What is your connection to the Tosa community?

I have lived in Tosa my whole life. My mom and her five siblings grew up across the street from Tosa east, and they all followed the Lincoln, Longfellow, East path and then I went to Lincoln, Longfellow, and East. And now I have four children that are following that same Lincoln, Longfellow, and East path. So we’ve kind of always been planted in Tosa. 

Why are you running for school board?

I care a lot about schools. I’m a teacher, obviously, and so as my kids have progressed through the schools, I’ve kind of stepped up and been on a lot of strategic planning for the Task Force. I was also on the safety committee, and I’ve gotten involved in the schools and seen that if you really want to make a change or to have an impact and a voice and a vote, you have to be on the school board. So as a parent and an active community member, I can push for academics or programming that I think is good for students, but in the end, I don’t get a say unless I’m on the school board, I’m trying to run for the school board so that I can make more of an impact on the things that I think will benefit kids in Tosa.

What unique professional or personal perspective would you bring to the board?

Well, being a teacher brings the teacher views on it. And I think that the teacher perspective is an important one, because I live this. I know when I look at staff surveys, and the teachers are saying things on the surveys, like only 60% of them think their professional development applies to what they’re teaching. That, to me, is a red flag. You’re not as happy in your profession if you don’t feel like your time is being used well, and you feel like you’re not supported. So I think I could bring some professional perspectives there and I’ve also done trainings, like I went to AVID Institute in the summer, and I’m AVID trained so I think I can bring some value in that aspect.

What has our school board and district done well recently?

So they’ve been making changes to curriculum, and I do think that they’re doing some great things that are benefiting kids. For example, we have a new ELA curriculum that goes along with science and reading. I think that’s beneficial to students. I also think that they have improved the safety in the buildings from what I’m understanding and being on the safety committee, I think we’re making some strides in the cell phone department, maybe not at the high school level, but definitely at the lower levels. And I think that those are all areas where obviously the work’s not done, but we’re working toward something better for students, better learning environments, and better community advocacy there. I think that the community is kind of coming around to more ideas of being open to less cell phones and being open to more engaging academics.

What do you want to bring to Tosa schools? Are there any changes that you want to make happen?

Well, I would love for Tosa to pick up the AVID program again in their secondary schools. I think that it really grabs those kids that are not motivated on their own, but could be great students, and gives them the skills they need. I would love to see that. I think there are great programs in Tosa when it comes to things like, band, orchestra, theater, all of those things. I definitely think that those can be introduced into the younger grades, where theater could have a production in an elementary school. I think the recreational department does something like that. I also taught some Project Lead the Way classes last year, and I just think that that can really bring something new to the district. It’s such an amazing opportunity.

How will you ensure that students’ perspectives are represented on the school board?

Well, right now, they have student representatives, which was awesome, because they bring a unique perspective. I remember being there and when they were talking about putting seventh and eighth grades into the high school and the student representatives had very opinionated answers to that, and it was a perspective I hadn’t thought about as an adult, necessarily. So I think that listening to the student representatives is great.

Are there any fun facts about yourself that you’d like to share?

I was a swimmer in high school and the swim coach is still there. Shout out to Ross. I am also a downhill skier and I still water ski. I also student taught in Australia so I lived there and got to experience how they do school. And it was very, very interesting to see how they do their assessments. But that was like 10 years ago, or more than 14 years ago, so a long time ago.