As a public school educator and proud parent of two young Braves, I’m deeply invested in providing all children a quality education. I believe all kids can learn and deserve to learn in an environment that fosters creativity and original thinking. Education is not some temporary season of our lives, it instills in us lifelong skills which follow us into both our professional and personal lives. This is why I want to be a part of helping shape a culture of education at USD 204 by serving on the school board.
Whether you have children in the district or not, a quality education for the rising generations in Bonner Springs/Edwardsville should be a top priority for all of us. These are our future nurses, electricians, law-makers, and, yes, educators we're talking about. I want to encourage wider and more meaningful community engagement with our school district and our students. After all, our futures are tied to their futures.
There is a fine line between technology being a tool and technology becoming a tyrant. I want to make sure our schools are equipping our students with a comprehensive and progressively age-appropriate curriculum that prepares them to engage with the rapidly changing world of technology. From educating our kids on the social/ethical implications of AI use, to practical training in real-world applications of this technology, we need to critically engage our students in continual conversations about the benefits and harms of technology. Tragically, we’ve traded No Child Left Behind for “No Child Left Offline.” Screen time in the classroom should be the exception, not the norm. Instead of a device in every hand, we'd place a book. It’s time to return to the basics.
I’m a little bit old school. In my English classroom, we keep it simple: read, think, write, share. I don’t need a costly school-wide app for that, and research has proven that focusing on these fundamental skills is connected not only to future work success, but also overall happiness in life. Who doesn’t want that for our kids? I know our teachers are committed to preparing our students to the best of their abilities, but in looking at our state test scores, it appears our students need to buy into this narrative too. What the data shows on KSDE’s performance report card is that proficiency levels across the district are below Kansas state averages, especially in core subjects. In 2024, only 20% of our students were reading at an effective level of comprehension, 18% were effective in their math skills, and only 17% were scoring at the effective level in science – these numbers are all down from the previous school year. The majority percentage of our students tested at the bottom level of proficiency in every subject. These scores are disappointing, but I believe there are practical, concrete things we can do to help students do their best on these obligatory tests. I have been part of testing initiatives that fostered real improvement in test scores by improving student morale around testing. With more student buy-in, we will have more reliable results/data to help us understand the true level of our students’ abilities and a better guide on how we can continue to help them.
Have questions or suggestions? I would love to hear from you!