I have served on the school board for almost 3 years and have established positive relationships with administrators, staff, and teachers. I have spent time in 7 schools regularly helping in their cafeterias. I also value parental involvement and continually advocate for their input and investment in their children. We are a multicultural district and some of these families find it difficult to go into the schools and be participants, alongside teachers, in the education of their children. The district has begun different programs that work for getting parents more involved and including them in this vital work. I would like to continue being a part of this. I am also looking forward to working with and encouraging our new superintendent as she navigates her way through her new position. She will need as much support as she can get. I have also participated on committees that oversee academics. This has been a plus when it comes to raising our proficiency scores. I have served and observed our other committees (when we had them) to become better acquainted with what we actually do as a board and how we better serve the community. I love our district personnel and children, so my desire is to serve where needed, be a voice and advocate for our disenfranchised population, set an example of integrity, and demonstrate respect for all.

I have almost 3 years experience in the workings of a school board. I also have experience in dealing with difficult board members and speaking for the fringe of our community. I am not afraid to be the only dissenting vote on issues that may be controversial or are against popular opinions. As stated earlier, I have many years of teaching experience, which gives me insight into issues that may arise concerning teachers, students, classroom management, and poor student behaviors. As a therapist, I have been trained as a listener, which aids in discerning behavioral problems or staff frustrations. This is beneficial when we have to act as an appeals court for staff members, and seek truth in circumstances that come up in our district. I also appreciate our policies, that give us the boundaries within we work. I would like to continue this policy oversight, to ensure all our students will be heard and will be successful.

As board members, our roles are to approve appropriate curriculum or related tools presented by administrators, and to make sure we have policies that help in these situations. It is their job to seek out and research materials that would benefit our students. They do an amazing job assessing the effectiveness of the curriculum already in use and determining whether or not it brings improvement, before they decide on alternate materials. Many times this is done by using a pilot program in one or two schools to see if scores improve. Many of our schools have non English speaking populations. This must be addressed by providing English language instruction to close the gap in scores. This is a slow and difficult process because finding appropriate teachers and other personnel who “fit” this need. The district has a great ELA department that works hard to provide essential services for our students. It also has a program, FLI (Family Leadership Institute) that teaches staff, administrators, board members, and parents how to work together to achieve better community and great learning outcomes. Several schools have already implemented several ideas for working on these relationships. Absenteeism is another factor in some low scores. We have enlisted the Sheriff’s department and the prosecuting attorney to encourage parents to get more engaged in getting their children to school so they have a greater chance for learning.

This is not my specialty but our finance department gives us plenty of opportunities to ask questions, seek further explanations and secure positive distributions through a variety of sources. That is our job—to help set the budget, to make sure funds are allocated to the appropriate departments, and to check spending. Administration and the Superintendent do most of this work, while we are part of the checks and balances. Every month we get to go through expenditures. Every month we hear about investments. Every month we see income and profits. We are given plenty of opportunities to ask questions and clarify our financial status. And we must be prepared in our meetings to approve or disapprove how we spend our money. This process is difficult because we have a large district. We have a good group of staff in this department who continually look for ways to cut back and make sure we’re being good stewards. There are policies in place here that provide guidelines and instruction as to how we prepare and follow this budget.

Because I am currently on the school board and its majority vote was to approve this, I have to respect that decision. I do believe this plan can be tweaked and refined as we progress through it. Population shifts would be one reason for reevaluating boundaries. We should also make sure the lines are consistently adhered to, keeping schools from over crowding or leaving empty seats, both of which we are trying to correct. This cannot be quickly accomplished. We must be good stewards of our community’s finances, which requires patience and careful planning to we don’t have to set and reset boundaries. What should be uppermost in all our minds is that students matter more than lines on paper. We have to be willing to work on these until we get it right before we begin implementing new proposals, and have to change midstream, wasting tax payer’s money.

This was also board approved. The best solution to this issue is leaving the outcome to the voters. My biggest concerns are: increasing student success, providing a safe learning environment, and getting parents involved. Buildings matter, but children matter more. Will this new building increase our scores, make our children safer, and be a reason parents get involved? Let’s set our personal agendas aside and do what is best for our children. If it’s a new building then let’s do it right. If it’s rehabbing our old buildings then let’s do that right. There is so much division and mistrust in the community that a clear picture of what is needed isn’t evident. How can we work together to do what’s best for our children, be financially responsible, and improve outcomes?

