My opponent

My opponent says “On the School Board, I will make sure our schools are preparing students to understand the world around them, think critically, and help build a stronger, more sustainable future.”

Well, guess what? We already do that. What are the actual things the next School Board members will do that is within their job description? I am amazed at the vague goals I read on many campaign flyers.

Our community wants to hear about solutions, not excuses for getting our public schools back on the right track. Our schools aren’t broken but they are limping along and need major maintenance. No more excuses about low birth rates. We must tackle what we can control. Yes, neighborhoods are aging so we need to look in the mirror at what we can do, to bring students and adults back to public schools.

My plan of Action As District 3 School Board Member

1) We will do exit surveys for students and their parents, who chose other options like home schools, or charter and private schools. Then we will review the data.

2) We will advertise all options because we don’t advertise the choices within our public schools. Our communication department must do better, if employees and parents don’t know about our virtual ed, magnet schools, micro schools, commuter schools, career tech colleges, dual enrollment courses for college credit with paid internships. We need to let the public know what is available if we want them to return.

3) We will put teachers and staff together with students and parents for a think tank, to come up with choices to meet the needs of our community. The traditional school needs an upgrade and I believe we can do it. Parents want their children to enter the world able to support themselves and maybe a family if they want one. Traditional schools had a good run, let’s design the schools of our future and embrace the changes.

4) Safety-The number one issue for parents when it comes to safety is bullying. We need to creat a safe space in all OCPS schools and take any report of bullying seriously with stronger consequences. That must be a top priority in our schools.

5) Pay our teachers and employees a livable wage. We can’t be a top district, if we don’t do for our employees, with what we want for our students. It must be a priority. We have the money so it’s about priorities. We don’t need a travel agent, or 20 district police who sit downtown to be liaisons for the SR Officers and local law enforcement. We don’t have the need for that many officers and cars downtown.

Our IT department just changed the system of buying chrimebooks to leasing them, taking the burden off of hiring techs for repairs. Now the leasing company does the repairs and OCPS saved thousands. Why not offer any employee who can come up with such a solution to save tax payer money with a 10% of salary one time bonus? Performance pay is supposedly good for teachers, so why not the staff at the ELC?