Leander ISD

I have a Doctorate in Educational Leadership, an MBA, work experience in both P-12 and higher education, along with a background in technology. I have spent the last two years working for the Texas Education Agency modernizing their software development through automation. Prior to that, I spent just shy of 10 years at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, TX working for both the Public Affairs and University Affairs divisions. I have served on multiple committees at the University level including both the strategic planning and campus disaster planning groups. I also previously spent 5 years serving as a volunteer soccer coach for Mike Moses Middle School in Nacogdoches. A full version of my resume and education can be found on LinkedIn.

My reason for wanting to be elected to the Leander I.S.D. school board is simple. My daughter is three years old and will be directly impacted by the decisions our community makes over the next ten years. As a trustee, I will to focus on three primary areas: training, retaining, and supporting quality teachers and staff; financial responsibility; and using data to drive decisions. I feel that my background gives me a unique set of skills to help make the best decisions on the many critical issues we will be facing as a high growth district.

Trish Bode was elected to the Leander ISD Board of Trustees in May 2015. She currently serves as Secretary of the Board. Other 2018 positions include/d: Vice President of the Central Texas School Board Association, elected by the board to serve as a TASB delegate, and on the LISD Policy Advisory Committee.

I am inspired by our Leander ISD Community & honored to be a part of preparing our students for the future, which is why I re-filed for Place 1 on the Board of Trustees. Being on the school board requires a significant investment of time and I have spent the last 3 years working on academic progress, classroom engagement, student opportunities, teacher and staff support, advocacy for public education, sound budget practices, safety issues, increased transparency and communication, all leading up to planning for our current students moving toward their future and leaving a foundation for future students to achieve their lifelong goals.

Leander ISD is a destination district, people move here for the schools and this district is growing in enrollment every year. As we continue to grow I promise to use my experience to continue moving our community toward a bright future. My experience includes over a decade of watching legislative and policy issues in the field of corporate communication.

My focus is to address needs and find solutions (which includes working with our parents & community partners) to improve our LISD student’s educational experience making our children’s education a priority.

As a child, I was exposed to a multitude of rich cultures and explored different regions of the world since my father served in the Air Force for 23 years. My family eventually settled in Moore, OK, where I graduated from Moore High School. Soon thereafter, I attended Mid-America Christian University, but soon found that I wanted to enlist in the Army. In the military, I developed strong connections with my platoon who were from different parts of the world. I learned that there is strength in diversity, especially in times of combat. After seven years of service and one tour in Afghanistan, the G.I. Bill gave me the opportunity to attend college again. I completed my Master’s degree in Education Leadership at The University of North Texas and subsequently moved to central Texas to find a career in education. I currently work at The University of Texas at Austin in the Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program office as a HUB Associate. The department tracks and reports the university’s total expenditures with minority and women-owned vendors and educates the campus community about working with these businesses. I plan to bring lessons from my own experiences in the military, at school, and in my professional work interacting with educators and mentors who cared for my future, and demonstrate my true passion for education. My ultimate goal is to bring that same passion and commitment to Leander ISD. I will ensure the administration and the staff are fully dedicated to student achievement.

Dr. Gloria Gonzales-Dholakia is the proud mother of three LISD students. She has a Bachelor’s degree in biology, a Master’s degree, and a Doctorate degree in education. Gloria had a successful career in the educational technology sector and taught as a college professor. She served as the executive director of the Leander ISD Educational Excellence Foundation and is an active volunteer for her sons’ schools and robotics programs, for their schools’ campus committees and PTAs, and for the LISD Council of PTAs. Gloria is active in other local community and service organizations, including the Leander Chamber of Commerce, the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce, the West Austin Chamber of Commerce, and several Four Points area associations. She attributes her success to her humble beginnings in San Antonio as a young girl from a hard-working family with little to no resources, and to the committed teachers and mentors who came alongside her. They taught her that a higher education was possible, and more importantly, inspired her to attain it. She is living the American dream thanks to the support of her family and educators. She now wants to give back to other students and families and help provide them with more opportunities. Gloria believes in giving parents and teachers a stronger voice in district decisions to make improvements. She is a passionate advocate for public education and has a servant leader’s heart. Gloria and her husband, Neil, have lived in LISD for 16 years with their three sons.

Sharyn LaCombe is a candidate for Place 2 of the LISD Board of Trustees. She is a Certified Planner and holds an M.S. in Geography/Urban & Region Planning from Marshall University. Mrs. LaCombe is a policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Transportation where she develops and implements policy for rail and transit project delivery. Mrs. LaCombe has 28 years of business experience in working with the public sector, of which 19 years was spent in private consulting, advising local governments on the design, funding, and implementation of transportation infrastructure projects. She and her husband also own two Williamson County businesses - LaCombe Chiropractic Center and LaCombe Luxury Vacations travel agency. They have two middle school sons and have lived in the district since 2012.

