin, after he left the US Navy. They married in Germany and he brought her as a new immigrant to the United States, where I was born. As she did not speak any English, German was my first language, then I was raised bilingually with English and German. We spent my entire childhood moving almost yearly between Utah, Missouri and Germany. I have a deep compassion for immigrant families and the struggles they face coming to a new country for a better life for themselves and their families.

I was raised in a conservative religion and married for the first time at age 18, becoming the mother of five children.  My three oldest children were very involved in their schools and activities and graduated from Rancho Bernardo High School. During this time, I worked for four years as a para-professional for the Poway unified school district and was a member of the union; three years in the ESL department and one year through the ROP division at RB High School. Additionally, I served as the first PTA President for a brand new elementary school, as well as many other PTA positions, serving as room mom and field trip supervisor. I was also actively involved at Poway Unified School District on a number of committees, including boundary and budget, as well as volunteering on a number of school site committees at all school levels. I have an understanding of the challenges facing our teachers and school staff educating our children and students during these times.

During this time, I also served on the boards of 10 non-profit organizations, including Junior League of San Diego, volunteered with dozens of other charities and sat on two San Diego County wide special task forces; Ryan White HIV/AIDS funding and Domestic Violence Protection, which set new standards for the entire nation. I participated in all of my children' s sports and other activities, whether as back stage manager for my daughter's ballet company, den mother for my son’s boy scout troop or team mom for my daughter's sports teams. My decades of volunteer leadership, volunteer management and financial responsibilities in the tens of millions give me the expertise to be a fiscally responsible board trustee. 

In my first few years, I was able to be a stay at home mom, began working in retail, as a school paraprofessional, then as a manager for Barnes & Noble for five years. I finished my professional career as a Sales Executive for a commercial construction flooring company, specializing in high-rise commercial and condominium buildings, as well as luxury hotels and clients for 16 years. My experience includes negotiating million dollar contracts and managing projects from beginning to end, which gave me the necessary knowledge to understand and prepare annual $40 million dollar budgets for the Fallbrook Union High School District. 

For 15 years, I was blessed to serve as Executive Director of Outreach Impacting Lives, a local non-profit organization focusing on children in need, military families and the homeless. I managed more than 150 volunteers completing dozens of service projects annually, including a number in Fallbrook. Including installation of new flooring at the North County Boys & Girls Club in Fallbrook, as well as installing new flooring in the barracks and at a day care center on Camp Pendleton.  Our volunteers also donated hundreds of Thanksgiving meals annually to enlisted families on Camp Pendleton, as well as hundreds of backpacks for back to school and military recipients. All the men in my family have served in one of our military branches and I respect the sacrifices they and their families make on behalf of our country and its citizens.

I was blessed to marry my soul mate in 2004 and my husband Scott, who teaches science at Bonsall High School, and I bought our forever home in Fallbrook 15 years ago. He is a former member of the Marine Corp and professional accountant prior to receiving the call to teach in 2020, when he became an educator. Our youngest daughter Chloe attended Frazier Elementary School, Potter Middle School and graduated from Fallbrook High School in 2018. During those years, my husband and I actively supported her school activities including, as well as encouraged her academics, activities and emotional well being. She graduated in 2024 with a double degree in Education and Sociology from UCSD, works as a paraprofessional until she has completed all her credentialing in order to teach full time.

Once my husband and I were empty nesters, the time was right for me to become more involved our Fallbrook Community, I got involved with several local organizations, including serving a term on the Board of Directors as PR Director for the Village Association and the past five years serving on the steering committee of Fallbrook A Leer, a local service organization, recently completing its 23rd annual Day of Literacy & Service. For several years, I was also on the Board of Directors of the Fallbrook Historical Society, focusing on the Reche school house project. I am also a member of the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce.  

I have loved serving as a Trustee for the Fallbrook Union High School District and am proud of the accomplishments and improvements made during my three year term. By all measures, things have improved, from lower absenteeism, increased attendance and grades, higher graduation rates, acceptances into colleges, universities and trade schools. I seek another term in order to continue this hard work accomplished by the steady leadership of our superintendent, administration, staff and teachers working daily with our students. I seek to continue to support their efforts and to see our school district continue this positive trend with continuity. 

All students deserve the opportunities to achieve academic success and increase their social and emotional growth. This includes our immigrant students, as well as those who identify as LGBT. As the sister to two gay brothers and one lesbian sister, I understand their early struggles and want to ensure that our youngest are and feel safe at school. As someone raised in both America and Europe, I first hand understand the rewards of knowing people from different countries and of various faiths. I have relatives from Germany, Poland and Turkey. Members of my family are Christian, Mormon, Baptist, Muslin, atheistic and agnostic. I respect everyone’s right to believe, or not to believe, in organized religion. This also means that I expect others to respect my and others’ rights to believe in what we choose or choose not to believe in. Our society is based on religious freedom and our public schools must reflect this right. It also means that we must respect the constitutional right of free speech for all, regardless of religion, race, gender, sex or any other differences. Differences are what make our society beautiful, the strength each culture brings to America is what the American Dream is truly about. 

I am the right candidate to be elected for this position at this time. As a parent of five and grandparent of six, I understand parental perspectives and can help guide parents to be involved in as many available committees and opportunities as possible.  I believe in good school board governance and ensuring that our board meetings are properly run, provide accountability and always following all laws and ed codes. During the past three years, I received a “Master in School Board Governance” from the California School Boards Association, as well as a “Certificate” from the California Small School Boards Association. Knowing how to effectively and efficiently run the district contributes to the success of our students’, which is our primary goal.

I bring experience of having been an employee for a school district, as well as being the daughter, wife and mother of educators, I understand the difficulties of educating today's students, as well as my volunteer work for many schools and my service at the school district level, I am the most qualified candidate. My strong work experience in the construction industry has provided me with the skills and knowledge to effectively manage personnel, as well as large budgets, which are the main requirements of serving as a Trustee. As well as serving as a community leader and volunteer for the past 40 years, including as Executive Director for a non profit organization for 15 years, being actively involved with a number of local organizations and as a long time Fallbrook resident, I know with your support I can win this seat again and continue to serve our community's needs best.