LINN-MAR WILSON: Challenging and collaborative

Linn-Mar School District consists of an outstanding collection of schools, teachers, and students. Our district has always strived to provide the best educational experience for its students. While I believe our school district is doing an excellent job, as with any human endeavor, there is always room for improvement.

Providing superior education for our students is an ongoing challenge. I believe we must strive to meet the needs of all students, which requires us to challenge ourselves to find the best curriculum, the best teachers, the best facilities and the best leadership available.

I have had the privilege of serving as a Linn-Mar School Board member for the past four years. I am proud of the accomplishments of the board over those four years, but I am not done! Much work remains, and I believe I am well suited to continue serving this district as we continue to deal with our challenges such as growth, boundaries and state funding.

The public is well aware of inadequate funding provided by the State Legislature this year. This has forced our school board to amend our published budget, which was already tight in many areas. The current legislative strictures will force us into deficit spending. This is especially challenging as our enrollment continues to increase. Shrinking budgets and increasing enrollment inevitably leads to increased class sizes.

The number one priority of any school district is to provide the best education for its students. This is especially important in today's rapidly changing work environment. Gone is the era of lifelong employment at one company. Students graduating today can look forward to a half dozen or more major career changes during their working life. Today's workforce has to remain flexible, agile, and most importantly, has to continue to learn new skills over the span of their careers.

Preparing students for this new work environment is substantially more challenging than in the past. It requires outstanding teachers, cutting edge curriculum, and new classroom technologies.

A school board works best when its members can challenge each other, yet work collaboratively to reach consensus. I believe that I have demonstrated exactly these traits over my four years of service. I have a broad work experience in Finance, Program Management, Marketing and business development and I have served on non-profit Boards for over 24 years. I know the importance of being an informed, prepared, cooperative board member. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve the Linn –Mar School District!

' More information: (319) 213-7908; elizabeth.wilson@usa.net; www.facebook.com/wilsonLMSDelection