Candidate Profiles

Cedar Rapids schools are the heart of our community. I grew up in them, my children attend them, and I know firsthand how much they shape both student futures’ and the strength of our city. I’m running to rebuild trust, ensure transparency and make smart investments in our schools so every child has access to safe, modern facilities and outstanding educational opportunities. We're at a critical juncture, with changes to funding models, federal challenges for long-standing programs and the introduction of an ESA model in Iowa, which encourages families to shop amongst a growing list of educational options. We can’t afford to just complain about these circumstances. We can advocate for change, but to succeed in the near future, we need to retain our students, attract more families to our district and retain our talented educators and staff. I’m interested in exploring what makes our district uniquely attractive to families and using those advantages to assure Cedar Rapids is a district of choice for parents.

I have attended a number of meetings over the years, particularly when involved in and agenda topic (such as school foundation updates, 2023 bond issue presentations, facility master plan development, school deliberations over elementary Spanish language programs, etc.). While I often have other activities occurring on Monday evenings (which will be cleared if elected), I stay current on the board meetings by watching the meeting recordings on YouTube. While I appreciate the reporting on the meetings, I like to hear the full discussion and see all the presentations and considerations in full.

• Student Success: Support teachers and staff so they can focus on student learning. The district needs to be focused on expanded opportunities in academics, fine arts, and career training programs that are uniquely positioned to attract more students into the district. We must make a promise to parents that the district will ensure that students graduate prepared for college or careers and ready to enter community leadership. We need to mitigate behavioral issues in the classroom, so students are free to learn and teachers can teach. We need to retain our talented educators and staff members who help our students succeed. • Smart Investment: It’s time to upgrade facilities for safety, accessibility and modern learning while holding ourselves accountable to taxpayers for efficient investments into our infrastructure. With a niece at Roosevelt, I've attempted to take my parents, both with mobility issues, to shows in the Roosevelt auditorium. It's a beautiful space, but getting to the auditorium requires a long walk, waiting for someone to provide entrance through a locked door beneath the grand staircase and an elevator ride that requires use of a key. Our schools aren't accessible to our community and create challenges for students and staff with mobility issues as well. We must correct these accessibility issues. Further, the less we invest in our old facilities, the more they will cost taxpayers in future years. • Transparency and Trust: We need to provide updates, clear communication, and real opportunities for parents, staff, and the community to have input in board discussion and decisions. To do this, we need to go beyond the school board meeting. The board meetings, while necessary, are a communications device of the last century. Few parents and taxpayers engage in the meetings. We should work to get more involvement in the board's meetings but also look for other ways to communicate. Town halls and open houses are often seen as an expectation but rarely reach a large audience. Online outreach and content available to families and taxpayers at any time and anywhere is much more effective for reaching constituents. We also need to build trust with our educators and staff in the district. More direct communication and working within the confines of public meetings to still communicate with staff first is important.

Strengths: • Excellent and dedicated educators and staff. These are teachers who are up for the challenge of taking students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, teaching them learning skills and creating environments where they can succeed. • Focused on preparing each student’s readiness for their next level, whether that’s a college education or skilled work opportunities. • A strong history of success, and many leaders in the community want to be sure our students are supported and successful. Weaknesses: • Employee satisfaction and morale is challenged. Even in an environment with better pay and benefits than some other districts, our teachers report burnout and frustration in their roles at a high rate. • A considerable number of the individuals against funding school infrastructure via a bond agree the funding may be needed, but don’t trust that the Board will use the money wisely. Building trust is necessary to remedy this situation and assure future asks of the community are supported. • Our district’s teachers continue to work hard to build proficiency in reading, mathematics and science. While testing is suggesting improvement, the district needs to continue reducing behavioral issues in the classroom and allowing our amazing teachers to educate students in a safe and secure environment. • Several political and demographic factors have limited growth opportunities for the district, while neighboring districts benefit from larger residential and commercial tax-base growth. • While the district has challenges, there is an unfair perception that causes some to undervalue the education students are receiving within the Cedar Rapids district. It’s time to tell the good stories of student success and change the narrative in our community.

To be clear, the best long-term solution to any budget challenge is to grow enrollment by making Cedar Rapids a “district of choice” for families. More students mean more funding and less need for cuts. While we work toward that goal, protecting student-to-staff ratios is critical. We also need to be cautious that we’re not cutting the same programs that make us unique and could attract new families into our district. Continuing to explore administrative efficiencies to deliver support services economically will be critical. The district needs to turn to its own employees for input and suggestions. I suspect they have ideas on how to drive cost reductions and efficiencies while protecting the jobs of those delivering services to students.

