Staff Spotlight: District Partners with Students, Staff, Community to Support, Uplift Students

For as long as she can remember, Sharon Roy knew she wanted to help students learn. What she could not have imagined was how many young lives she would one day help influence and inspire.  

“I always wanted to be a teacher,” recalls Roy, who is currently one of the district’s two Equity and Family Partnership Specialists. “My dad was a teacher, principal and professor, and our family has always been very service-oriented.” 

Aside from her early wishes to become a teacher, her own career in education has always been grounded in her family. Inspired by her older brother, who is deaf, Roy majored in Special Education and started her career teaching in that field in junior high in the Northshore School District. She later taught general education in grades 4, 5 and 6, and coached track for 10 years and drill team for four years. She met her now-husband, got married, had kids and moved to the Issaquah area. 

Even after the move, Roy continued to commute to Northshore. Before long, her neighbor, Tia Kleinkopf – then a teacher and now principal at Briarwood Elementary – convinced her that she should interview in the Issaquah School District (ISD). Kleinkopf describes Roy as “a passionate advocate” for students, families and staff. “Her dedication to equity strengthens our district and ensures that every child feels seen, supported, and valued. She works every day to break down barriers and open doors for kids and families, and our whole district is better because of her heart and her leadership,” she said. 

Building a Career Rooted in Equity 

The ISD hired Roy as a teacher, then a dean, and she soon earned her endorsement for teaching Multilingual Learners (MLL). That shift led her to support students at seven schools across the district, as she and other ML teachers were assigned to support students at their neighborhood schools. “It was fascinating because I got to see so many kinds of teaching styles and different leadership,” Roy said.  

While at Sunny Hills, she worked with teacher Tori Sylvers, who describes Roy as “an outstanding educator” who sees and honors the whole student, and who sees and supports her colleagues. “As a special education teacher, classroom teacher, ML teacher, and Equity TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment), she has built her career around helping those from marginalized groups and our most vulnerable populations,” Sylvers said. “Sharon does all this while still helping students meet their physical and emotional needs. She works with community groups, foundations and buildings to make a difference in our students' lives.” 

Before the pandemic, then-director of Equity Emilie Hard asked Roy to take additional classes and trainings in preparation for the district to provide professional development for teachers and staff across the system. Roy and a district team taught many sessions of “Leading for Equity,” and, eventually, the district hired Roy in her current position. Now she has the opportunity to work with Executive Director of Equity, Belonging and Family Partnerships Alaina Sivadasan and the Equity team. 

“My team is all student-first, child-first. We’re all ‘doers.’ We see an issue and we try to brainstorm – what's within our capacity, what’s in our lane, and what can we do to help?” Roy says. “We know a lot of people as a team. We can connect people with different resources and come up with other ideas. I have the best team. It is fabulous, which is the only way I can continue and sustain doing the work.” 

The Power of Representation 

Central to Roy’s “why” in education are her own children, and all the students of our district. Often students will approach her and say “You look like my auntie. You look like my mom.”  

“Because I’m ethnically ambiguous, lots of people think I look like someone in their family. I have heard ‘Spanish from Spain,’ or Portuguese, or they think I’m from Mexico, and when I’m in Hawaii, people think I’m a local,” says Roy, whose mom is Filipino and dad is white. Her husband is half Black and half white, and their three daughters are a quarter Filipino, a quarter Black and half white. 

That’s one piece of why she believes so strongly in the district’s work to retain and recruit educators of color, and why representation is critical to a student’s sense of belonging at school. About 60 percent of students across the district are students of color. About 10 percent of certificated staff are people of color, and about 30 percent of classified staff are people of color.  

When the district asked parents, students, community members and staff to collaborate and co-create its Strategic Plan three years ago, the plan further cemented the district’s existing commitment to equity. Roy now works with the VOICE Mentor Program; the Building Equity Leads; the Puget Sound Educational Service District Regional Equity Network, the Puget Sound Educator of Color Community; the Washington Education Association Regional Sammamish Uniserv Diversity group; student groups such as the Black Student Unions; and staff affinity groups including the district’s LGBTQIA+ Affinity Group and the Educators of Color Leadership Community. 

“Kids have to try so hard – not just here, but all over – to assimilate to the dominant culture,” Roy said. “It’s nice for the kids and the adults to be in an affinity space where they can just breathe and let their true selves shine.” 

Some of her work has involved collaborating with administrators and staff at Issaquah High School to support students. 

Issaquah High School Principal Erin Connolly and Assistant Principal Will Buker say that Roy is an essential partner in their work to create a more inclusive and equitable school environment, because of her innate ability to connect with students. 

“She is a caring advocate for kids, often mentoring individual students and, in many cases, playing a crucial role in helping them achieve long-term academic goals, including graduation. Sharon consistently connects our students and staff with outside resources that enrich our community and broaden our support systems,” Connolly said. “She is always willing to be a thought partner with our teaching and administrative staff as we navigate difficult decisions, bringing wisdom, compassion and a strong equity lens to every conversation. 

Buker added that Roy is “genuinely kind, patient, and empathetic for students and leaves students feeling cared for and heard. She speaks to students in a way that clearly resonates with our students and allows her to identify opportunities for advocacy for a wide variety of kids.” 

When she’s not working, Roy loves to visit beaches, spend time outdoors, go to church and volunteer. "This is my community, so some of it is my work, and some of it is my community. It’s all intertwined, but service is my heart language.”