Advocating for Parents

We have some outstanding and amazing teachers here in Mead who are dedicated to the education of their students. But let’s be clear, parents are the primary stakeholder in their child’s education. Amazing teachers and involved parents aren’t exclusive ideas, and they shouldn’t be in competition.

People see what is happening in school districts all across the nation and right here in our own state. It’s natural for parents to question how our district handles issues they see in the national media. They want someone who will address concerns when their child’s education may not don’t reflect their personal beliefs – without having to defend the institution of education.

Academic Achievement

Nationwide, as a result of the Covid pandemic, we saw academic achievement and test scores drop. Fortunately, Mead has a slightly better story to tell than the state and national average. In part because we were one of the first districts to re-open school so that students could learn in person. But we still have some learning makeup to do to get back on track.

From the board level, this involves supporting new ideas in various ways our stellar teachers and staff are being creative and exhibiting best practices when it comes to teaching.

Budget & Strategy

Ensuring taxpayers understand the value they are receiving for their investment in Mead Schools.

Ensuring that taxpayers receive the best value for their investment of tax dollars in Mead Schools.

Mead, and nearly every other district in the county and state, is facing budget challenges that are a combination of factors including: decreasing enrollment, state requirements that require funding out of our existing budget, combined with basic inflation and rising expenses that are affecting us all.

We need to be very strategic in aligning our budget with community priorities. Mead residents have high expectations for the Mead Education experience. In fact, it’s the number one reason people buy property in our district, because of the quality of our schools. That means we need to continue focusing on expanding programs like our various learning options, and future pathway training, beyond just college. Not to mention, the impressive list of academic achievements that come out of our district. And fantastic extracurricular options like the vast number of State level competitive teams and individual athletes, award-winning performing arts groups and individual performers, other award-winning programs like debate, DECA, sports medicine, cheerleading, and more – there is quite a long list!

These things all require careful attention to funding to make sure that all these programs stay strong, and that the Mead experience, with strong academics at the core, live up to our communities’ expectations.  

So, back to the two points above: I am committed to ensuring taxpayers understand the value they are receiving for their investment in Mead Schools and ensuring that taxpayers receive the best value for their investment of tax dollars in Mead Schools.

Local Decision Making

We live in Washington State, which means we constantly deal with the bureaucrats in Olympia trying to force their way of thinking onto local school districts. Whether it’s sex ed standards or COVID mandates, parents want someone at the local level, on the school board, who can stand up for parents’ rights and viewpoints.

Transparency

As one of your Mead School Board members, I am committed to leading with trasparency. I led to make sure that all of our board meetings are recorded.

I believe that all curriculum should be available on our public website. We should also have public scorecards for every grade in every school. And public input and oversight of library materials is a must.