I absolutely do support these. Other area districts are successfully using similar models and I believe Cedar Rapids can help students be successful with these programs. However, I'm disappointed that the roll-out of the programs was not better planned and communicated. Parent discussions needed to start much earlier. The gathering of community input was delayed until after there were complaints, rather than leading the discussion ahead of implementing the change. I also believe that many educators didn’t feel that their input was requested or utilized in developing the programs. I do expect there will be a time of exploration and learning for each of the programs as they roll out in our schools. The district will get better at delivering the offerings as they assess outcomes from the initial rollouts. I believe these offerings can become programs that attract interest and could ultimately drive enrollment in the district.

I strongly support smart investment in school facilities, and I believe that this bond request meets that standard. This revised bond proposal focuses resources where they’re needed most. I suspect nearly every taxpayer could argue a piece they would like to see included or changed. But, as it stands, it recognizes several adjustments based on feedback from the community. My commitment is to ensure accountability and transparency, so voters know the bond they approve is invested wisely.

Yes. I think there are always specific details that supportive community members may disagree on, but the plan is critical to address the aging facility infrastructure in our district. Historic structures are beautiful and unique but also can increase the ongoing maintenance costs for the district. The longer they go without major investment, the higher those operational and capital costs will increase. I appreciate that the plan addresses co-curricular and extracurricular spaces that are not in line with standards of districts around the state. If we want to be a district of choice in the community, we have to offer students spaces and opportunities that are comparable to those in neighboring school districts. The highest priority must be on ADA compliance. It's extremely unfortunate that we have students, families and teachers leaving our district because our buildings can't meet their basic needs.

I appreciate the positivity of this question - the source and sustainability of the funds is a critical question here. While long-term availability of these funds would help address class size and expand offerings for students to take unique or specialized classes, if the funds are only expected to last a year or two, I'd be hesitant to add permanent staff roles or programs that would harm students significantly if they were to be lost soon after implementation. Instead, I'd ask our teachers and staff to help identify short-term programmatic opportunities and experiences that would help students to excel in the future, even if the funds are only available for one-time or short-time use. Ultimately, I believe our teachers and staff in the classroom would be the best source of answers to this question. The School Board would need only to facilitate the collection of ideas, support the decisions of educators on what programs to fund and approve budget adjustments as needed.

I support a strong core curriculum that drives proficiency for students in reading, math and science. A solid offering of world languages, fine arts and interesting electives are also critical to attracting students to the district. The successful rollout of the CTE programs is something I'll watch closely. I think we need to continue to gather input from our teachers on what is working and be open to adjusting delivery models and focus areas. We need to align with industry experts to help us stay current on emerging technologies that could disrupt or change the technical education needs of the workforce.

I think we need a significant change from the status quo in this area. In the discussions I've had with many district staff and building leaders, they don't feel like their voices are part of decision-making process. They feel like they are hearing too much from public emails and news stories and not receiving enough timely communication directly from the district. Better internal communication with district employees is critical to educator and staff satisfaction and retention. There will always be challenges as media and bloggers may attend meetings and report on topics before the district is able to communicate with staff, but all attempts should be made to prioritize internal communication. For the parents and members of the public, we need to open the doors to multiple lines of discussion and input. While some would argue that the floor is always open for comment at school board meetings, those meetings are not a modern form of interaction. I'd join with my fellow school board members to create other avenues of communication: Online, in person and individually, we need to be sure the community feels they can talk with us when they need to share their feelings or insights. I will never shy away from a conversation with a student, parent, educator or community member – including the media.

Facility improvements are important for creating safe buildings that can quickly and efficiently lock down and protect students from threats both inside and outside the school. This is a challenge with our older building infrastructure, but it should be considered in remodels whenever possible. Additionally, the inclusion of safe spaces that promote student-driven de-escalation and allow students to calm down should be part of the remodeling plans for our school facilities. Within the classroom, the district needs to continue working toward reducing violent behavior. Teachers and staff do everything possible to protect students when another student has a behavioral situation, but this often results in teachers themselves experiencing some kind of physical harm. I’m committed to learning more about our district’s procedures and encouraging the Superintendent to engage classroom staff and educators to determine what additional resources are needed to reduce safety risks. Restorative practices, combined with appropriate discipline, are critical to reducing the risk of harm for students and teachers. Proper placement of higher-level mental health support staff within each of our schools is also critical to support student behavior and keep classrooms safe.