I believe in a life where we give back as much or more than we take. My family has received a lot from this community and I want to use my experience, skills and motivation to make a difference. I want to hear from parents, teachers, staff and the community to find a way to work even better together. When we work together, we will produce outcomes that make this school district and community a great place to be. All of this while being mindful of our finances, being okay with differences of opinions, setting expectations between all of us and have discourse in a civil manner with respect. Education gave me the opportunities that I am eternally grateful for. I want the same for my children and all children in the district.

I have no formal background in public education. I am only a product of the public education system with a High School Diploma and a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at UW-Madison (Go Badgers!)

[Communication & Perception]: I believe one of the largest issues facing our district is communication & perception. When I put in my candidacy for school board, I started to research how the school board works, the people involved, the school district, district parents and community organizations. What I found is that we as a community have a shared sense of values and are having trouble relaying our thoughts with each other. As a result, there is a lack of trust between the Board, Administration and the community. There have been great strides with transparency such as having past board business available to reference via the internet. What I would do is bring it to the next level and find ways to engage our groups.

[Community Involvement]: Having people participate and volunteer is another area we could use some improvement on. Although many families are generous financially, it has been getting more and more difficult to find people to contribute their time and talents. I feel when you are a part of something, you are more vested in its success. I know many people have full schedules so let’s see if we can find ways for people to contribute.

[Operational Efficiency]: I think with any place, there are always ways to make things work better. If we are asking someone for something - do we question why it’s needed and would it provide value. We have a limited budget, people and time - I would like to help build a culture of taking another look at how things work and not doing it because “we have always done it that way”.

[Student Success]: We have many strengths as a school district. Our biggest strength is the focus on student success. We do our best to give each student the opportunity to do their best. If a student is struggling, we put measures in place to help them get to where they need to be. It goes the other way as well, if student isn’t as challenged academically, there are also measures in place to have them excel. We also recognize that academics isn’t the only way to a fulfilling career after they leave the our district. We have programs that focus on the trades and other opportunities that explore the possibilities of what they can do post high school

[Great staff]: We have a group of dedicated individuals who make this a great environment for our students. Our teachers work tirelessly to make the classroom and education experience great. Aside from our teachers, we have our support staff that are dedicated as well. If you have ever met our aides, office staff, maintenance staff and even our lunch stuff, you will see a group of individuals who are devoted to making this a great place for the children and community

[Desire for excellence]: I feel we have a desire to strive for excellence. It shows up in all areas, from district administration, to teachers, support staff and the children. I see a large list of AP classes that kids are taking, closing a budget shortfall, kitchen staff making our kid’s hot lunches from scratch, aides who provide phenomenal support, kids pushing their limits in athletics, STEM clubs building the next generation of technology, office staff who keep the lights on and our schools running, exploring our artistic programs with music and theater, maintenance staff that do their best to make our facilities great with what we have and district administration that make difficult decisions. We don’t settle for “average” - we want to see what is possible.

I am an engineer and learner at heart and have discovered that public education funding is a complex system with many moving parts. It appears that there are systems in place to ensure that districts have a similar playing field as it relates to financing. Revenue limits, per pupil costs and local property taxes are some of the factors that impact where funding comes from. To answer the question of my thoughts: with what I know now, I feel like we are doing what we can to give each child a chance to get an education to give them a chance to be successful. From AP programs to even funding kids with special needs, it shows that we are trying to do our best

I do believe in public education and sometimes public services offered don’t meet the needs of what the family is looking for. The voucher/school choice program is a way for them to get what they are looking for. Could it be seen as “taking money away” from our school district? Of course it does - but we can use that as motivation to make our schools attractive for everyone to send their children to. I do understand that there are cases where no matter what we do, we will never be able to reach families who have strong personal beliefs on the type of education that their children receive.

Each case of alleged censorship is unique and I would handle them each individually as well as get the perspective from opposing viewpoints. I feel that we should leave politics and personal biases out of decisions made and be representative of our values. At the end of the day, the district needs to adhere to policies that have been defined as well as following state educational standards or could face consequences. It is up to the board, district and community to find the best way to educate our children. I would weigh all of the factors of policy, potential violations, community opinion, staff & educational opinion, factual information and make a decision of what’s right for the students and staff

It is unfortunate that there are issues with potentially toxic behavior. That is something that shouldn’t be the case in any workplace. How I would address the situation is to understand more of what the toxic behavior is and more importantly, what is causing it. Sometimes there is misinterpretation of what someone is trying to convey and in these days, it’s even harder to interpret intent in digital communication. Sometimes as adults, we express toxic behavior because we are under pressure or there is just isn’t a healthy relationship between the parties. So what I would do is assume positive intent of the individuals. If I am not overstepping my bounds, I would try to find out more about the behavior and see if there are any trends to make sure it isn’t just an isolated incident. If there are systemic and chronic behaviors, I would expect our HR/Personnel to bring it to the Boards attention and we would act accordingly.

We use many indicators to see if what we are doing is working and education is no different. Right now, we use various methods to measure academic performance. We also have dedicated staff at the district office whose purpose is to ensure our student’s achievement and are well versed in learning methods. And at the front lines, we have our teachers who observe the day to day and can make some determinations of how technology is impacting students. My thought is that if there was any indication that technology was adversely impacting student achievement, we would address it.

My main budget priority is anything that would lead to enhancing the educational experience with a pragmatic and thoughtful approach. I know this is a generic answer but having a spending plan in place and adjusting when the unexpected happens is the reality. If we only focus on the singular, we will lose sight of the whole. As an example, our buildings and grounds will always have a need. There was a plan put in place to identify and prioritize work based on need, funding and timing. This is something I would have fully supported. Another example would be the need to hire a consultant to do a curriculum review to ensure we are up to standards. That could be something that is a few years out and we would tentatively plan for that as well If I am elected, I would be a steward to our tax dollars and I will always look for the best value when possible.

I would address the needs by helping giving support to where it’s needed. We have everything from our special needs children, children who perform at all levels from low, standard and high and outside activities and interests. I do understand support and needs is pretty broad so I’ll give some examples. With financial support, it could be something from district or finding non-profits. If it’s something like outside interest clubs and groups, it could be finding them the resources they need like a room or volunteer support. If it’s educational, I would leave it up to the expert staff to tell us what is needed there and how we can help

The primary roles I believe the community should play in education of children is to be involved or to be aware. I completely understand we all have our own situations in relation to schools in this community. We have people who have had, currently have or don't have any children in the district. Just like any other group, everyone is a part of the community here. If you do have kids in the district, be involved and up to date on the things that are important to you and that impact. If you don’t have kids or don’t have any involvement in the district or school, I would say be aware of the great things that are going on that make this community great!