I feel a lot of the community would be more involved if they knew how to, and I will provide the tools for them to do that be it through newsletters, monthly town hall meetings, social media outlets, and active communication with local PTOs and parent groups. We do not have that currently for district 3 and I know my experience in project management, requiring me to bring in people from all over the business will help me achieve this.
I am already taking efforts to bring down the us vs them walls currently existing on the board by engaging all the board members (with a few to go). I have already begun having conversations with most of the current board members on what they feel can be done to repair this.
Lastly, I feel the board can do a better job at supporting their own employee by showing a degree of respect. I would like to see a session happen between the board and Dr. Looney to not just do a performance review, but also have an open conversation on how the board can help him achieve the items on the school vision plan.
2) Addressing growth.
The planning commission does a wonderful job at projecting capacity rates into the future based on current and active development projects. I feel there is an opportunity to work more closely with local developers and what their plans 2-3 years are. We can not build schools ahead of time but we can begin to scout out land and discuss what we would need should the projects move forward.
I plan to achieve this by building a network with local developers, local BOMAs and businesses to work with them to optimize placement of new schools. We need a stronger partnership in this area to get ahead of the growth instead of always responding to it. Land use and sponsorship to build schools in larger developments that are designed to appeal to the younger family demographic. As a result this will ensure buyers have access to schools that are not overcrowded which will increase street appeal home values.
3) Giving freedom back to teachers in their classrooms.
I don’t like to throw buzz words around such as “high stakes testing” but that is one of the root causes of teachers not being able to teach to unique needs of their classrooms. As a board member I will support the superintendent in his efforts to push back against the state testing until they get their act together. I am confident that there are viable alternatives to explore in order to provide accountability back to the state. We are limited on options on refusing testing because of how funding works but I believe the board can move forward with a unified front to make a stance.
I will also keep teachers in mind when voting on policy on if it could hinder their success or be burdensome in the classrooms.