Occupation
Chief Marketing Officer
Involvement with the school district (employment, kids in the system, volunteer, appointed or elected roles):
Mom of 2 (K and 4th), volunteer to read and room parent, Student Improvement Team/Parent Leadership Team for the 3 years helping oversee goals and plans to reach school level goals alongside principals and teachers.
Political experience:
N/A
Education and/or political advocacy groups you’re affiliated with:
EqualityNC Endorsement and CMAE
Other relevant experience:
Success Business Executive and only candidate who is C-Suite level as a Chief Marketing Officer leading multi-location business with large, complex budgets.
Political affiliation:
Democrat
What actions should the school board take to improve outcomes for students and schools that are performing below expectations?
1. Hire the right superintendent that has the right experience, track record, and references that show they are committed to CMS's success by improving student outcomes and ready to take on a challenge where we are falling short not only for our students but willing to creates an environment where teachers and staff are heard and valued.
2: Create the goals and guidelines to improve student achievement and constantly measure the progress. We have to be thorough and transparent about what is working and what is not so we adjust quickly to meet our student's needs.
3. Make sure the superintendent has the right people in the right positions and is creating an infrastructure where all employees are valued and heard to help achieve the goals which being held accountable.
4. Reallocate funding and resources based on student needs and work to increase funding through the county and corporate relations in the short-term and state longer-term.
5. Work towards retaining and recruiting experienced teachers and staff by improving wages and work environment with better leadership, policies, and funding.
What are the district’s most significant funding needs, and what should the board do to meet them?
The budget's biggest need is an increase in resources including making sure teachers have a livable wage and we increase headcount to support our kids and student outcomes. We need to retain and add more experienced teachers. There is also a need for more in-classroom support staff to meet our student needs to achieve their highest potential. Data shows more experience teachers and staff improve the overall performance of students. Need to work on a proper plan and develop deeper relationships with the County Commissioners to fund the budget fully considering over 70% of the county when surveyed said we need to increase our investment in our schools and kids. We also need to work with corporate leadership in Charlotte to start to invest in Charlotte the same way the Charlotte community has invested in their business's success. Finally, push the state to improve funding by working with the legislatures and other school boards to gain their support and fully support Leandro Case.
How would you rate current leadership of the district (board and superintendent)? What changes would you propose?
Student Outcomes: D based on recent scores and delay in putting goals and measurements in place to hold leadership accountable
Superintendent/Board Leadership: F based on 7 superintendent changes over the past 10 years, inability to get the County to fund fully budget requests, decrease in teacher and staff satisfaction and retention, community trust is low with the outcomes and lack of transparency and communication. It goes back to have the right leadership on the board to work collectively for the community and has the experience to guide such a large organization focused on the success of our kids.
What should the board do to improve safety for students and employees?
The bigger question is what should the community do to make safety improvements for students and employees. We need to start by listening to the community about how they think we improve safety. What I hear from parents is there is a need for more support staff to support all of the kid's needs which means more funding for the county and state. We need more classroom staff, counselors, and psychologists to make sure we are meeting all of our student's needs academically, socially, and emotionally. We need to teach our kids to openly communicate and say something when they see something which I know is part of the training today. Beyond securing our schools to limit entry, body scanners, and safety classroom protocols we need the local county and city support to make sure we have the proper safety procedures and law enforcement support when needed for traffic and on premise school activities.
Are there additional issues, themes or characteristics that you see as central in your campaign?
The role of the board is to represent the community. That means being the voice and driving outreach and engagement to understand what value and foresee is best for our kids and schools. There is a lack of community engagement and transparency today. Being a marketing expert, I can help the board create better strategies and ways to listen and work with the community. We also need to make sure our superintendent creates the proper communication channels throughout all of CMS down to the employee level and parents. They need to feel heard and have their feedback valued. School board members also lack the leadership experience to handle such a large organization. CMS is 180 schools, with almost 20,000 employees, supporting 140,000 kids with a $2 Billion Annual Budget to operate the schools and over $3B in capital needed to build and update school facilities through bond proposals next year. We need business leadership that has a successful track record of driving strategies and performance improvement plans by setting the right goals and vision, hiring the right leadership who builds the right team, and securing and managing complex budgets to make sure we are operating properly and investing correctly in the right things. I have that experience as a business executive for successful Charlotte-based businesses and I am the only candidate with c-suite experience as a Chief Marketing Officer. We need to make sure the success of Charlotte is seen in our children and we need to forge stronger community, county, and corporate relationships to help support CMS further.