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School Zone » Most Valuable Parent: JudyAnn Dutcher, Kellogg School

Most Valuable Parent: JudyAnn Dutcher, Kellogg School

By Mollie Helmuth, Noozhawk Intern | Published on 10.17.2008

You probably won’t catch JudyAnn Dutcher delegating PTA meetings or organizing a bake sale, but most people in the Goleta Union School District have been directly influenced by her service to Kellogg Elementary School.

“I’m not an organizer; I could never be president of anything,” Dutcher said. “But I know what I can do, so that’s what I want to offer.”

Dutcher operates her own Web site and graphic design company and was drawn into utilizing her skills when her oldest son was in kindergarten.

After receiving a parent volunteer request for Kellogg’s annual auction fundraiser, Dutcher said she noticed there was a need for invitations.

“I said, ‘Well, sure, I’ll do that!’ So the first year I was on the committee I did everything having to do with print. It made the most money it had ever made,” said Dutcher, who continued her role for seven years on the auction committee. 

Because she does graphic design professionally, Dutcher quickly made a name for herself on campus and within the district. After joining the PTA, she spent two years updating its page on the school’s Web site.

When her youngest son, who is now in fifth grade, started kindergarten, Dutcher took on the school’s monthly newsletter, which she still formats.

“I get it ready for print,” Dutcher said. “I like to change the look and feel of it every year to keep it fresh.”

This year, the Kellogg PTA decided to launch an annual fundraising campaign instead of the auction event it had done in the past. The campaign, titled “ONE,” features logos designed by Dutcher.

If supporters donate $300, they get a car magnet with the logo. 

“Because we want a lot of cool things — we want the art teachers, we want the computers — we do these things,” Dutcher said. “It enhances our students’ experience.”

This is also her third year formatting the school’s directory, which includes publishing the annual jog-a-thon art contest submissions.

“Everyone who wants their design on the jog-a-thon T-shirt submits a drawing, and even if theirs wasn’t picked for the contest it’s still published in the directory,” Dutcher said.

Surprisingly, graphic design volunteer work isn’t Dutcher’s biggest time commitment. The entire family is involved with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Last week, they hosted four Scout meetings in their home.

“Every week I’m teaching them citizenship skills, community skills, doing service,” said Dutcher, who has been a Cub Scout den leader for her youngest son’s troop for four years.

Bob Dutcher, JudyAnn’s husband, is the Cub Master, so it has become quite a family affair.

“I feel like I can branch out to more schools than just Kellogg through Cub Scouts,” said Dutcher, who just finished a membership drive to reach boys around the district.

Dutcher also has reached out to other Goleta schools by volunteering her artistic skills in the annual Goleta Education Foundation Four-Miler Run, doing the graphics for the brochure, poster and T-shirts.

“When we were at the four-miler, I felt like so much of my art was there,” Dutcher said. “It was like, ‘Wow, this is a portfolio!’”

The four-miler benefits P.E. and music programs at GUSD sites, which Dutcher says is directly beneficial to her family because her youngest son just started playing the clarinet.

Dutcher may not be the face of Kellogg, but her handiwork has certainly made her a key parent at Kellogg and within the GUSD.

MVP: JudyAnn Dutcher

School: Kellogg Elementary School; 416 students; public; kindergarten through sixth grade

Location: Cambridge Avenue in Goleta

Noozhawk intern Mollie Helmuth can be reached at mhelmuth@noozhawk.com.

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