52 years
The greatest challenge that I anticipate facing is helping other board members understand my position and why I am taking a certain position
I love children and I want to see them thrive in life. I earned a BS in education majoring in k-3 and minoring in 4-8. I have taught for 17 years every grade level from 4 year old prek - 5th. After retirement, I substituted in k-12th. I also earned a master's and a specialist degrees in school administration. This has helped me see children from a teachers' perspective and also from the principals' side. As a teacher, you are an inspiration to children as well as a communicator of truth. Learning to work colobratively with all the stakeholders is a great characteristic to bring to the school board. There are several stakeholders in educating children. The child, parent, teacher, principal, and the whole community have a stake in seeing that children are well educated. Working cooperatively with half dozen stakeholders has prepared me to listen, observe, interprete, apply sound educational principles to finding creative solutions to troubles in the educational system.
26+ years. My first 21 years were spent mostly in East Brainerd and Apison, with strong connections to Brainerd Hills (now in District 8), where our family business was for 50+ years. In my 30s, I worked from UTC for 3 years, serving 19 East Tennessee counties as the Tennessee Humanities Council's Tennessee Community Heritage Scholar-in-Residence. I moved back to the Chattanooga area 10 years ago to be near family and have lived in the Concord community for the past 2 years (in District 8).
I believe the greatest challenge we currently face in Hamilton County is keeping focus and control of our public schools local. We cannot be unduly influenced by national politics or passing educational trends. We--parents, teachers, School Board, HCDE, and our physical, social, and business communities--must work collaboratively and creatively and be informed by best research and practices to create the best public schools and learning atmospheres for every child in Hamilton County and for our collective futures. This will include thinking broadly and comparatively to find proven ways to improve and fully fund our local educational system every year.
As a lifelong educator, I bring extensive teaching, course creation, project administrative, community-partnered research, student mentoring, volunteer and personal skills and commitment to this position of public trust. For the last five years, I have taught reading in three Hamilton County schools (including East Ridge Elementary, District 8), a public charter school and in a grant-funded, YMCA after-school enrichment program, and have substituted in 12 more schools, including all four in District 8. I am a cultural and applied anthropologist, retired university professor and research museum curator. Over decades of funded anthropological practice, I collaborated extensively with Appalachian (including in Chattanooga and East and Middle Tennessee), Native American, African American and Hispanic communities. As a classroom teacher and community and church volunteer, I taught Spanish to English- speaking students and English to Spanish-speaking and Maya-dialect students and laborers.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
Candidate has not yet responded.
