EVERETT — The longest-serving school board member in the history of the Mukilteo School District will serve her final meeting on Tuesday, bringing an end to her 28-year tenure on the governing body.
Judy Schwab, known for her passion and involvement with school activities, won seven consecutive terms to the board of directors. She is stepping down to retire.
Schwab’s passion for public education began at a young age, she said in an interview Friday. Her father, who was in the Army, went to college thanks to the GI bill and put himself through medical school selling brushes door-to-door. Seeing his drive to become a doctor, as well as her experience attending elementary school in San Francisco, were foundational experiences that made education central in her life.
“When I got older and I was in education, I saw that it wasn’t always a fair world for kids from diverse backgrounds, including poverty,” Schwab said. “Flash forward to high school, and as a female student, I felt occasionally marginalized. So you can see it was grounded in seeing that public education didn’t always treat everyone fairly.”
In college, Schwab studied sociology, anthropology and psychology with an emphasis on childhood development. While at graduate school, she was part of a small but growing program teaching teachers how to attain better educational outcomes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
When she moved to Everett and her children began attending school in the Mukilteo School District, she became increasingly involved with volunteering. She spent time in the classroom, working with Parent Teacher Associations, or PTAs, and spent time on district committees.
In 1997, she sought her first term on the school board after speaking with a board member.
“It made perfect sense for me,” Schwab said. “It was really the culmination of my interest in public education and the role it plays in our kids’ lives.”
Eric Stevick, an education reporter with The Daily Herald, interviewed her in 1997 at the Sisters Restaurant in Everett during her campaign. From that interview, Stevick remembered her modesty most, he wrote in an email Thursday.
Near the end of the interview, Stevick asked where Schwab went to college. Harvard University, she answered.
“She didn’t try to slip the Harvard degree into the conversation to try to impress me or readers. I asked and she answered,” Stevick wrote. “As a school board member, she was a work horse, not a show horse.”
Schwab ended up winning her first election with 55% of the vote. She joined the board during a tumultuous and divisive period, she said. School board meetings would drag on into the early hours of the morning. Community members would pack into crowded rooms to listen in. At times, people would even threaten each other, Schwab said.
Those first two years of a “dysfunctional” school board, as Schwab put it, were unpleasant, she said. But she felt she always had the support of the community.
“They knew I was always in their corner, and I was always optimistic it would get better, even though it was hard,” Schwab said.
During her many years on the board, Schwab said the passion those at the district have for supporting children — including not just teachers, but the nutrition workers, bus drivers and paraeducators who help keep the district running — was one of the reasons she kept coming back to the board. Over the years, the district has worked toward opening doors for all kids and improving outcomes for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, work that she had taken an interest in decades ago while in graduate school.
One of her proudest achievements, she said, is her constant presence at school events, especially the performing arts. Everywhere from elementary schools to high schools, Schwab attended athletic events, multicultural fairs, concerts, plays and more.
“From the very beginning, it was important for me to be visible and build trust,” Schwab said. “Not just visible, but engaged. So if I went to a PTA meeting, I was engaged, I introduced myself, and people would get to know me and feel comfortable sharing their concerns. And that has never wavered.”
Has she ever missed a graduation?
“Never,” Schwab said.
Challenger Elementary School’s principal, Dirk Adkinson, said at a Nov. 18 board meeting that Schwab’s involvement — which even included making gingerbread houses for students at the elementary school — meant she “consistently places students at the center of everything she does,” Adkinson said.
“She has been, quite simply, the rock of our school board,” said Devin McLane, principal of Olympic View Middle School, at the Nov. 18 meeting. “Steady, wise and completely unwavering in her belief in the power of public education, her intelligence, passion and commitment have shaped this district in ways that will be felt long after tonight.”
In 2026, lawyer Karl Hausmann, who graduated from Mariner High School in the Mukilteo School District, will serve as the next board member in Schwab’s position. Schwab will be recognized by the district at its next board meeting, her final as a board member, on Tuesday.
Schwab said she has no plans to stop supporting the students in the district after her retirement. Expect to keep seeing her at sports games, student performances, concerts and graduations. Right after her final school board meeting, she’ll be out and about again — this time at a student concert at Kamiak High School.
“My passion and engagement will continue,” Schwab said. “It’s really time to pass the torch. I’m almost 80, and it’s been a good run.”
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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