Masur has been on the board since 2005 and is now hoping for a move to the county, a shift she said works perfectly with her background in public health and her experience on the school board. The county and schools have many similarities in how they get state money, particularly all the rules and how the discussion rarely includes whether those funds are adequate, she said.

Key ingredients for Masur are building coalitions and connecting people to reach answers.

“I’m always trying to figure out other people who need to be at the table to find good solutions,” Masur said.

If she joins the board, Masur sees that effort in part with reaching out to the dozens of cities and school districts to talk about what works, what’s desired and brainstorm.

“What happens is one affects the others. You’re not an island,” she said.

Masur also thinks her position as mom is important, bringing to the board a unique point of view and a link to the younger residents of the county. The underlying question to many issues, she said, is how it affects the quality of life not only for her children but everybody else’s offspring, too.

“It’s a perspective in terms of decisions we make now and how they affect us now but also in the future. Across this county we all affect each other and as we continue to collaborate on new ways of doing things, it’s critical to have someone excited about that possibility,” Masur said.