First, mine is an education household. I have been advocate for youth since I was in high school, and my husband is a career educator (13 years in the classroom, 2 as an administrator).
Though I have run for local and county office before, I've always felt pulled back toward our school system. So, this year, I decided to finally listen follow my gut.
Our school system faces all of the same issues districts around the county face but, because of our socioeconomic status, we are required to be creative in addressing them. I believe the Board requires some different perspectives to augment the already diverse set of views found in the current membership, and I look forward to bringing that to the table.
I have served on board and commissions at the municipal, county, and state level, so I am very well versed in the board structure and how they are run.
Directly, I've served on the school district's Citizen's Advisory Committee for the last 16 months and so have developed a deeper understanding of how the issues our students face are addressed by the Administration.
Lastly, I have over 2 decades of experience in the field of customer service, so I understand the necessity of delivering clear and understandable messages to those looking to you for assistance - something I admittedly think has been lacking.
Well, that's the million dollar question, isn't it?
Here's the inconvenient truth: things cost money. Another inconvenient truth: teachers will not come to your district if they won't be paid well, and teachers who think they aren't paid well have been statistically shown to have a higher probability of leaving the profession early (or bouncing around until they land where they get paid what they want/need).
These things required taxes to be levied on the homeowners and renters of the district. Thankfully, Dover receives a substantial amount of aid from the state which supplements our budget and allows us to keep our school tax burden reasonable. But, barring a major change in the funding formula that allocates more monies to urban districts, we may have to look at higher than normal tax increases in the future in order to accomplish what we need for our students.
However, that should not be the first priority. Our Board and Administration should be laser focused on ensuring Dover gets the funding it deserves AND ensuring we spend what we get now as responsibly as possible, all while providing maximum transparency to the public.
I have no issues with the current curriculum.
I have been involved in supporting our students since 1996, Class Mom, PTA, and finally BOE. After serving on the BOE for nearly 15 years I made the difficult decision in 2017 NOT to run for reelection. At that time the Dover BOE was undergoing a change, a change that for the last 7 years has caused tremendous instability, lack of confidence by the community and parents, and sadly a revolving door loss of experienced leadership and many dedicated staff.
Today Dover Public School District is AGAIN experiencing a transition in Administration and Leadership and with a fairly new and inexperienced board I made the decision to run again, offering my experience.
My Husband and I became first Foster Parents licensed and Trained in New York City, then Adoptive parents to our 3 bi-racial children in 1994. Learning to live a life of diversity and accepting the challenges involved was the start of my dedication to not just my children but all youth.
I volunteered wherever needed, 9 years of PTA service lead to applying to a vacancy on the Dover BOE in 2003, I was appointed to the open seat and a year later ran for the Board, won and continued through until 2017. Every year I attended hours and hours of mandated Board Member training, along with optional training and enrichment. I Served as the Board President for 12 consecutive years, elected by my fellow board members. I also served on every board committee. With my experience and knowledge of the District I was asked by the Superintendent to Accompany the Dover High School Principal to Washington DC, participating in the 3 day event and accepting our National Blue Ribbon Award on behalf of the District and our Community. After leaving the board in 2017 I continued to attend nearly every BOE meeting, live or virtually. Continuing to ask questions and sharing with the community the responses.
Dover has always been fortunate to provide its students with quality education through the stable dedication and determination of its teachers and staff. Good, talented and dedicated teachers want to teach! They are driven to provide knowledge and serve their students, but they must have the appropriate support and resources to do this. They must be provided with consistency and respect by leadership. Teachers and Staff also deserve to be fairly financially supported and rewarded for their dedication. This has always been a struggle in our low income community and the challenge of balancing budget with wanting to support our teachers has many and varied layers. What the district may lack in one aspect it may offer more in another, security and support may compensate lower salary for example. Recent administrative flux has left a void in some areas of consistency, mentoring and needed directive support of teaching staff. This failure has caused the exodus of many long time teaching staff and department heads. We can do better, I have hope in new stable and stronger leadership which will enable the district to retain staff and negotiate with agreeable use of taxpayer resources.
During my previous time on the Dover BOE many creative and successful curriculum and programs were initiated, some continued and some were sadly discontinued. One very successful but unfortunately discontinued curriculum and program was the Dover High School Health and Science Academy. This Academy offered a pathway for students who may have an interest in any of the varied aspects of the Health Field. Dover Alumni currently work in many local medical facilities proof of the success of the Academy.
I also see a definite need for vocational training and resources for our older students who face unique challenges toward graduation and need options towards that goal.
EDUCATION MUST BE OUR PRIORITY NOW!
We have strayed from the dedication to ALL our students having to erratically attend to far too many distracting and disruptive district personnel issues.
Focusing on ALL our students must be the new priority, strength by performing not just FLOATING through education, Proving ALL OUR STUDENTS CAN ACHIEVE and SOAR to success.
