Candidate for
Board Member; Sierra Sands Unified School District; Trustee Area 2

(Excerpt from "Meet the School Board Candidates" media article by Linda Saholt/The Daily Independent, Friday, September 24, 2004)

Walter Maurer, 43, is a man of strong convictions. He is up front about his religious beliefs and his commitment to modifying certain Sierra Sands Unified School District Board of Education rulings to align with those beliefs.

He feels intensely that both disruptive student behavior and the teen pregnancy rate can be lowered by bringing foundational Christian principles to board policymaking. He is also strongly in favor of parental involvement in the school system, rescinding the board's recent action to reduce funding for classroom music instruction, and the keeping of all campaign promises.

Maurer is married to Patricia Maurer. They have three children attending a private school in a home environment.

What might surprise people about Maurer is that he is an amateur classical pianist, who loves the music of Chopin and Beethoven. He has played since age 10 and minored in music in college, while majoring in engineering. He enjoys playing piano at home primarily. "All our family is musical; all our children are studying music-violin, flute, and piano; Patricia holds a music education degree," said Maurer. Patricia used to teach music for Sierra Sands.

"We're a close-knit family; we enjoy each other's company very much," he said.

Maurer may be familiar as one of the people who has been active in "pro-life" work in this valley for 10 years, primarily with American Life League of IWV.