Barbara Bolas
Barbara Bolas, a school board member from Upper St. Clair Township, Pennsylvania has been named President of the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The installation ceremony took place at the association’s Delegate Assembly at NSBA’s 2008 Annual Conference in Orlando.
Bolas has been a member of the school board of Upper St. Clair Township School District, a suburb of Pittsburgh, since 1985. She has served as both president and vice president of her local school board, and was elected president of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association in 2001. She has been a member of the NSBA Board of Directors since 2001.
“Public education is under close scrutiny from almost every corner. It is critical that association leaders provide direction to guarantee that local school boards will have the information and data necessary for them to provide programs that will assure continuous improvement of student achievement,” said Bolas.
Bolas has held numerous state positions, including president of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association’s Insurance Trust, vice president of the Pennsylvania Public School Health Care Trust and president of the Pennsylvania Public Education Foundation. In 2001, she was appointed commissioner on the Keystone Commission on Education for Employment for the 21st Century.
Nationally she serves on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Governing Board and on the National School Boards Foundation Board of Directors.
Bolas received a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the State University of New York at Brockport and did graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh. She has held teaching positions in New York, Wisconsin, Canada, and Venezuela. She has worked with Head Start, the Girl Scouts, and Safe Neighbor programs.
Bolas and her husband, Jim, have two children and reside in Upper St. Clair Township.