Heather and I are the proud parents of 4 children. This year, our oldest son is a college freshman, our second son is a Junior in high school, our oldest daughter is in 7th grade, and our baby girl is in 5th grade. They were all born here in Texas and Leander ISD has served at least one of them each of the past 14 years.

We arrived in Austin in 1999 and have lived in the same house in Cedar Park since 2003. I work in sales and marketing and have been employed at Dell, Bazaarvoice and Oracle. I currently lead sales and marketing at a small consulting company specializing in marketing technology.

I have served on the Leander ISD school board since I was elected in 2011, and was recently elected President of the Board by my fellow board members. My mother is a retired special education teacher.

I ran for the board in 2011, because I could see the many assets and advantages Leander ISD possessed and felt we could do more to improve student achievement. I also saw a difficult problem brewing with construction demands and a rapidly expanding debt profile.

I’m proud to say that Leander ISD is achieving more of its potential every day. We still have many opportunities for growth, but we’re making important strides. The board has also restructured our debt, providing a solid platform for our building program and we can see a path to lower tax rates in the future.

My journey in education starts in 2003 when I began my career as a public school teacher. I taught advanced computer networking and computer security, and I was successful in the classroom; by the end of my first year, I was recognized as Kentucky Tech’s Beginning Teacher of the Year, and over the course of my teaching career, I was recognized often for the innovative classroom I maintained. My students had the highest CompTIA credential rate of any public school in Kentucky during the nearly 10 years I spent in the classroom.

I was an active participant in the local open source software community, and through the relationships I developed, I eventually decided to return to the private sector to take advantage of the new professional challenges available to me. It was this decision that ultimately led my wife and me to move to Texas in 2013, drawn to the thriving local economy and opportunities of this area.

Since moving to Texas I have worked as a DevOps engineer, with Blackboard, and BMC. Currently I work as a Continuous Delivery Solutions Architect for Netspend in Austin.

In addition to my careers in education and technology, I served 13 years in the Army National Guard, spending most of that time as a Nuclear Biological and Chemical Operations (NBC) NCO. I served through all three operations of the Persian Gulf War.

Elexis Grimes has lived in Leander Independent School District for the past 11 years with her husband, Lyle, and two sons. As a mother she watched her oldest son, Caleb, enter into Leander ISD as a 2nd grader at River Place Elementary and graduated from Leander High school in June. Her youngest son, Joshua (Class of 2026), entered into 5th grade this year at Deer Creek Elementary. She remains very passionate about their education. Elexis is seeking to serve the Leander ISD in order to achieve academic excellence with a balanced approach to parent and community collaboration.

Elexis graduated from New Mexico State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Management. Before moving to Austin, Elexis taught classes in the Travel and Tourism department at El Paso Community College. As a young single mother, Elexis learned the value of hard work while going to college, raising a son and working full time.

In 2017, Elexis completed the Financial Leadership LISD program and served on the Leander ISD 2017 Bond Advisory Steering Committee. Currently, she serves on the LISD Bond Advisory Committee which was formed to review the status of bond projects, bond related expenditures, and bond project schedules and timelines. In order to keep the district moving forward, Elexis believes she can have a greater impact on policies as a Trustee.

We have amazing teachers, parents, and students in LISD, and Elexis Grimes wants to empower teachers to teach, parents to parent and students to learn.

We moved to Leander (after spending seven years in San Antonio) during the summer of 2016 after I started working at Visa in May 2016. Currently I am the Director of Business Operations for our End User Technology group at Visa and lead a small team of business analysts and project managers focusing on bringing in and supporting technology for our employees.

My wife of 15 years, Nicky, and I have three children (Kaitlyn – 8th grade, Isabel – 6th grade, and Jacob – 3rd grade), two in Leander Middle School and one at Camacho Elementary.

Nicky and I have always made children the focal point of our service back to the community. We lead the children’s ministry in our church and have done so in every church we have been in for more than a decade. Nicky has been on the board of the PTA since our 8th grader was in 1st grade, both in San Antonio and here in Leander.

As a former officer in the Army, I have always felt that serving others is a part of my role as a leader. And there is no greater investment that we could make than in the youth of this country. For that reason, I have always prioritized my involvement in the PTA and other ways to serve (Leander Little League coach, Watch Dogs, serving as Top Dog at Camacho this year, DWEIC).

I feel the board is an amazing opportunity for me to serve on an even larger scale.