No Salary, some districts offer small per diem for evening meetings. School Board Members are the elected governing body of the school district, with responsibilities that fall in four major areas: Vision – focuses the work on student achievement through a comprehensive strategic planning process; Structure – provides prudent financial planning and oversight; diligent and innovative policymaking; Accountability – sets specific goals and a process for evaluation, reporting and recommendations for improvements; and Advocacy – champions public education in the local community and before state and federal policy makers. The School Board sets the general policies of the district.
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Phone
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Email
karkoskigardner.district5@gmail.com
Town where you live
Maple Valley
Experience (300 characters max)
Lead CVICU Nurse Practitioner, PTO President
There are a large majority of students nowadays with access to cells phones or smart watches at school even at the elementary school level. As a parent that does not work locally it is important for me to know my kids can call me in the case of a school emergency, however, this needs to be balanced with cell phones not becoming a disruption or a hinderance during instructional time. I do believe there needs to be cell phone regulations during school that should be agreed up amongst school administrators, teachers representatives, student representatives, parent representatives to develop a cell phone policy that all appropriate parties have a voice in.
In an evolving economic landscape in tandem with growing state academic expectations it is critical for school board directors to understand the district's budget, understand the state's public education funding climate, and be prepared to make critical decisions when it comes to the "needs" and "wants" of the district while minimizing any negative downstream impact to students as possible. In addition to this, there must also be transparency to the community in why particular decisions were made to ensure the community is given the information needed to feel at ease with these difficult decisions.
I also am a huge advocate for community partnership. If the financial deficit meant the district needed to remove activities for students, I would look to our community for fundraising opportunities, sponsorships, grants, etc.
My top priorities are academic success and social/emotional well-being. These two go hand in hand. It is known that students who have a sense of belonging at school with good social/emotional support have increasing academic success. As a district, we cannot anticipate higher test scores, improved daily attendance, higher literacy, etc without also prioritizing social and emotional well-being for our students and our staff.
I do believe that Tahoma School District can improve their transparency to the parents and community. I work as a critical care nurse practitioner where communication is key to success. There are several layers to communication however, from legal purposes not all details can be discussed with the public but communication still can be given to the community and families so they do not feel like they are being left out or blindsided by decisions. The timing of communication can't be too soon or it can't come too late but communication and transparency is something that is incredibly important to me as it truly is foundational in building good relationships.
The district has changed to a new communication platform which I think will improve the communication as we all get used to using the platform more.