New Linn-Mar School Board Member Rene Gadelha Profiled

It’s been less than two years since Rene Gadelha and her family moved from New Jersey to Iowa, but Gadelha was quick to immerse herself into our local culture. She’s already been involved as a Linn-Mar volunteer, as a Linn-Mar Improvement Advisory Committee member and as a City of Marion Planning and Zoning Commissioner. And now Linn-Mar Community School District welcomes Gadelha onto our district’s Board of Education.

Rene Gadelha grew up in northern Virginia and earned her Bachelor's Degree in both English and Psychology from Radford University. Gadelha later pursued her Master's Degree in Instruction and Curriculum from Kean University.

After getting married, Gadelha and her husband welcomed two daughters into their family. In addition to her role as parent, she also taught at both the high school and college level. In time Gadelha decided to work solely from home and began freelance writing and editing educational materials for several publishing companies. Ultimately she accepted a full-time job, still working from home, for a small science curriculum company as their Managing Editor.

While working from home, Gadelha began volunteering at her daughters' schools, mainly in the realm of the PTO. Taking things a step further, she ran for the school board and continued volunteering in other facets of the schools in her previous community as well.

“I was very involved and I loved every second of it.” Gadelha said. “In fact, I was running for town council when we received news of my husband's promotion and subsequent move to the Cedar Rapids area.”

Never having been to the Midwest, Gadelha researched school districts to determine where they should live. She set her sights on Linn-Mar and moved to Marion in November 2011.

“I'm very pleased with this latest chapter of our lives here in Marion. The girls are thriving and my husband and I are happy to be here.” Gadelha added, “It's an exciting time to be in Marion--there is a lot of growth and opportunity here. I am glad to be a small part of helping to shape Marion and give back to this community that has welcomed us here.”