LaVern M. Tarkington

Member-at-Large

LaVern Tarkington is a retired educator after more than thirty years of active professional services. She was most recently employed as the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel for the Tempe Union High School District. For more than thirty years she worked for the Tempe Union High School District, in which time she attained many inroads for women and people of color. In 1966, she was the first African American teacher hired in the district and in 1992 she became the first female and African American to hold the leadership position of principal in Tempe Union High School District. Dr. Tarkington's last position with Tempe Union High School was Interim Superintendent of Schools.

Dr. Tarkington was born in Texas, however she perceives herself as an ‘adopted' native of Arizona having lived in Phoenix since she was one year old. She attended Booker T. Washington Elementary School in the Phoenix Elementary School District and graduated from Phoenix Union High School. Upon graduation, she attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee a historically black academic institution recognized for producing outstanding leaders. She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, a Master's Degree in Counselor Education, and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from Arizona State University.

Dr. Tarkington served four years on the Executive Board of the Arizona School Administrators Association, Inc., first as the President of the Educational Services Division, second as Chairman of the Regional Advisory Board, and ultimately as the first African-American elected as President of the Association. She held memberships in both the Arizona Executive Board of the North Central Accreditation Association and Tempe Community Council Board of Directors. She has been appointed by three State Superintendents of Public Instruction to serve on advisory committees such as the State Board of Education Advisory Committee for Special Education, the Arizona Board of Regents Minority Education Access and Achievement Cooperative and the Arizona Financial Summit for Public Education.

Dr. Tarkington has been involved with many community activities, including the Phoenix chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, where she served as president. Most recently, Dr. Tarkington was elected 23rd Far Western Regional Director of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She was appointed Co-chairman of the Education Sub Committee of Phoenix Future Forum Policy Planning Committee. As an active member of the First Institutional Baptist Church: she is a facilitator for the Parent Support Group Ministries which provides counseling services to parents desiring a Christian based direction; she has served as co-chairman of the 90th Church and 18th Pastoral Anniversaries; and she was elected as the President of the Board of Directors for FIBCO Family Services.

Dr. Tarkington's honors, among her many other accomplishments, include the Tempe Diablos Educational Award of Excellence, Arizona School Administrators' Distinguished Administrator Award, and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Image Award. She was selected to participate in the 63rd Arizona Town Hall on Violence and Crime in Arizona. In 1996 she was honored as one of the Arizona Women of Distinction by the Arizona chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Inc. Dr. Tarkington acts as a consultant to community based organizations in the Phoenix area specializing in team building and goal setting.

Finally, out of the all of Dr. Tarkington's accomplishments, she is most proud of her family. She has been married to Donald for 41 years as of August 2008, is the mother of two children Frank, Sr. and Dawn, and grandmother to Frank Jr., LaRon, Jared Pierce and Savannah. She is the daughter of the late Gerald B. Swain and the late Elizabeth L. Swain.