Addressing Budget shortfalls will be a multimodal approach and will continue upon the presently unfolding deficit reduction plan:

• School consolidations: the district is 69% enrolled, with previously stated goals of 80-85%, some schools will need to be consolidated to balance cost per student per year across the district. If elected, I will ensure that this is a fair and transparent process and that the same criteria for consolidation consideration would apply to all schools. Some of the criteria I would consider:

• Maintenance and repair costs of physical building

• Proximity to other schools

• Cost per student per year of the school

• Special programs housed within the school

• Voices of the families

• Expected movements of involved students and families 

• Transportation contract re-evaluation and consideration of alternative options 

• Continual evaluation of central administration size and scope

• Technology in the classroom review and policy re-evaluation (potential savings in tech costs or cost sharing opportunities)

• I am not supportive of laying off our highly qualified teaching staff. School consolidations will require more teachers

These are some of the primary cost savings that will be focused on if I am elected to the board. This list is not exhaustive though and my general goals would be to ensure stable financial standing so we can focus on the task at hand, which is providing a high quality education to the children of District 65.

Curricular decisions cannot be made solely at the central administration level. Input from experienced educators that remain in the field is absolutely vital. 

• Strengthening and re-initiating the Curricular Advisory Committee (CAC) should be a priority 

• The CAC should include teaching staff in each subject area and relevant administrators 

• Public input can be collected at regular meetings and by survey of the district. We need to have clear expectations and measurable outcomes associated with all curricula 

• I don’t think we should be purchasing the newest and ‘shiniest’ curriculum and should strive to implement a curriculum with the highest degree of evidence supporting its use 

• Changing the curriculum frequently in any subject may harm academic outcomes and these decisions need to be well thought out and have a high quality implementation

• I would also seek information and feedback from the CAC to appropriately choose outcomes measures

• Not all outcomes measures are the same and they need to be validated within the education literature

• I also do not think we should rely on one metric/matrix to inform our understanding of education/resource/achievement gaps in the district as these gaps may be a complex combination of multiple social determinants (i.e. race, ethnicity, family support, family income, # of parents at home, extracurriculars, etc.)

• Limitations and scope of all matrices and outcomes measures should be acknowledged and at the end of the day, we need to be doing what we think is right for that student and teacherThe system may be well intentioned but the rollout has been poor and communication with families and teachers lacking. It should be very clear what a student has to do in order to get the EX and ME scores and the parents/teachers/students should be better educated. I think a grading system training document for use at parent teacher conferences could be centrally developed by admin and reviewed with parents at the parent teacher conferences, taking 3-5 minutes. These trainings could review basic SBG   information, what the student needs to improve upon, what they can do to get better scores, what they are doing well at, and any other information that may inform high-school readiness. Receiving an EX score should be obtainable and how to do it should not be a mystery. The district needs to be explicit, informed, and intentional about decisions like SBG being made and follow through with strong and informed implementation.

These programs are of high importance and a high priority top have sustainable options available for students. I think that they will be easier to sustain and keep enrolled and strong when school consolidations occur and target enrollments per school are met. Quality should be measured regularly with a standardized set of expectations and training maintained for those who facilitate the programs, or expanded as needed. Subsidies for these programs can continue to be provided and expanded for those who are prohibited from participation due to cost. I think partnering with community organizations such as the Public Library and the YMCA could be beneficial in expanding access and maintaining high quality programs.

I would first talk to the teachers and see how student misbehavior is managed across the district. At the same time soliciting feedback on what they think works best for behavioral interventions in the classroom. I would help to establish clear expectations regarding the process for managing behavior symptoms in the classroom and ensure it is in accordance with restorative justice principles. I trust teachers to know what is best for their classroom and would use previously described communication strategies to hear what the classrooms need in order to make them more successful. If there are outliers of classrooms or schools across the district that are reporting higher than average behavioral incidents, then those settings would need to be further investigated to determine root cause. The district's financial standing should be strong enough to fully support teachers and students in the classroom. Ensuring that is the case will be a primary objective for the new board.

The mission and vision of the District should be reflected in the Strategic Plan for the District. Periodically, the Strategic Plan should be re-evaluated by the Board during a public Board meeting where the public will have a chance to provide input. Surveying the community, students, and teacher should also be used to solicit feedback. With this feedback, the Board and District can update the Strategic Plan. Then it becomes the job of Board, District, and the community to ensure that policy and central decisions are well in line with the Strategic Plan.

• Fiscal Responsibility

• Academic achievement

• Transparency

• Accountability 

• Integrity – with decision making processes

• Honestly – with all of the stakeholders

Educators and staff voices should be integrated in to all decision making processes without fear of negative impact to their jobs, benefits or pay. This would be done by personal outreach opportunities, establishing open office hours, survey, public meetings and other meetings. Anonymous survey pathways or other information sharing opportunities should be available for educators and staff may provide input on a topic anonymously.

As a Bessie Rhodes parent, I know what it is like for poorly designed plans to be driven forward while your voice remains unheard. Back and forth communication between the District, Board and community is very important to work through difficult decisions and concerns. These need to happen in public for transparency and accountability. I would ensure good governance practices are being followed through decision making processes and that the decisions that are made can be backed up by real information and most importantly, the decisions make sense. If your decisions have a logical approach, are education-focused, data informed and generally make sense, the community will be much more likely to agree with them.

I would encourage the Board and District to make important decision processes Board committees, so they are worked on in public under the Open Meetings Act. I would also encourage that a large portion of the superintendent hiring process be conducted in public and there be several opportunities for members of the community to ask questions in a public setting. I would hold open office hours and be available to the public for questions and when it comes time to make tough decisions, there will be clear and reasonable structure as to why the decision was made including facts, stakeholder feedback and all other relevant information.