Issues

Engaging and Empowering Academic Environments

Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, and that should be reflected in every decision our School Board makes. To me, that means the academic environments within our schools must reflect the diversity of the world outside them, and should promote learning that allows our children views into the ideas, perspectives, and realities of our dynamic and varied culture. Unfortunately, a majority of the current Board has advocated for policies that deny our children these opportunities, sacrificing the quality of their learning environments in favor of personal political agendas. The present and future interests of our children demand that we empower them with the information, tools and resources to grow both academically and personally.

Transparency in Policy Development and Decision-Making

Our schools chart the course for our children’s futures, and as such, are a vital part of our community. Given their importance, our School Board is obligated to provide true transparency in its policy development and decision-making on those issues that impact our students. Policies developed by the Board should be thoroughly researched and carefully developed, and the stakeholders such as teachers and students -- those who will be forced to live with those policies -- appropriately engaged for their feedback. A majority of our Board members have disregarded this obligation in favor of rapidly pushing policies through the approval process, avoiding discussion on the merits of the policy to be implemented and leaving a wake of confusion for those unclear on the mechanics of implementation. Our children deserve better than this. The Board should not be allowed to sacrifice the future of our children for the sake of political gamesmanship.

Teacher Support

Our children’s future success and the impact they will have on their own communities as adults is in significant part a result of their experiences as students. These experiences are guided first and foremost by their teachers, who devote their own lives to ensuring the future success and well-being of our children. In order to enable teachers to do their jobs in the most effective way possible, it is in turn the responsibility of the Board to ensure that teachers have the necessary training and resources to support all children and all learning abilities, in a way that allows them to keep up with innovation and advancement in the educational field. This also means listening to the voice of teachers on issues of concern, and implementing policies that take those concerns into consideration before they are implemented.