I have seen the positive impact that public education can have on someone’s life. Public education forever changed my life, and I would like to give back to my community and school district. I am running for a seat on the board of education to ensure all of our community’s children have access to quality education.

I bring a well-rounded perspective to the district as a former student, and as the child of retired teachers from SJSD. Additionally, I have four children attending three different schools within the district. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, I believe my expertise in behavior management, conflict resolution, and active listening will be an asset to the board. I have been actively involved in the district by volunteering at my children’s schools, being a member of the PTA, and visiting other schools for career days. I believe community involvement is also an important strength a school board member should have. I am the lead cheer parent at Lafayette, a member of the Community Missions board of directors, and active community volunteer.

Although the district’s annual performance report scores did not meet expectations, there was an overall increase of 4.3% and a significant rise of 12.2% in the graduation rate. To address these challenges, we can implement data-driven adjustments to the curriculum, offer targeted interventions for students who are struggling, enhance teacher training on test preparation strategies, encourage strong parental engagement, and regularly review and analyze test data to pinpoint areas that need further improvement.

Yes, I understand the District’s Annual Budget and believe that a good board member should. It’s important for the Board of Education to evaluate and assess the budget frequently in order to ensure revenue and expenditures are on track to meet the budget for the fiscal year. The school district invest money in five major categories: instructional support, facilities, district instruction, support services, and transportation. We need to be good stewards of the tax payers dollars.

I believe that school districts in Missouri largely rely on tax levies to help fund their schools as our state tends to grossly underfund public education. Tax levies are a necessity to keep school districts like ours up and running. I believe they should be reasonable, with just cause, and are not a total means of funding for the district. They do provide a large amount of support from the community directly to the district, and I believe the district should continue to be transparent about how and where the money is being spent.

The boundaries in our district have been an issue since I attended in the 90’s. They’re drawn in a way that creates greater disparities between schools and are not geographically reasonable. I believe we need to redistrict, adjust our feeder system, and distribute students equally among the schools. A consistent feeder system will greatly benefit children’s social and emotional growth as well.

I support proposition 2 and believe St. Joseph would be best served by a two high school model. When you look at other districts in Missouri similar in size most have schools with 1,000 to 1,500 students. We currently have Lafayette at half capacity, Benton at almost half capacity, and Central which is around 93% full. I believe that our community, district, students, and staff will benefit from new facilities.

School safety is a top priority for me. I believe that all students and staff should feel safe in school. Security can always be improved and I believe we have some great security staff and student resource officers in the district currently. I think safety training for district staff is essential and something we should continue to do and build upon.

The biggest issues facing the school district are the community’s perception of the district, teacher retention and recruitment, aging and outdated facilities, and student behaviors and attendance. I believe we can begin to address these issues by fostering genuine relationships and practices that build trust, honoring transparency, and working collaboratively with the community to involve them in decision-making that directly affects them. The board of education can work closely and responsively with parents and community members to meet the ongoing needs of the district. I have some innovative ideas for special programs at our Alternative Learning Center and for students with special needs. I would like to see an increased emphasis on life skills education and greater utilization of our technical center, Hillyard. Additionally, I have ideas for collaborating with district professionals and community mental health experts to better address behavioral concerns among out students, enhancing the safety of both students and staff in the classrooms.

I plan to take a collaborative approach to working with others as a school board member.

All students and staff should feel welcome, safe, and respected at school. Unfortunately, the culture wars in today’s political climate often create an atmosphere of hostility and fear. It is crucial to first acknowledge that there is a problem and then work on recognizing both our conscious and unconscious biases to adequately address these concerns to support all students and staff.

I believe we should be educating children with evidenced based principles and methods. I do not believe any political ideologies, conservative or liberal, should provide the basis for any of our educational materials.

Again, safety is a top priority for me. I believe if there are safety concerns parents/guardians should be notified. I’m not sure of what “movement” there is to limit parental involvement. If anything I think our district has been working hard to get more parental engagement, and working with parents on areas of concern like the library books. The school district implemented a policy that allowed parents to limit, restrict, or pre approve library content should they wish to do so.

Other: The school board position is non partisan. Our focus must be on what’s best for the students and staff, regardless of political affiliations or personal beliefs. Ultimately, our work as a school board member is not about us, it is about serving the community.