Cherylin Peniston | |
|---|---|
| Member of the ColoradoHouseofRepresentatives from the 35th district | |
| In office January 10, 2007 [1] –January 7, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Ann Ragsdale |
| Succeeded by | Faith Winter |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 3,1948 |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | W.J. [2] |
| Profession | Teacher |
Cherylin Naylor Peniston [2] (born 3 March 1948 [3] ) is a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A career public school teacher,Peniston was first elected as a Democrat in 2006 to the Colorado House of Representatives. She represented House District 35,which encompasses most of Westminster,Colorado and portions of Arvada. [4] Term limited,she did not seek re-election in 2014. [5]
Born in Chicago,Illinois, [3] Peniston earned a bachelor's degree in education from the University of La Verne in 1970, [2] and spent her career teaching social studies and foreign languages at Scott Carpenter Middle School in Adams County School District 50 from 1971 to 1999. [3]
While teaching,she earned her master's degree in International Studies from the University of Denver in 1990,and won two Fulbright Scholarships to study abroad — for six weeks in Egypt in 1987 and for three weeks in Japan in 1997. [2] [6]
Between 1999 and 2003,Peniston was elected to two terms as president of the Westminster Education Association,the local union associated with the National Education Association. [2] She was also a member of the District 50 Education Foundation,and was also a substitute teacher at Scott Carpenter Middle School from 2003 until 2006. [3]
From 2005 to 2006,Peniston was Assistant Secretary of the Adams County Democratic Party, [3] and was a member of the Adams County Democratic Latino PAC and the Colorado Democratic Latino Initiative. [2] Peniston is married;she and her husband,W.J.,have two children,Erin and Geoffry,and at least one grandchild. [2] [6]
Spurred to run for elected office because of her experiences as a teacher and union leader, [7] Peniston was elected to the state house in 2006,first winning the Democratic party primary over Jeff Vigil [8] and then defeating Republican Ruben Pacheco by a 2:1 margin,winning a predominantly Democratic district [4] in which Pacheco did not run an active campaign. Peniston was endorsed both by the Rocky Mountain News [9] and the Denver Post , [10] as well as by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. [11]
In the 2007 session of the Colorado General Assembly,Peniston sat on the House Education Committee and the House Local Government Committee. [12] Peniston's only unsuccessful bill during the 2007 session was a measure to require that school districts which make budget cutbacks cut pay for administrators as well as teachers;it was killed in a Senate committee. [13]
Following the legislative session,Peniston served on the legislature's Police Officers' and Firefighters' Pension Reform Commission. [14]
In the 2008 session of the Colorado General Assembly,Peniston sits on the House Education Committee and the House Local Government Committee. [15]
Peniston worked with elementary school students in Adams County to draft and sponsor a measure to name the Western painted turtle the Colorado state reptile. [16] After passing the General Assembly,the bill was signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter at the students' school. [17]
Peniston sought a second term in the legislature in 2008,facing Republican Tracy Gimer. Peniston's re-election bid was endorsed by the Denver Post , [18] and she prevailed with 67 percent of the popular vote. [19]
Peniston has also sponsored legislation to require that adopted pets be spayed or neutered, [20] to allow gifted children to enter kindergarten or first grade at earlier ages, [21] [22] to create curricula for students in juvenile detention or residential treatment, [23] and to allow residential projects as part of transit-oriented development in conjunction with FasTracks. [24] [25]
For the 2009 legislative session,Peniston was named to chair the House Local Government Committee and to a seat on the House Education Committee. [26]
With Sen. John Morse,Peniston plans on introducing legislation to increase vehicle registration fees by $1 to pay for rural ambulance services. [27] Peniston has also sponsored legislation to require tags or ID chips on many domestic cats. [28]
In the 2012 General Election,Representative Peniston faced Republican challenger Brian Vande Krol. Peniston was elected by a margin of 56% to 44%. [29] [30]