EDUCATION - TRANSPARENCY - ACCOUNTABILITY
The education of your child is high on the priority list of almost any parent. The education of the next generation of leaders is high on the priority list of any citizen. And the value of "getting what you pay for" is high on the priority list of any taxpayer.
Education
There's little doubt in anyone's mind that the number one priority of any education system ought to be education. Classical, traditional, rigorous education is focused on academics and personal responsibility.
We need a dramatic paradigm shift in our public education system. Students need to be taught how to think, not what to think. The goal is not to supply the job market with assets but to supply society with educated, responsible citizens who think critically and find their own niche.
Transparency
One critical component of any public service is transparency to the taxpayers paying the bills. Where's the money going? Is the entity fulfilling its mission? Who is in control? If there's a problem, how do we fix it?
For too long, the majority of money funding public education has come from the local community, but those funding education have had the least control. It's time to return control of education to those who foot the bill.
Accountability
It seems that modern public education is a tail-wag-dog scenario. School boards are not supposed to answer to and rubber-stamp administrators. Citizens and taxpayers are not supposed to beg school boards for audience.
Your school board needs to work for you and your school district should be held accountable to your elected representatives. Accountability provides the checks and balances that refine processes and ideas, that ensures integrity, that produce the best results for our students, our District employees, and our community.
There is no escaping the fact that elected officials at all levels need to be more transparent and be held more accountable than the standards we have set to date. From Presidents to State Legislatures to the smallest local representative governing boards, the people paying the bills seem to have lost control. My solemn promise to you is that I will never lose sight of the fact that the school board works for you; that I owe you an accounting of everything we say, do, and spend; and that I am ultimately accountable to you.
I humbly thank you for your vote. I am proud to represent you.
**Please note that all thoughts and opinions expressed by me are my own. I speak solely for myself and do not intend to
represent the Board to you in any way in anything I say. (I do, however, intend to do my job representing YOU to the board! 😉 )