Melissa Baten Caswell walks her son to school, helps with homework, attends soccer games and her daughter’s ice skating practices, and makes dinner several times a week.

It’s a heavy load for someone who also is making her first foray into the political arena, but Caswell, who for six years has volunteered almost full-time (upwards of 30 hours per week) for Palo Alto schools, wouldn’t want to sit on the city’s Board of Education without her family’s support.

Apparently she’s balancing her life just right so far.

“My family has been incredibly understanding about the huge time commitment created by this campaign,” Caswell said. “My son Cas, age 8, is very focused on my lawn sign strategy and he keeps careful count of all the signs in our neighborhood.” Cas also proudly sports his mom’s campaign t-shirt, barely allowing her to wash it.

Cas isn’t the only one who’s enthusiastic about the Caswell campaign.

“Melissa’s demonstrated ability to work with the entire community will make her a unifying force on the school board,” says Yoriko Kishimoto, mayor of Palo Alto. “From the moment she takes office, Melissa will provide the city-wide schools leadership that our schools need.”

The Caswell campaign is built on an abiding interest in children learning, clear and measurable goals, and business principles of strategic planning.

Encouraging all children to be curious and excited about learning is one focus of Caswell’s strategy. To do that, she plans to set specific goals that are measurable and strategic. “Every child in PAUSD deserves a first-rate educational environment which includes both challenge and support,” Caswell said.

A key goal for Caswell is to create a strong collaborative community that sustains a climate of inclusiveness and pride for all. In response to problems uncovered by the school board last year in PAUSD’s working climate, Caswell said she believes it is essential to have “specific tangible systems and agreements so that all stakeholders — administrators, staff, families, and especially kids — feel welcomed and respected.”

Community is very important, Caswell says, and she counts on using her professional and volunteer experiences to help the school board in making good decisions and involving the community more. Caswell wants to start managing the district’s finances clearly, transparently, and judiciously to ensure that the district can meet its goals.

Caswell says she will try to bring her wealth of business and community experiences to her campaign and the ultimate goal of a seat on the school board. Most recently she was president of the Palo Alto PTA Council for two years with several PTA Council positions before that. Prior to her PTA Council roles she served in many PTA capacities at Duveneck Elementary School, including president; volunteered with children’s sports teams; was a member of the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation campaign cabinet; was Volunteer Coordinator for the 2007 Black and White Ball; and served on two mayors’ task forces. Caswell worked for two years in finance on Wall Street prior to receiving an MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, and, then, in high tech in the Silicon Valley for 10 years, where many of her positions had an educational focus.

Caswell says she is pleased with the “energizing” candidate forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters and local PTAs: “The candidate forums have been incredibly productive for the community and that is very important to me as a candidate. We have had a large attendance at almost every location. It appears that parents and community members appreciate being able to go to their local school for a forum.”

The biggest problem Caswell feels she faces in her campaign is the time commitment. “It takes an incredible amount of time to campaign. You need to be on and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I am often responding to emails at midnight.”

Local campaigns, like the school board, involve neighborhood coffees, phone calls, email, candidate forums — 17 this fall — and walking the precincts to distribute fliers and meet voters, Caswell said.