Please list your occupation.
I was a teacher in CMS before becoming a stay-at-home parent when I had my daughter. Now I would say my occupation is a community advocate.
Please list your connections to or involvement with CMS (children in the district, PTO experience, etc.).
I taught both middle and high school students during my time teaching in CMS. Now, I volunteer with my HOA to host events for the children in our neighborhood and have volunteered with other local organizations to help with school supply distribution and have back to school events.
Please list your political experience and any education or political advocacy groups you’re affiliated with.
While I have no political experience before this, I have been the chair of my department when teaching and am very comfortable with leadership and advocacy roles. I was a member of NCAE early in my teaching career and have most recently been involved with Red, Wine, and Blue and Indivisible CLT, as well as their sub-group CLT Engage. I am also affiliated with EducateUS and Run For Something.
Please list any other relevant professional experience.
Before formally teaching, I volunteered as an outreach educator with Piedmont Wildlife Center in Durham and with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. I also worked as a substitute teacher in Wake County and as a preschool teacher at the Goddard School. I hold a Bachelors in Agriculture Education and a Master's in Montessori Education. Most importantly, every single day in the classroom (and often outside of it) was an important professional experience that I will bring to the board.
Why do you want to serve on the school board?
As a parent, it occurred to me that the thought of sending my daughter to the nearby public schools made me somewhat uncomfortable. I had to ask myself "why?" I found the answer was two-fold. 1. I was not certain she would be kept safe, in many ways. Would her emotional needs be met with patience and empathy? Would she be kept safe from the trauma of an immigration agent coming in and snatching her crying friends away forever? Would she be protected from bullying? Would she be immersed in a healthy, diverse cultural experience where she has access to books and materials that represent all kinds of people? These things all matter to me in the education I want for my kid. 2. How will I find out or know if these things are being addressed? The lack of communication from the district and the schools out to the community is concerning. Even when asked direct questions, our current board has evaded real, honest answers. Public education should be the absolute most transparent entity that exists in our society.
With these 2 big issues weighing on me, I knew I could be the change I wanted to see. I want to serve on the board to bring safety and transparency to CMS for all our students and families.
Name one thing you feel CMS currently does well and one thing you would push the district to improve.
I think the district raises test scores well. They have applauded themselves significantly for this fact. I would push them to improve the sense of safety for our students first and foremost.
In your opinion, what is the CMS school board’s most important function?
The technically correct answer is "to improve student outcomes," which is a function I can agree with, but only when student outcomes are based on more than test scores. Where are the metrics for emotional regulation skills, social skills, and critical thinking skills? Those are the outcomes I care more about than test scores.
What do you think should be CMS’ biggest funding priority? Where should that funding come from?
The biggest funding priority should be teacher pay. Period. That funding can come mostly from the NC General Assembly who needs to be pushed to give us more, since they've been lacking for a long time and haven't even passed a budget for this year yet. We can also provide a bit more from our own local budget by re-evaluating the contracts we're spending on and ensuring that every contract is both needed and cannot be gotten for cheaper.
There has recently been uncertainty around school funding from both the state and federal levels. What actions, if any, should the school board take to navigate this uncertainty?
As said above, ensuring that what we're spending on is necessary and getting the best price for what we need. The school board also needs to push harder at the General Assembly, including using their positions as a way to gather community members and groups to advocate en-masse for the funding. Additionally, leaning on and organizing community volunteer support for the schools to help ease the strain our teachers and staff experience.
How can the board support the closing of performance gaps between high- and low-performing students?
The school board needs to look at factors that create and widen performance gaps. Generally, family income is one of the leading issues. The lower-income families have higher stress and instability and cannot spend as much time supporting their child's education at home. While higher-income families have the emotional capacity and the actual time to devote to supporting their child's education, not to mention the money to hire additional help or provide added resources, if needed. The most effective methods I can see to combat this issue is to ensure that resource distribution in our schools is equitable, with more going to those who need more support. Plus, getting the community volunteers mobilized to provide the extra support to lower-performing students and schools to help close the gap.
The share of students enrolled in public schools is shrinking while private schools and charters have grown in recent years. How should CMS react?
The reasons the interest in private schooling has increased are the perception of public schools being unsafe and the fact that the public is not being made aware of what is happening in the public school system. I have heard the current board lament the amount of misinformation out there, but they are also the ones who need to be doing a better job of getting the correct information out. CMS needs to pass policies that increase student safety, make information transparent and accessible at all times, and get the community involved in supporting the local public schools.