Kennewick School Board District 1

COVID. Protection for kids. Supporting & listening to families.

First and foremost I believe my experience as an educator and passion for learning would be an asset to the board. Secondly, I am concerned about the partisan stances and rhetoric taken by the current KSB and wish to return the focus back to core academics, school safety, and fiscal responsibility.

Learning, Budget, Healthy Food

1. Improve reading and math scores. While the current board brags about the increase in "parent engagement" only around 30% of third graders in Kennewick can read at grade level. Parents should be engaging with the school board in flooding the board with questions about their children's learning! 2. Increase counseling and mental health supports for students. Thousands of Kennewick students reported being depressed, anxious, or even considering suicide in the Healthy Youth Survey, and yet this school board chose to prematurely end a contract for school-based mental health counselors and my opponent has vowed to eliminate Social and Emotional Learning. I will work to increase mental health support for students. 3. Redefining fiscal responsibility. It's about using the existing budget wisely. Instead of dumping our students’ limited resources into fighting the culture war and having such a large School Board budget ($400,000+) let's reinvest in school safety, teaching and learning, and mental health support.

The role of any school board is to set the direction for the district and the superintendent and administration execute the will of the board. That is how the relationship works. Ultimately, the board is responsible for all aspects of the district and all students. My goal is to make sure all students graduate with a love for our country and skills to compete at the next level whether that be a trade, collect, business, etc.

Half of Kennewick students reported a “low commitment to school” in the healthy youth survey and we’re losing too many to dropping out. According to OSPI, 41% of 9th graders in Kennewick fell behind on credit in their 1st year. To address these serious issues, we need to help all students see that school is where they make their dreams for the future come true. We need to expand vocational and career training, internships, and partnerships with trade unions and local business. We need to seek out innovative ways to credit vocational coursework so students can get ahead on careers while also earning their required credits. We need to make sure that our talented special education teachers want to stay in the classroom by relieving paperwork burdens and giving them the resources they need to support their students. We need to expand offerings at our alternative and choice schools, and we need to make sure that EVERY SINGLE student feels safe, known, and valued every day at school. If I’m elected, my priorities will be to focus on making sure that the needs of every student are met.

1. Budget/Funding 2. Increasing learning after COVID 3. Installing a mindset of excellence in everything attached to the school.

1. Academic success for every learner: Focus resources on teaching and learning; recruit, train, and retain the best teachers in the area; offer diverse programs for diverse learners, including alternative and choice schools, amply supported special education classrooms, and expanded vocational and professional offerings. 2. Safety: Restore mental health counselors in schools, support Communities in Schools social workers, and support Social and Emotional Learning programs. Open communication with students, staff, parents, and community members about threats. Finding ways to foster a sense of inclusion and community in every school. Ensuring that safety systems and personnel in place for emergency situations are sound, understood, and ready to go in a crisis. 3. Ending the constant drama and controversy that has embroiled the school board for the past few years: It’s not safe, responsible, or affordable to put students and teachers in the crossfire of the culture wars. The school board needs to be a non-partisan body that works collaboratively with the entire community to support all our children. They are our community’s future, and we are wasting their resources on needless conflict.