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Restoring connection is the definitive first step in allowing us to tackle the current challenges we are facing, but more importantly, in positioning our community and district to maximize the opportunities that lay ahead.

We should never miss an opportunity because of ineffective communication or lack of purposeful planning and/or action.

I am running to:

Restore trusted connection between the school board, the community & families it serves, and district administration, teachers, and employees through increased access, acknowledgement, and transparent communication.
Initiate results driven conversations focused on producing problem solving action items with definitive timelines for completion.
Advocate for public-facing, strategic, measurable goals that meet the ever changing needs of our quickly growing district.

Reasons for Running

Qualificatios

Qualifications

I am passionate about student development and have significant experience in helping to envision, create, and implement multi-faceted initiatives designed to mitigate potential challenges and cater to a diverse audience.

I have been up close and personal in navigating and having to adapt to the ways in which COVID has changed the daily environment of college students nationwide from basic necessities, to education, to social and emotional needs.

I am about results and finding the most efficient way to arrive at the end goal while getting the biggest bang for your buck along the way – both literally and figuratively.

I value critical thinking, asking hard questions, healthy/respectful debate, problem solving, and collaborating with others.

COVID and Beyond

COVID & Beyond

I am focused on Fall 2021 and a complete return to in-person education. We now have the benefit of time and district metrics to determine how to best implement prudent measures that meet the unique and independent needs of our community as everyone returns to campus.

MASKS TODAY:

Elementary age children should not be wearing masks > imagine learning to pronounce words, read, and spell without the benefits of watching lips move. And to you wonderful HS and MS parents, you don't even want to know what those things look like at the end of the day coming off of my child's face...
Athletics should NOT require masks.
An immediate review and comparison of district demographics and transmission of cases should be conducted to determine the immediate lessening and the elimination of required masks before Fall 2021.

PRIORITIES IN PLANNING:

Restore Strategic Communication

Open community meetings to solicit direct feedback from parents and community members regarding the return to in-person learning.
Offer administrators, teachers, and district employees the opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions either directly in-person or anonymously with questions designed to elicit actionable information.
Identify communication workflows that ensure on-point messaging is sent to the appropriate target audience, using the most efficient medium (email, text, phone, app, etc.).

Restore Transparency

Publish feedback received in the above forums for public review.
Publish for public review detailed timeline(s) of deliverables to ensure a smooth transition back to full in-person learning.
If delays or changes occur, ensure timely and informative updates to families, administrators, teachers, and district employees.

THE VACCINE:

I firmly stand behind the right to make personal health decisions without the interference or condemnation of outside opinions.

I support anyone who chooses to vaccinate. I also support anyone who chooses to abstain.

Curriculum Oversight

HOLD PLEASE...Before we talk curriculum, let me start with the question "Once it's taught, HOW do you expect the children to interpret that information?"

There is so much focus on the "what", and much less importance is placed on the "how" of receiving, processing, and storing the information for future retrieval and use.

Context and critical thinking matters. Questions, differing opinions, depth, and nuance matters. Teaching children "what" to think impedes problem solving and independent thought.

Teaching children how to critically process information, problem solve, and deduce their thoughts are invaluable life skills.

BACK TO CURRICULUM OVERSIGHT

THINGS THAT IMPEDE HEALTHY OVERSIGHT:

Parental Abdication - Curriculum review and feedback has to be a bigger and more immediate priority for parents...HOWEVER...

Curriculum Accessibility - As a working wife and mom of two active kids, if I can and want to make the time to review the curriculum AS IT'S BEING TAUGHT to my child, there should be an accessible, easy to navigate, digestible way to accomplish that goal.

"Parents aren't teachers..." - Well, then I've got news for you, they aren't doing it right. There should never be a clear demarcation between healthy parental involvement and their child's education.

No one should be more invested in a child's education than their parents. And for the children who don't have that, all of the children in DSISD are lucky to have some incredible educators and staff to pick up the slack. But for the parents who DO desire to be healthy contributors to the process, there should always be a seat at the decision making table.

Fiscal Responsibility

The intentional, thoughtful stewardship of resources doesn't have to be complicated. Sometimes it requires hard choices be made, and necessitates constant vigilance and discipline...but it doesn't have to be complicated.

Our district growth is out-pacing the best efforts of well-intentioned "long-term" plans. Meaning, that fiscal agility will be of critical importance in the coming years to ensure our ability to maximize opportunities vs. being caught off-guard by the unexpected. These days, the only thing we CAN expect is the unexpected. As my great-grandmother used to say, "plan accordingly".

A "use it or lose it" approach to budgetary spending is a recipe for wasting valuable resources. Just because "it's in the budget", doesn't mean it has to be spent (with the exception of course of some state/federal money...doesn't change my point, it's still wasteful).

Protecting alternate revenue streams such as leasing facilities to youth sports organizations brings families and the community together, increases available youth sports, and supports the schools in which OUR children attend.

Expect

more.