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By Kris Weaver

Academic Standards, Financial Accountability, Communication, Overcrowded Schools, High School, Programs, Bussing, and Student Safety

Financial Acountability: The biggest challenge the School Board faces is taking the meager funding we get from the state (most of it with strings attached) and turning it into an excellent education for all students. We need to account for and maximize every dollar in order to offer salaries that attract and reward quality staff, provide ample state-of-the-art facilities, have academics that rival the top districts in the nation and maintain a safe, socially productive atmosphere.

Communication: The board must be approachable and willing to listen to and represent the community. The community should be the board's ally, not its adversary. The board must openly communicate the positive and negative and work together with the community to find ways to accomplish our goals, starting with those laid out in the District Strategic Plan.

Overcrowded Schools: Some of the schools in the district are way over the number of students for which they were intended creating an overcrowded situation, while room is available at other schools. Unfortunately, the Board has been delinquent in looking at this glaring issue and, although the district is building more schools, they represent too little, too late. The board needs to take a forward-looking, strong position in this area by planning ahead and not giving in to pressure to overfill schools when other solutions are available.

High School: I am in favor of a fourth (we already have three) high school and am anxious to look into creative ways to make it happen. Unfortunately, we do not have enough information to make an educated decision at this time, and it is already too late. The important thing to consider is that it is not about moving bodies, but creating opportunities for students to learn and flourish. I am open to looking at all possibilities while keeping the focus on student learning and achievement. We need more opportunities for students, not more students for the same opportunities. I am not convinced that we can provide the necessary ingredients given the space limitations we have at the existing sites, but I am willing to listen.

Programs: First and foremost we need to develop a process for establishing new programs and revising or scrapping existing programs. According to the District Strategic Plan this was to be accomplished in the 1998/99 school year, but it never happened. My goal is to set this strategy in motion and serve the program needs of others, not my own. Community members and staff have many wonderful program ideas, and we desperately need to adopt a process to prioritize and implement them.

Programs I would like to add , change or expand: District-wide Character Education, individual academic plans, academic achievement, differentiated teaching, integration of career and real world experiences, gifted differentiation and expansion, student leadership, identification of and intervention for underachieving students, communication, integration of technology into the curriculum, equitable access to technology, counseling, peer mediation, extracurricular, career pathways, and more

Bussing: Bussing is wonderful if it is self-funded. I would not want to take away from academic programs or facilities in order to provide transportation. I think there are many ways to finance transportation (grants, donations, partner with the city).We need to determine ridership and once the need is established we need to look into ways to make it a reality.

School Safety: School safety is an issue in every school in America. Each day we entrust our schools with the care and safety of our children. I do not believe the safety issue can be solved with external preventative measures like metal detectors, legislation, or police presence on campus. We need to uphold a consistent expectation of respect and personal responsibility for every student in the district so that behaviors are molded to create socially responsible citizens. We need to train our students to spot danger signs and end the "conspiracy of silence" so prevalent in our youth today.