| What in your background makes you qualified for office? |
| I have a degree in Secondary Social Studies Education from the University of Maryland. with over 18 years of experience in public schools and community focused non-profits. Currently I’m in my fourth year on school and district accountability committees in Jefferson County and have served for 7 years as an ex officio board member as part of my current professional work responsibilities. I am a parent to two Jefferson county students, with 6 years in the Jefferson County School community and 11 years remaining until my youngest graduates from high school. I have invested significant time and energy into supporting our Jeffco Public Schools schools and students and am ready to continue my service as a member of the Jeffco school board. |
| Regarding consolidating/closing high schools, what tenants would a proposal from Superintendent Dorland need to include to earn your vote? |
| Above all, when considering school closures and consolidations, we must continue to factor in the diverse learning needs of all students and how we best meet those needs. I am interested in learning more about the impacts of potential school consolidations, and considering what has already occurred in the past within those articulation areas. A proposal would need to include significant feedback from multiple stakeholders about intentions , along with anticipated and real impacts on the broader community, demographic shift information, supportive transitional plans focused on students, families and staff, and projected community economic impacts in the future. All of this information must be considered by the board when thinking holistically about school closures and consolidations. |
| How do you believe the district can best utilize closed school facilities? | The District can best utilize closed school facilities by continuing the evaluation process they have in place currently, looking at each school on a case by case basis, and initiating conversation with local municipalities and Jefferson County leaders. These conversations must include review of concrete data about community needs, weighed and balanced with the scope of the school board working with city council members, Mayors and our Jeffco Commissioners. |
| Do you feel that a child should be able to (confidentially) discuss topics of gender and sexuality with their teachers? Why or why not? |
| Youth who have at least one supportive and trusted adult in their life reduces their risk of suicide attempts by 40%. Our schools have a responsibility to support not just educating our students, but keep them safe. Educators who have answered the call to work in schools with our children and youth often form long lasting bonds with healthy and informed boundaries, and are qualified to be responsible, supportive adults in sensitive conversations. Keeping our children healthy is necessary to be able to have any opportunity to educate them. |
| With more Colorado school districts — including neighboring Clear Creek — moving to four-day weeks, do you think there’s a chance Jeffco could do the same? Why or why not would you be in favor of that? |
| I am not in favor of moving to a four day school week in Jeffco for several reasons. I believe our students deserve a full 5 day school week to maximize their time spent in the classroom, engaging with content material and practicing skill mastery in the presence of qualified educators, and continue to provide access to the wrap-around supports and programs that benefit our students. Moving to a four day week suggests that our state and county do not prioritize providing a quality, fully funded educational experience to the students in our communities. |
| Assess the effectiveness of the changing start times at Jeffco schools. | I believe more data over time is needed to effectively assess the change of start times in achieving the stated goals from the Superintendent and current school board who implemented the change. At this moment, we only have 2 months of experience based data to evaluate, and I believe we require at least 2 full years before we can ascertain any changes in patterns or outcomes in any meaningful way. |
| In addition to closing schools to accommodate declining enrollments in Jefferson County, what other measures do you propose to improve students’ learning experiences while saving money? |
| To increase the efficiency of the taxpayer dollars that are allocated from the state to fund our schools, I would advocate for the responsible and efficient use of technology, support sites and applications to gather and disseminate information. I believe that we can increase utilization of community partnerships for immersive learning experiences. We can focus on reducing costs associated with teacher turnover by attracting and retaining the highly qualified teachers we need and have in our district already. I’d advocate in favor of funding special education resources to avoid legal costs associated with not meeting legal requirements in individualized education plans. |
| Do you see any alternatives to future school consolidations? | At this time, I am not aware of any current plans to close or consolidate more schools in Jefferson County, beyond the 21 that have already been voted for closure by the Board of Education. To prevent closures or consolidations from happening in the future would necessitate improving equity of resources and experiences at all neighborhood schools throughout the state. |
| How will you handle Jeffco educators’ perceived need for higher compensation in the face of declining enrollment/revenue? |
| We know our school districts across the state have been saddled with the debt of the budget stabilization factor, placed onto them by the state legislature since 2009. The Colorado School Finance Project estimates that at one time Colorado owed its school districts $7.3 billion in lost funding. Because of this undue burden placed on schools statewide, creative budget relief efforts are continually necessary at the local level. Discussion with state legislators about long term, sustainable school funding equations and clearing obstacles to fully funded school budgets across the state are necessary, otherwise we will continue to see school closure conversations in Colorado. |
