Meet the School Board Members - Questions

Over the last two decades, there has been a dramatic rise in the amount of misinformation and disinformation present in our social media and national discourse. Some experts attribute this rise to a lack of foundational critical thinking and research skills and have linked this trend with increasing societal polarization (Ariely, 2023; see also Rosling et al., 2019; Shermer, 2022;).

If elected or in your next term, what educational initiatives will you take to help improve information literacy, media literacy, and research skills in our students, schools, and community and how do you plan to support and grow District 186's school library programming? 

I think we need to have certified Librarians in all of our schools, as much as possible. We want our teachers to be the best of their fields, and we should see our Librarians the same way, as people who dedicated their careers to a specific area of study. And Librarians are the best people to teach our children how to find peer reviewed studies and factual information, that is probably their favorite part of their job! Librarians could teach our students how to find information and resources for their studies, teach them how to be safe online- protecting their information, social media safety and privacy, but also educating them on the different types of technology and software, as well as their functions, that they might need to use in the work place.

While we work to get librarians in all of the schools, I think we need to partner with local groups, like NHS or other student groups who need volunteer hours and can maintain the libraries and help students find and check out books. I think we could sit down and set a schedule for each school to make sure the Libraries are being maintained by a group so students can visit the Library on a regular basis and hopefully not put that burden on the teachers.

How has tier 2 pension benefits impacted recruitment and retention issues at 186?

I can’t speak from experience as an educator, but as a Union Steward also working under Tier 2, I can speak to how it has affected things from my perspective. Under Tier 2 employees are expected to work much longer than their co-workers, in my case an extra 15 years, to the age of 67. Hard, mentally and physically taxing jobs are now being expected to be done at older ages and for a longer period of time, and at the end of it they get LESS back when they retire, while paying in the same amount as those who get to retire earlier AT a much higher rate. For some teachers, that means they will never be able to afford to retire. This means we will no longer have life long career teachers. Some will teach for a while, because it was their dream, but most will find work elsewhere. 

What do you think are the two greatest challenges facing kids at school or in our society at large?

I don’t think students in this country feel safe anymore. Whether it’s happened in their community or they just see things online, kids are worrying about their safety all the time. Kids have explained how they have trained themselves to access each room they enter for how they can barricade or escape from it. That shouldn’t be their reality.

I also don’t think kids feel listened to today. No one who can enact policy is asking the kids, or the child experts, what they want and need, but everyone wants to use them as their justification for why something should or shouldn’t be done. It has to be incredibly hard to feel like a talking point for someone who has never listened to you or your beliefs.

Describe the largest concern you have with public education?

Perception. I don’t like the way public education is viewed in this country, when it is the best way to prepare you for post secondary education. There are so many people who have complaints about how things are done within their school or district.  Some of those people would rather complain online or to people they know than try to help fix issues they see. Because they aren’t volunteering to help improve things at their schools, things aren’t changing, including their perception of the school or district.. Others talk about the schools not being at the standards they would like, or not having the resources they want for their children, but they also never support any legislation to try to raise more funds for schools either. There are too many people who have complaints about how things are or are not, and they perceive them as the school or districts fault or failing alone. They don’t realize the schools can only be what we help them become.

It is clear not all students go to college.  What will you do effectively to integrate trade skills and vocational education into the middle and high school curriculum to better prepare students for diverse career paths?

I would like to help get students’ hands on experience in these areas. We could work with local programs and businesses to put on career fairs and do classroom visits. Students can learn about the different career opportunities out there, get their hands on the real equipment they would use, and also learn what they will need to do to qualify for and accomplish their goals. We also need to make sure every student and family in the district is aware of all of the different programs and opportunities students can take advantage of in District 186. Knowing there is something to work towards knows no age limit and it can be a real motivator for students.