Amanda Oaks

Experience and Education

Utah native, married 22 years to her college sweetheart, and mother to five children who are currently attending elementary, middle, and high schools within Canyons School District.
Fluent speaker of Mandarin Chinese, and is a strong supporter of Dual Language Immersion programs in Canyons.

Bachelors of Music in Viola Performance from BYU in 2001

Juris Doctorate from J. Reuben Clarke Law School in 2004, current attorney

Having served on boards and as a volunteer with various nonprofits within Utah and beyond, she is a strong believer in the importance of humanitarian work, local outreach, and giving back to the community.

Current Vice President of Canyons School Board

Strong Leadership

Part of the board that helped oversee the district during the pandemic, and maintained more in-person learning days than any other district in Salt Lake County. Canyons has emerged from this time with academic achievement that is well above the state average in the core subject areas of Math, Language Arts, and Science. https://datagateway.schools.utah.gov/. The district was also recently recognized as the #1 school district in the state.

Currently representing Canyons School District and K-12 public school interests on the Point Working Group Committee—one of the committees addressing the future of the Point of the Mountain development.

Serving on the Joint Legislative Committee for the Utah School Boards Association for the past four legislative sessions, she collaborates with district and state school board members in lobbying legislators on behalf of Canyons School District on laws that impact our students every day.

In 2019 during a nationwide teacher shortage, Amanda participated on the Board of Education that approved a significant pay increase for teachers, making Canyons one of the most competitive districts in the state. This reduced employee turnover, and attracted talented professionals in the classroom.

Encouraged and participated in the creation of Canyons School District's first Strategic Plan. This incorporates extensive public feedback from parents, teachers, and administrators, and will serve as the district's roadmap for the next decade.

In May 2021, the Board of Education responded to community input about the need for improved quality of remote learning, and launched a very successful Canyons Online School.

In November 2021, Canyons successfully met all national standards and requirements to receive the official accreditation recognized by all colleges and universities for K-12.

Regularly attends School Community Council meetings for the seven schools within her representative voting district to keep a consistent pulse on needs and concerns within each school community.

Has worked to improve support for students with disabilities, by improving IEP and 504 coordination and implementation at the middle and high school levels. Has also encouraged work with public higher education entities to provide better transitions for those with disabilities into higher education, including providing information and resources to their parents.

Worked collaboratively with Draper City and those on the Canyons Board of Education to secure a much-needed bus lane, parking lot, and connecting road for Draper Elementary, significantly improving the safety for all students there.

Was instrumental in pushing back the start time for Draper Park Middle School (DPMS) from 7:30 a.m. to 7:50 a.m.

Has held regular town hall meetings throughout each year of her term (six in total), giving an opportunity for her constituents to directly voice their concerns.

Arts Advocacy

For the last three years, she has served as a member of the Canyons School District Arts Consortium, where she works to collaborate with teachers, administration, and members of the arts community to strengthen the presence and efficacy of arts education within the district.

Part of the board that approved the K-5 Wonders curriculum, that will enable greater arts integration in every elementary school. classroom.

My Why

As simplistic as it may sound, I love learning. I mean, I really love it. Some say I am obsessed with trying to understand its process and how to make it grow deeply within a child. I believe it began with my mother, who read to me regularly and often. To this day, when I curl up with one of my kids to read, I feel a piece of that same excitement, joy, and comfort that I felt with her.

When difficult family circumstances arose and my mother was left to become the breadwinner for the family, she struggled to find adequate employment because she had never completed her college education. As a result, when I was seven years old she opened a daycare within our home and continued that work for over thirty years. This required hard, difficult work for not only my mom, but for all us children. But it brought joy, too. School teachers often sought out my mother because of her willingness to provide meaningful enrichment to their children in addition to their daycare. She helped them learn to read, spell, do arithmetic, explore with art, and of course, she read to them every day. I remember countless conversations with these teachers in our home, which provided a love and appreciation for the human side of education.

Later when I expressed a love and interest in music, my mother sought out to find me a great violin teacher, and those lessons were well out of her budget. As if her work day were not long enough, my mother would regularly finish her babysitting, feed us children, and then walk to a neighbor’s house where she scrubbed their floors and bathrooms well into the evening. This neighbor, who sold gloriously beautiful children’s books, paid my mother with books in exchange for her services. In turn, my mother used these books to pay for my lessons, an arrangement my violin teacher graciously accepted.

Everyone learns enduring lessons from their parents, but the ones I learned from my mother included the fact that education is something to be valued, cherished, and sacrificed for. It rarely comes without effort and the contributions of many people who care. Parents have the most important influence on their children's education. I certainly feel I am a product of my incredible mother, and a community that looked out for the individual child who needed support. For that reason, I find it a privilege to pay it forward to a community of children whose education also needs to inspire them to learn constantly, and that will make all the difference in the world they see and with the individuals they one day will influence for good.