When parents trust us with their children, we must do everything in our power to provide safe learning environments, whatever that entails. We have been upgrading our facilities to meet stricter standards imposed by state and federal officials. We are also improving bus procedures and protocols. We are increasingly more careful in staff hiring practices! And safety training is mandatory for all employees. We do have law enforcement at school events and would like SROs at every school but are still working on it. We have many policies that deal with bullying and other interpersonal behaviors. These policies define expectations for interaction between students, students and adults, and adults and adults. They also address the consequences that arise when expectations aren’t met and behaviors deteriorate. These must be enforced consistently and judiciously throughout the district. Though we cannot account for every circumstance, we have been covering as many details as we possibly can to avoid horrible situations.

The district has worked consistently on raising teacher (all staff) salaries, though they’re not as high as we would like them to be due to budget constraints.There are extra duty stipends offered to offset low salaries, and many non monetary incentives provided. Poor student behavior is a big issue and difficult to solve. We do have an alternative school, Webster, where students are sent when they meet the criteria for out of class consequences. The hope of this is to teach skills they need to return to their school of origin and be more cooperative in the classroom, and be better learners. It is also important to administer consequences consistently. The district has policies that guide the determination of poor behavior and the dispensing of consequences. We also distribute school handbooks so both parents and students know what expectations the district has on school behaviors. These need to be consistently followed and enforced. Increased parental involvement also would be helpful when poor behaviors erupt. For better results, this involvement should be established early in a child’s education so when issues arise, there’s already an open door for collaboration on resolving those issues. Many staff members have made comments about the poor “culture” of their schools. They feel “unheard” and have little “ backup” when problems arise, behaviors escalate, and relationships bring anxiety. Administrators are responsible for setting the tone, or culture, in their buildings. Chain of command should be followed to resolve problems in the buildings before it gets to district leadership. My place in these circumstances is to come along staff and encourage resolution. It is not my job to interfere with staff protocols, or take charge within the buildings. A school board must stay a bit remote because we act as an appeals court for staff if there’s no “in house” resolution to issues.

Our new superintendent will need encouragement and support as she transitions into this new role. I have an established relationship with her and other administrators who I respect and encourage in their pursuit of what will bring success to all students. It is not a board member’s job to meddle in the daily workings of administrators or other staff, but when material, or information is brought to us for approval, we have an opportunity to give our perspectives. This occurs in all the departments. They are the experts in their respective fields—that’s why they’re in these positions -so we learn to trust their judgement. We do ask questions and research the data they provide to ensure all students will benefit from what is proposed, to make sure the cost of materials fits within our budget, and to adhere to policies framing what is appropriate for our students.

I do not support males in girls bathrooms or locker rooms, or vice versa. There can be alternate arrangements/accommodations made for these students so NO ONE is made to feel uncomfortable. I do not support boys participating in girls’ sports. We have witnessed the detrimental effects this kind of inclusion has on the physical and mental health of female athletes.

I have not and would not encourage this introduction. Again, we have a multitude of policies that cover about everything that happens within our district, including how to treat each other with respect, dignity, and kindness, and how to appreciate the unique culture and heritage of every person. It is easier to guard against this when the information is obvious to staff members who are hoping to introduce new materials. There can be times when the information is more subtle and gets through the initial read. We have had an instance like this when community members checked one of the resources requested for district implementation contained this ideology. It was bought to board members’ and administrators’ attention and the material subsequently was not purchased for instruction. (The value of appreciating public input!)

School staff are mandated reporters if there are legitimate signs of abuse, but that’s the extent of their authority. Parents have absolute authority and are entitled to know what goes on with their children in their schools regardless of circumstances. School districts should not usurp that authority. I recognize that some situations might arise that make us want to intervene, act as advocates, or call the police or family services, but without permission, or clear indications of harm, we should not. We can be advocates, therapists, friends, and staff, but undermining parental authority is not our role. Again I refer to our policies for action. These are supposed to be our standards for procedures so we must make sure they’re followed and not abused. We do set policies, so I must be diligent to help prevent the enacting of policies that remove parental authority and give district personnel “carte blanche “. Our legislators are helpful in this regard by some of their actions at the state level.

Socially Conservative

It has been a privilege to serve our community in this capacity these past 3 years, and be a part of encouraging our students in all areas of their education.