Student Centered Education
Our students come first. That’s why I moved to our community - and that’s why I’m running for school board. Too often promises get made and yet our kids get left behind. We need leadership that centers our students.
The first question that should be asked before any policies are put into place is: “How will this impact the kids?” Only once we fully understand that question should any decision be made.
Our students are the people who make this community thrive, the people who keep our schools full of learning and laughter, and who have inspired me to run for this position.
They come first. They will always come first.
Transparency from all
I’ve never been satisfied with just watching something work. Whether it’s figuring out how a piece of furniture was put together or installing my own windows I always want to know how something works. I feel the same about our school board. We hear and see things, but rarely do we have the full story. I want to learn that story and share it with
you.
What happens in our schools and board rooms is important. As parents we are our kids first educators - and should be involved in our schools - but the expertise and time of our educators must be respected. When families and educators are able to work as a team we all do better with the education of our students and children.
As a board member I hope to learn more about our schools, and that you’ll learn alongside me. When we all have the full picture, and are able to have meaningful, mature conversations about it - then we can make the best decisions for all our students.
Teacher Retention
Having sent my own two kids through our district and having my granddaughter there now I know how good our teachers are. And I hope you do too. However, keeping the best and bringing new teachers in is difficult. We need a culture that attracts and retains excellent educators.
By growing our support systems for educators, like strengthening our new teacher mentorship program and growing staff mental health support, we can keep the great teachers we have here - and attract new ones.
We also have a duty to keep our schools as safe working environments. This of course means keeping our schools safe, but also means ensuring that our buildings are the learning environment they need to be. We need to listen to our students and teachers, those who are in our buildings every day, to learn what they need and how we can best support them.
Our Plan
Student Mental Health
Our students are facing a mental health crisis like we have never seen before. Over 40% of young people experience persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Over 20% of young people are diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression and that number continues to rise. Our schools should be a place for students to learn and become better people - but they can’t do that if they don’t have the resources to be their best self.
We must find ways to bolster our mental health support systems for students and educators, while building a culture that normalizes asking for help and checking in on our friends. For too long, too many have struggled and we have the opportunity to fix that right now. When our students have the support to be healthy, they do better and our community does better.
A Culture of Trust
I can build a beautiful cedar planter and pretty nifty cribbage board - shoot me an email if you want one - but I can’t teach calculus. I’m not trained to do that. It’s not my job to teach students or even decide what they are taught, but it is our job to ensure that our students and staff have the resources they need to be the best they can be. Our educators are the people who have spent years training to do what they do. We need to recognize that training.
Building trust between the school board, the community, and educators is essential. That trust isn’t given, it’s earned - and we have some work to do. We all have different roles to play and we have to come together to empower each other and learn from each other to be the best we can be.
Fiscal Responsibility
One of the reasons that I want to be more involved is to learn what our tax money is being used for and to help the community understand as well. To be the excellent school district that we are, and will continue to be, we have to pay for things. We need to remember that the community as a whole is paying for our schools and we should make every effort to let them know where the money is going.
Although that doesn’t mean we should spend every dollar. As a steward of our tax dollars I will make sure that we are spending the resources we have in the most efficient and effective way possible. Our students deserve the best education we can provide. If we can make that happen without turning to our community for extra help that’s great,
but if we do need your help I hope you know that it is because our students are at the center of everything we do and only together can we help them be the best they can be.