Retired Thomas Jefferson High School principal Elizabeth “Liz” Drake announced on Friday she is running again for the Federal Way school board Position 3.

This will be the second time Drake challenges Danny Peterson for the seat — if the incumbent decides to run again.

Drake ran against Peterson for the position in the 2011 election, leading a field of three candidates in the primary election and garnering nearly 48 percent of the vote. However, Drake dropped out of the race before the general election in October 2011, when the district hired her for an interim principal position at Thomas Jefferson that eventually became a permanent position.

Drake recalled she met with then-Superintendent Rob Neu as a school board candidate in 2011, when Neu told her, “It’s a pity that you’re running for the school board; we really need you in the district.”

She said Thomas Jefferson was going through “horrendous difficulties” and Neu asked Drake if she would step up as interim principal in October of 2011.

“I’m a born principal,” said Drake. “I think it’s a position that I absolutely love because it really has hands-on contact with students, with parents, with teachers. You really do make a difference. Given that opportunity, I just had to say yes.”

Though the Thomas Jefferson position was the best experience of her career, the job demands long hours and is “extremely exhausting,” said Drake, who turned 65 years old in January. So she decided to retire last November after a 40-year education career.

“I’ve still got a lot of energy,” she laughed. “I’ve got energy for anything but a 15 to 16-hour-per-day job.”

Drake said she decided to run for the school board because she has a passion for making a difference and the experience to back that up.

“I have quite a few decades of experience in education and I really feel I can make a positive difference to the work that we’re trying to do in Federal Way,” she said. “I still consider myself to be part of Federal Way, even though I’ve now retired and I’m proud of the work that’s going on in Federal Way … I think we’re doing some really good things and I just feel that I have got the background, the skills to be a positive help in the work that we’re doing.”

Drake previously served as principal of Todd Beamer High School from 2008-2010. She also worked as a high school principal in Pennsylvania, and as a principal and teacher in England at all grade levels.

She completed her undergraduate degree in England, and her master’s degree, teachers and superintendent certifications from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Drake said the school district currently faces many issues, including ongoing concerns over standards-based grading.

“As a high school principal, I was highly involved in the conversations leading up to some of the decisions that were made that provided us with a good short-term solution to regain student confidence and parent confidence,” she said of the Standards Based District Grading Advisory Committee the district formed as a way to curb grading confusion and improve practices. “I think that’s what we didn’t do, as a district, a great job of.”

She said with a grading committee in place, the district needs to now listen to those parental voices on the committee.

“I see the school district as a service. We should be listening to what our customers are saying,” Drake said. “We cannot be arrogant and so philosophically driven that we take things in a direction that no one agrees with and I think that has been a tendency. We need to advise, we need to bring to the table some of the best thinking that’s going on but we can’t overrule parenting, students, ideas and voice. It has to be a team.”

She said the board should also continue to address the district’s broad diversity and ensure students are being prepared for success following graduation.

But Drake also has new ideas she hopes to bring to the table.

“There was a moment when I was thinking that City Council might be a possibility for me,” she said. “I just haven’t gotten a background in City Council. But I do believe the connection between education and the city is critical and I don’t know that that connection has ever been properly made.”

The city’s success rests on the success of the education system, she noted.

When people with kids move to Federal Way, one of their most important decisions is to find a solid school “and not many of the schools [in Federal Way] appear to be that successful,” she said. “We need to be linking our education and our city and the whole thing far more than leaving education as a separate entity. We’ve got all sorts of businesses looking for positions to be filled by students in our community. What connection do we have between that? These are the sorts of things I hope I can start generating some energy around.”

When asked about her potential opponent, Drake said she will not “undermine or underrate” Peterson; however, she believes she would bring more of an educational background to the position.

The Mirror could not reach Peterson for immediate comment.

Drake is also invested in the schools with grandchildren in the Federal Way school system.

“I bring to the position a wealth of education that spans two continents,” she said. “I’m not about some empty ideas; I’m about realistic goals. And I think in my role now as retired, I’ll be able to provide that much more time maybe visiting schools and just being that person who can listen to what’s going on.”

Drake said several of her former colleagues, including teachers at Thomas Jefferson and other schools in the district, have encouraged her to run.

“I really do feel that there is support within the city for me to be a voice that will make the Federal Way school district even stronger than it is now,” she said.