Position/philosophy statement
My priorities are students, families, and accountability. I support safe classrooms, giving teachers the support and freedom to teach, and keeping parents informed and involved.
Current Occupation
Small business owner and Medical office admin staff
Campaign Phone
3364423736
I bring experience as a parent and former High Point Human Relations commissioner. For over 26 years, I’ve helped run our family business as owner and bookkeeper, reviewing expenses and making careful spending decisions. As a bilingual patient referral coordinator, I help patients navigate referrals and insurance, explain what to expect, and ease their concerns. As a patient, I learned how much clear communication matters. I returned to college as an adult and graduated summa cum laude from UNC Greensboro. I’ve homeschooled two of my children, volunteered in public schools, taught at a homeschool co-op, and served as an ESL teaching assistant. These experiences taught me to listen, follow through, and persist until I get answers.
A school board member’s first responsibility is to ensure students receive a strong education in core subjects in safe, orderly schools. Board members should support teachers, respect parents as partners, and keep families and taxpayers informed. They must review spending carefully, set measurable academic goals, and hold district leadership accountable. Every decision should be judged by how well it helps students learn and prepares them for life after graduation.
Guilford County Schools’ most urgent needs are strong classroom instruction, student safety, effective special education, and recruiting and retaining qualified teachers. That means competitive pay and timely access to classroom funds and supplies. I would press for these needs to come first in budget discussions, ask whether funds are reaching classrooms on time, and examine administrative spending for potential savings.
To recruit and retain qualified teachers, I would advocate for competitive pay, safe and orderly classrooms, and reliable access to supplies. Teachers should also have the freedom to adjust instruction to meet their students’ needs, without unnecessary paperwork or delays in receiving classroom funds. I would listen to teachers about why they stay or leave, bring those concerns to the board, and look for savings that could be directed toward classrooms and compensation.
Pre-K is an important way to help children build the skills they need for kindergarten and address learning gaps early. Families should be able to choose a quality public, private, or faith-based program that best fits their child’s needs. I support working with educators and community providers, being transparent about costs, and measuring whether programs improve kindergarten readiness.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Campaign Phone
336-508-2527
I have 25 plus years as a public school education advocate. Presently, I am the Chair of the Legislative Committee for the Board. We develop our legislative priorities for our delegation. I have established policies involving curriculum, facilities, finances and our personnel. I govern by listening and visiting schools when invited to participate. I worked in the district as an afterschool teacher for 5 years and substitute. I am the incumbent who governed through COVID-19 pandemic making hard decisions while ensuring students were learning. Students are still recovering from learning loss while gaining career and college opportunities. I have established working relationships with principals, teachers, counselors and students.
Our primary responsibility is to hire a qualified superintendent, supervise and support them in the role, be accountable for our balanced budget, ensure teachers have the tools they need, maintain our school buildings for safety and up-to-date technology, rezone schools as needed, establish policies that are clear, work with our state legislators advocating for funded mandates and reminding the state of NC of their promise of a more than sound education for children.
We continue to prioritize NC providing compensation for all teachers, classified workers, social workers, principals, bus drivers, and school nutrition staff that makes them feel valued to be a part of this education system. We have secured funds to rebuild, remodel and maintain our facilities to be 21st learning environments. We must continue developing our own highly qualified teachers to address the teacher shortage. Our bus drivers shortage continues to be a challenge as well that can only be addressed with training and increased salaries. The school system must continue advocating for state changes and funding.
We must continue valuing the expertise and voice of our teachers, invest in the overall teacher pathways whether it leading schools, mentoring new teachers, becoming curriculum facilitators or even school counselors. We have a Teacher Advisory Council, a GCS alternative Certification Track, Assistant Principal Leadership Academy and a superintendents cabinet that supports principals. We will continue to create opportunities for upward mobility and fighting for teacher pay for our veteran teachers that shows we want to keep them here in Guilford County. Teachers need the freedom to teach as the professionals they are and have access to more proven strategies not restricted by state mandates.
There are never enough pre-k seats. I am the grandmother of a Pre-K student and a new experience for me learning in the Montessori model. I am supportive of this opportunity for every child with no cost to a family. How and where we can expand Pre-K is not under our purview. If the state could realign or prioritize the school system having first access to 4 years old and changing the date for turning 4 and 5 for public school, we would have a higher enrollment sooner than later. All of my six children entered school at the age of two at very minimal cost and pre-k options upon turning 4 before December of the entering school year. Parents would also choose their neighborhood more frequently.
I count it a joy and honor to have served these last eight years on the board of education for Guilford County. I am fully committed to this role on a daily basis as time allows me to be available and accessible to the community. I also feel that this is a time for innovation and proven practices that close opportunities gaps for our vulnerable students. I fight for the full. Funding of IDEA which has never been done. I fight to end the cradle to prison pipeline for Black and Brown children. I fight for our immigration children to have full access to in-state tuition to college. I fight to end corporal punishment. I fight for NC to raise teacher pay to the national average and the national average for student ratio to counselors to become a reality. Class sizes must be manageable. I do not believe that charters and vouchers have been a solution that meets the need of having a world class education. We need every municipality to invest and recognize children as citizens.
