Joanna Walsh has volunteered for years in and around the Darien Public Schools, and has been especially engaged in the Board of Education’s work and the issues facing our district, through her time as Co-chair of The Council of Darien School Parents (CDSP).

Joanna and her husband Matt moved to Darien 10 years ago, after the birth of their third child, Simon. They chose Darien based primarily on the reputation of the school system. Today, her older children, Everett and Tessa, attend DHS and MMS respectively; all three kids attended Hindley Elementary.

Joanna first began volunteering as a room mom when her eldest entered preschool in New York City; by the time her second child was in the school she was running an auction that brought in over $100,000 annually. Once relocated to Darien, she volunteered to run the auction for Hindley. She was invited to join Hindley PTO executive board as secretary, and took on increasing responsibilities that culminated in co-chair for the 2020-2021 school year. 2020-2021 was an unusual year to say the least. Joanna and her fellow co-chair had to get creative in order to continue delivering the usual programming and enrichment the PTO provides, while remaining entirely outside of the building.

At the end of her Hindley PTO co-chair year, The Council of Darien School Parents (CDSP) recruited Joanna, where she has led as co-chair the past three years. CDSP is an organization that serves as the umbrella for the Parent-Teacher Organizations of the Darien Public Schools. Its purpose is to facilitate understanding and communication among parents, schools, the administration and the Board of Education by exchange of ideas and consideration of matters of mutual interest.

As co-chair of CDSP, Joanna spent a great deal of time listening to concerns from families throughout the district, and elevating system-wide issues directly to district administration, while also advising parents on how to follow the chain of communication to solve their issues inside their building. Simultaneously, Joanna worked collaboratively with the PTOs of all seven schools in the district to make sure that every parent had the important information about the goings-on of the administration and Board of Education at their fingertips. She spent all three years advocating publicly at school board meetings, and other town boards as necessary.

Joanna graduated from Lyme-Old Lyme High School in Old Lyme, CT. After attending the University of Pennsylvania, and interning at ABCNews “20/20”, she graduated from Wesleyan University with an B.A. in sociology. Besides spending time with her friends and family, Joanna loves reading, needlepointing and taking her three year old Labradoodle, Ginger, on walks.

Joanna looks forward to the opportunity to join the Darien Board of Education to work to meet the needs of every student.