Priorities

Strong Leadership, Parent Involvement, Practical Solutions

Precinct 6 and the Salt Lake City School District (SLCSD) deserve a school board member who understands the needs of our students and the values of our community. They need a school board member who can work with other board members incorporating those needs and values in successful solutions ensuring the best educational opportunities for our students. This takes teaching experience, an understanding of the very real problems and opportunities we have in the classroom, a parent’s perspective along with the ability to bring people together. As this precinct’s next board member, I will move SLCSD forward with strong leadership, parent involvement, and practical solutions. Solutions that put students and families first resulting in a healthier and more productive learning experience.

Priorities

Bolstering Parent Confidence

Our children are our most valuable resource. The future rests on their shoulders. Ensuring their educational success requires thoughtful and consistent input from their parents which is why engaging with parents will be my highest priority when implementing solutions.

Parents need to have confidence in the schools their children attend. Parents need access to educators, administrators and government representatives so that the needs and concerns of individual students are heard and considered. Programs need to produce results. Schools must be safe, encouraging places of learning. I have met face to face with hundreds of parents, given praise, made plans for progress, and told some hard truths. I have been and will be committed to creating an effective team with the parents of our district.
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Filling Individual Learning Gaps

The disruptions in classroom instruction and learning experienced over the last two and a half years have resulted in learning gaps for many students. Progress has been made in identifying the academic needs of individual students and hard work by students and teachers has begun addressing those needs. This is born out by the substantial increase in the end of year testing scores. Expanded after school programs, community tutoring, intensive summer school programs are resources that will aid in filling the learning gaps.
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Identifying & Supporting Mental Health Challenges

Mental health issues are now commonly diagnosed in children K-12. The four most frequently identified mental issues in schools are ADHD, anxiety, depression, and behavioral issues. All of these have been exacerbated by the global pandemic. Children experiencing these challenges along with students facing difficult personal choices and questions can find support and understanding through a greater emphasis on school counselors and training for paraprofessionals. A policy of identifying, supporting and offering real care for children with mental health and emotional challenges is vital in successful schools.
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Addressing Declining Student Enrollment

In recent meetings Salt Lake City School board members acknowledged the extreme challenge of declining student enrollment. Declining enrollment has its roots in many causes, the high price of homes in SLC being one. Among the multiple impacts are school closures, inability to recruit and retain highly effective teachers and staff, people purchase home in neighborhood’s with higher student populations.

Some solutions to declining enrollment are :
– Full-time kindergarten
– Dual immersion schools
– Magnet programs/schools (ELP, Science, Fine Arts)
– Effective and visionary use of on-line and virtual education
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Recruiting and Retaining Highly Qualified Teachers

The key role in education is highly qualified teachers. Recruiting trained, effective teachers is essential; yet it is becoming more difficult every year. Enrollment in education departments in universities across the country has dropped by as high as 30 percent according to an article published by Insidehighered.com in August 2022.

Declining interest in the teaching profession spiked during the Covid pandemic as pressure on teachers reached extreme levels. While teachers expect their focus to be educating students in essential core subjects, schools are increasingly expected to be the primary source of solutions to societal problems. The drop in enrollment in educational programs and the flight of teachers from the profession reflects the sense that increased expectations placed on teachers have made the career too demanding. Utah’s classroom sizes are some of the largest in the nation. Expanded numbers of counselors, social workers, paraprofessionals, and support staff to assist teachers in addressing the societal challenges and mental health concerns now being addressed in our schools is greatly needed.
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Ensuring Vital Student Services

Currently more than 100 transportation, school support, IT, grounds crew, maintenance, and custodial positions stand open on the Salt Lake City School District website. These positions provide services to our students/children that are essential to their success. In order to attract workers to fill these critical jobs, the district needs to pay a wage that competes with comparable positions in other industries. The work of determining innovative ways to fund these wages/salaries must be an immediate priority for the District and the Board.
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