2015 PSD Board Election Questionnaire

As PSD has grown, we have seen school of choice has become limited at many sites. How do
you preserve that choice in a climate thats made it difficult to support it?
- Weve heard from some parents the district doesnt advertise the limited availability well
enough; theres not actually choice.
It is true, that as schools fill up due to growth, choices start to shrink. The long range plan has
addressed that growth and should restore some choice as it is implemented. This will take time
though, as the plan is spread out over a five year period. I dont see an immediate fix to this and
the long range fix depends on the bond and mill passing. As for advertising the limited
availability for choice, Im open to hearing from the community on how best to get this message
out to our parents. Maybe an email to our parents, in the late spring, to let them know what
schools are still taking choice students is the solution.

The district has a long-term plan to deal with growth in the district. However, new schools are
years away. How do you deal with that growth today? Modular units? Later start times?
The staff is in the process of developing an alternate plan should the bond and mill fail. In the
meantime, yes we will be using modular units. I do not believe there are any imminent plans to
have later start times, but that is always a possibility along with school year round, split days. I
do not believe the district would use boundary changes as a short term fix.

The school district will soon put a bond to the general public to pay for construction of several
new schools and needs at others existing. Does it go far enough? How will you sell the
hundreds of millions of dollars to those who dont have kids in the system?
I actually believe it is easier to sell our bonds to the general public, as opposed to parents, at
least our seniors.Research by Thomas Alsbury has shown that seniors are the most likely to
support bonds and mills.
Does the bond go far enough? Maybe not, but there is a limit to what our tax-payers will
support. The district will be trying to weigh our needs against likely voter support. We will also
be modeling the cost to a typical property owner in PSD. We do have a bond dropping off at
about the same time and that will be part of the model we present to the voters.
As for selling the long range plan: The superintendent has been doing a great job of community
outreach with regards to the long range plan. She has reached out to many organizations to get

our message out to likely voters, and organizations that we hope will support the Long Range
Plan.

Whats the top priority/goal for you as you consider taking a seat on PSDs school board in the
4-year term to come?
Unfortunately, I have to run again in two years since I am filling out the remainder of my
predecessors term. But, I have two priorities in the next two years, one is to make sure that we
are providing adequate and robust career planning for our students that includes individual
career and academic planning. While we do this for some of our students, we need to make
sure all of our students are making career plans. It is not enough to graduate students, we need
to get them ready for jobs or college when they leave us. My second priority is to advocate for
more dollars with state legislators! Whether its for more dollars in the classroom or early
childhood education, whichResearch has shown that for every dollar we spend on early
childhood education, we save seven dollars later, in a students life. (And that quote came
straight from the President)

What does student success look like to you at the conclusion of a students senior year in high
school?
For me, success looks like a student on a mission to go to college, study a trade, enter the
workforce, or exploring possibilities by joining AmeriCorps. What it doesnt look like to me is an
unengaged student with no plan. That is why I will be an advocate for making sure our students
are making career plans, or mapping their career options while still attending high school.
Exposure to as many career paths, and or career clusters at an early age helps students to
discover their passions.

What can you do as a board member to evaluate and improve on the number and time
spent on mandatory testing?
I think our Board is doing that kind of work already. At this weeks board meeting we looked at
the number of tests and hours of testing our students are doing, with regards to the 2015
Legislative Changes to Assessments and Accountability. Following that presentation we moved

on to our CASB 2015 Legislative Resolutions. Under Student Achievement items 4.18 State
Assessments and item 4.19 Reduce State Assessments to Federal Minimums we are hoping to
address legislatively the type and amount of testing our students are doing. I think both
resolutions are a good start to addressing what has become a large concern to parents,
students, and the District.

What will you do to engage the significant block of the public that doesnt have kids in school in
this election?
I have been spending as many hours as possible at different venues to express the value of a
high performing school district to the community. Whether its the increased value of real-estate
with regards to good schools, or the value of educated students, to local businesses I want our
community to know that good schools do matter to our entire economy. Students who are
workforce ready are what our community wants and can see the value of.

Should PSD work toward free all-day kindergarten for all?

I am a firm believer of giving children a solid start, and it would be great to have this option. Yes,
all day kindergarten should be something PSD should work towards. Whether or not we can
afford this with our current budget though, is really the big question. The way I see it, most of
our goals and hopes can only be achieved by first addressing the way our schools are funded.
So, I think the funding issues need to be addressed first.

Should PSD consider a year-round school calendar?

Hmmm..I think that would largely depend on feedback from parents and our other
stakeholders. I am not opposed to the idea, but I think it should be up to parents. I
can see pros and cons for having a year round calendar. It would be interesting to
hear what the community has to say. This type of change would certainly impact the
entire community with regards to work, travel, family time, and we must consider
the heat issue.