School board member Greves to retire

Mari Greves, longtime school board member with Vancouver Public Schools, announced her retirement at Tuesday’s school board meeting. She will step down after the Jan. 13 board meeting.

Greves has served on the board since 1995. She was last elected to the school board in 2011. She has served under three superintendents: Steve Webb, the current superintendent; John Erickson and Jim Parsley.

“I’ve learned and had great experiences with all three superintendents,” Greves said. “One of the things I’m most excited about are our language immersion programs. We give our kids so many choices.”

Greves holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish. When the district was exploring adding language immersion programs, Greves and other board members traveled with Parsley to visit Japanese and French programs in Eugene, Ore., schools. Now the district has a dual-language program at Sarah J. Anderson Elementary, Spanish immersion at Harney Elementary and Mandarin immersion at Franklin Elementary.

Greves’ volunteerism with the school district started in 1980 when her daughter started kindergarten. She began volunteering in her daughter’s classroom.

“First thing you know, I’m carnival chair and then PTA president,” Greves said.

She has worked on all the levy campaigns since the 1980s.

Although she said technology has changed, “in levy campaigns there’s still a lot of walking around the neighborhoods, hanging fliers on doors and calling people to remind them to vote,” she said.

“This is a passion for me,” Greves said. “It was a hard decision, but it’s time for me to leave the board.”

Greves said she and her husband, John Greves, plan to spend more time with the couple’s six grandchildren, who range in age from 3 to 6. They live in Seattle and Indiana.

“They are growing fast,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the flexibility to being able to stay longer.”

In 2007, Greves was named a Woman of Achievement by the YWCA and Clark College.