MEET THE CANDIDATES
Hi, We're BEST DCSD
JASON PAGE
A PASSION FOR EDUCATION AND LEADERSHIP
Jason Page and his wife, Holly, have lived in Highlands Ranch since 2015. He has a daughter who will be in the sixth grade for the coming school year and many years to go in Douglas County schools. He received both a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and Master of Business Administration degrees from Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He also has a Master of Arts in Leadership from Denver Seminary.
In his previous career as a professional musician and teacher, Jason taught music performance at all grade levels, college-level courses in jazz history, and travelled internationally as musical director for a major cruise line. For the past 12 years, Jason has worked in information technology, serving local governments as well as multinational corporations. He led major projects including organization-wide hardware replacements, global adoption of standardized incident and problem management processes, and the implementation of automated tools for use by corporations to better communicate with their customers during outages. Jason holds several industry-leading certifications in organizational change management, project management, Lean Six Sigma, and customer experience. He is a strategic thinker by nature, but data driven in his assessments.
Jason is currently serving as Director, District C on the DCSD Board of Education and also recently served on the board of a district authorized charter school and as a school representative on the DCSD Long Range Planning Committee. Jason is actively involved in his church where he serves on the worship team and recently returned from a mission trip to South Africa.
ANDY JONES
A STRONG COMMUNITY LEADER
Andy Jones is a devoted husband and proud father of three children who have all graduated from Douglas County public schools. He is currently in his twenty-sixth year at a major airline as a captain and professional instructor. He has over 35 years of professional experience demonstrating a dedication to public service, passion for education, inspired leadership of people, exceptional management of resources, and impeccable integrity. Andy served in the US Navy for thirty years and retired as a Navy captain. He is a distinguished graduate of the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Naval ROTC program with a BA in Political and Naval Science. He studied at the Naval Postgraduate School, achieving the title of Aviation Safety Officer responsible for flight safety programs. Andy completed pilot training, carrier qualifications, and multiple deployments on board aircraft carriers during the Cold War and the Global War on Terrorism. He had flying tours in Miramar and Japan; and admiral staff assignments in San Diego, Italy, Japan and Washington DC. He commanded three organizations at admiral-staff levels and was responsible for war planning, exercise and execution. He is an Iraq War veteran who was mobilized in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. Following his Navy career, Andy returned to flight training where he served as one of the finest instructors at one of the premiere global airlines. He was a highly respected senior instructor of pilots, with a passion for standardization, precision and the highest level of safety. Known for his engaging, witty and professional attitude, he excels at the art of technical instruction. Andy Jones has volunteered in public education communities for years, including serving as the governing board president at Platte River Academy Public Charter School. He served for three years on the DCSD District Accountability Committee (DAC) with two of those years as the vice-chair. He serves on the board of a charitable organization called Hope Light, which raises education funds for refugee children in South Sudan. Andy currently serves his community as a delegate to the Highlands Ranch Community Association, but even more impressive is his service as a board director for the Highlands Ranch Metro District. He is responsible for the fiscal oversight of a budget of nearly $80 million and the quality of life in a community of over 103,000 residents. He also serves as a board member of the Douglas County Youth Initiative, Douglas County Community Foundation and Centennial Airport Noise Roundtable. Andy has been married to his wife of 34 years; an amazing school volunteer who is passionate about school enrichment programs. They have been residents of Douglas County for 24 years and are members of a local church where he serves on the security team protecting the little lambs. Andy Jones is running for School Board, District A. He is impassioned about the quality of public education and protecting parent choice. Long before the most recent school tragedies, he advocated that the safety of our children is our #1 priority. He brings a balanced vision for our school board, to be representative of and responsive to all citizens. He believes in strong, accountable leadership, new and different perspectives, and innovative approaches to problem solving. He preaches sensible business practices for school resources, and the need to maintain excellence in education to prepare ALL students to be career or college ready.
MARIA SUMNICHT
AMERICAN SUCCESS STORY
Maria Sumnicht is the mother of three wonderful children and two beautiful grandsons who live back on the East Coast. Her two youngest children attended University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Colorado State University at Fort Collins and they both settled here in Douglas County. Maria and her parents legally immigrated to America from Colombia, South America. Her family came here with one suitcase, very little money and resources, yet as a four-year-old and speaking only Spanish, she succeeded through hard work and a well-grounded education. She and her family personify “the Great American Dream.” Maria moved to Douglas County over a year ago from New York City where she was the Urban Technology Architect for the New York City Cyber Command. Maria was responsible for the cyber security posture for all Internet of Things (IoT) and Critical Infrastructure Systems (ICS) technologies being procured by 67 New York City agencies including Americas largest school district, the New York City Board of Education. Her team was also responsible for writing and publishing the IoT Policy and Standards and ICS Policy and Standards for the City of New York. Maria worked with the Mayors’ Office to author and publish the 'City of New York's IoT Strategy.' During her tenure at Cyber Command, she was the spokesperson for recruiting talent for NYC Cyber Command. Prior to working at New York City Cyber Command Maria worked in the physical security industry for 10+ years, designing and deploying citywide internet solutions for cities and law enforcement agencies. Maria worked integrally with city governments, municipal airports and law enforcement in defining, implementing, and maturing their IT infrastructure. Maria’s municipal projects won the Secure Cities Gold Award “Best Public Safety Security Project 2015” for the City of Hollister, CA. and in 2019, the Helen Putnam Award in the category of Best Public Safety Initiative for the League of California Cities, City of Kings, California Citywide Security System. Maria spent 12+ years at Cisco Systems and worked on companywide high-profile security initiatives and was a key member on Cisco’s Intellectual Property Security Initiative and Corporate Quality Teams. Maria worked eight years at NASA Ames Research Center as a computer scientist and a network security professional. She was on the team awarded NASA Group Achievement Award presented to the Systems Acquisition Team at NASA’s Ames Research Centers Advanced Research Computational Network for outstanding dedication and teamwork needed to design, develop, procure and activate Advanced Computing Platforms at NASA Ames Research Center. Maria’s initial background was as a satellite communications systems engineer at Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation. Maria graduated with a Bachelors in Information and Communications from the California State University, at Chico. Maria is running for Douglas County School Board director, District F. After a very successful career, Maria wants to give back to a country that has given her and her family so much. Maria attended and graduated high school with a strong public-school education that prepared her for the future. She is passionate about sound academic curriculum, alternative pathways to student success, school sports, music programs and supporting teachers. It was a public-school teacher who told her she was good at math and computer programming and she wants today's children to have the same opportunities she had. Sadly, the American Dream and a great public-school education are being threatened by politics and agendas that are harming the country and our schools. Maria's promise is to work diligently on the continued restoration of the BEST Douglas County public school district.