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Why I'm Running for School Board
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IPSD 204 Belongs to the Community In my 3+ years attending school board meetings there has been little communication or reaching
out to the community and I have witnessed this get worse. The IPSD School Board and Superintendent needs
to be proactive and communicate better with the parents, the community and staff of IPSD. The school board needs to
listen, learn and understand public opinion to help them make better policy decisions. D204 needs to share
more with the public and community and get rid of executive session except in the case of legally sensitive issues.
Post more info about how IPSD school board decisions were reached. I will listen to those who communicate with
the SB to better represent the entire community. I will always try to improve myself as a board member through school
board development opportunities. My role as a school board member is to first and foremost represent
all those that I serve in IPSD 204 equally and honestly. It is also my job to stay informed about issues
locally, at the state level, nationally and globally. I understand what the responsibilities
of a school board member are and the time and commitment it requires, and I plan to dedicate that time and more to make the
community feel part of the SD again. |
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Financial Accountability and Transparency To keep the school board accountable and to facilitate collaboration resulting
in smarter fiscal resolutions on important issues, programs and dollars allocated. We are faced with a tough fiscal
crisis, low CPI (consumer price index) and reduced or slow to pay state and federal public school funding. We need to evaluate new ways in which we can cut our operating
budget before we are forced to do so as other school districts in our area are now trying to do as they are over budget.
We need to look from the top down and find ways to cut wasted spending and stop rubber stamping everything that comes across
the school board members' desk. Worst case scenario D204 could be looking at a $6 million deficit by the end of 2009-2010. Low CPI
rate of 0.1% from 4.1 the previous year has our district receiving millions less in property taxes. Property tax revenue makes
up 77% of the D204 budget . Teacher and support staff salaries make up 80% of IPSD’s overall budget payout, so
we have to look to first look at that other 20% to cut costs. We need to consider outside financial consultants and their
recommendations. I’m open to considering all creative cost cutting suggesting as long as it doesn’t affect our
children and their learning environment. As long as it doesn't affect our children no cuts are off limits in my
mind as long as it preserves the quality of our schools and school district. At
this point I would not consider taxes or another referendum. |
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Student Success To be diligent and dedicated in improving student achievement
for every student in D204 while encouraging parent and community involvement in school programs. I think we need to
take a bigger look at closing the achievement gap between our students and this needs to be a priority to benefit every student
in our district. Continually challenge our high performing students while creating programs to better develop our
low performing students. Much like D204 has already done with Title
1 schools we need to implement a parental involvement plan across the district for all under achieving students and/or any
students or families that would like to participate. Implemented by subject matter and supported by teaching staff for
each subject area. At the local school level subject area workshops would be created for those lower performing students or
those wishing to participate. Establish ways to effectively communicate with parents, identify tools for improving performance
and monitoring progress. Finally, seek input from parents. Parental involvement improves the success of our children. I plan
on recommending this if I become a school board member to be rolled out to our entire district. |
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