MARION INDEPENDENT: SHELLY PEARSON

My name is Shelly Pearson. I am rerunning for Marion Independent school board and I am asking for your vote on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

I graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1991. I have since been a resident of the Marion district and I currently have a child attending school here. My two sons graduated from the Marion High School, Class of 2011 and 2013. During my four-year term on the school board, we successfully built Vernon Middle School, reorganized the classes at each building, hired a new superintendent, purchased the Kirkwood center and replaced the bleachers at the football complex.

The mission of the Marion Independent School District is to prepare all students with the skills required to enter future adult roles and become effective citizens, productive workers, informed consumers, and responsible family members.

As a member of the Marion school board, I consider myself a trustee of our children's education. I will do my best to protect and enhance our educational opportunities for all the children of my community. I will pursue opportunities to help enhance reading, reading comprehension and writing. With that in mind, I would like to see that those opportunities provide parents the ability to become more involved in every aspect of their child's education. I will do my best to ensure their education is as complete as it can possibly be. I will represent my community as whole rather than specific groups of the community. In doing so, I will do my best to communicate the needs of my community to the board.

I am motivated by a strong desire to serve my community. I plan to provide the board with my honest and thoughtful opinions in an effort to reach decisions that will be in the best interest of the children, our school and the community.

' More information: shellyberry12@yahoo.com