VOTE411 Voter Guide

As a member of the school board, I want to be a bridge between teachers and administration, and between families and the district. I taught for 10 years (four years in BCSD), and I'm raising a child in this district. I know what it feels like on both sides, and I want to bring that perspective to every decision the board makes.

Outside the classroom, I founded a local, youth-based nonprofit — work that taught me what it takes to build something from the ground up, listen to the community it serves, and stay accountable to the people counting on it. That's the same standard I want to bring to BCSD.

I hope to help rebuild trust: trust between teachers and leadership, so educators feel supported instead of managed; trust between families and the district, so parents feel heard instead of talked at. I want to push for real accountability, not just data that looks good on paper, but honest conversations about what's working and what isn't.

I also want every student to have access to a quality education, no matter their zip code. That means taking a real look at what we're asking of students day to day and working together to make sure it reflects what's genuinely best for how they learn.

Most of all, I want BCSD to be a place where teachers want to stay, students feel safe enough to take risks and grow, and parents feel like true partners in their child's education. If I can help move the needle on even one of those, I'll consider my time on the board a success.

The most pressing challenges I see in BCSD are trust, teacher retention, and equity and they're connected.

Teachers are leaving the profession, or leaving this district for another, because they don't feel supported. I lived that, ten years in the classroom taught me the difference between being managed and being supported. If we want to keep good teachers, the board has to listen to them before decisions are made, not just after.

Families feel talked at rather than heard. Data gets published, but it stays surface-level, parents don't always get the honest, plain-language conversation about what's working and what isn't. Rebuilding that trust means real dialogue, not just reporting.

And not every student in this district is getting the same quality of education. That shouldn't depend on which zip code they live in. I'd want the board to take a hard look at what we're asking of students day to day and make sure it's grounded in best practice, not just tradition.

What I'd bring to the table: a former teacher's perspective, a parent's perspective, and experience building something from the ground up through my nonprofit work, so I know what it takes to hold something accountable to the people it serves.

During my time in the classroom, I worked closely with a team teacher on a student who was struggling with disruptive behavior. We didn't see eye to eye on how to handle it at first. She favored just calling home, while I felt the student needed an immediate consequence. Neither of us was wrong, we just had different instincts about what the student needed in that moment.

Instead of one of us simply deferring, we sat down and talked through what we were each trying to accomplish. We landed on a plan that held the student accountable with a consequence, while also making sure that the parents were aware of the situation. We made sure to communicate as a united front with the parents, so the student understood the expectations were the same no matter which of us they heard it from.

What mattered most was that the student left that conversation knowing two things: that what happened wasn't okay, and that the expectations in our classroom would be enforced by both teachers. That's the same approach I'd bring to this board, differing perspectives aren't a problem to avoid, they're something to work through together, with the outcome for the student always being the deciding factor.

As a teacher and a parent, I know that a child who doesn't feel safe can't learn, full stop. That's the lens I'd bring to this on the board.

It starts with the budget, because that's where the board has its clearest authority. Every budget cycle, I'd push to prioritize funding for counselors, family liaison positions, and staff training, not as line items that get cut first when money's tight, but as core to what keeps kids in school and succeeding.

That funding has to translate into real support. Every student dealing with stress or instability at home, including kids in mixed-status families needs access to a counselor who's equipped to help them, not just a form to fill out.

It also means our anti-harassment policies have to actually name and protect against harassment based on national origin or immigration status, and we have to enforce them, not just have them on paper.

None of that works without training. Our teachers and front-office staff need to know how to handle these situations with care and within the law so a family's first interaction with our schools is one of trust, not fear.

That includes having clear protocols if outside agencies ever show up at one of our schools, so principals and staff know exactly what is required of them and what isn't, and families know their kids are protected during the school day.

Underneath all of it is something the Supreme Court settled over forty years ago in Plyler v. DOE: every child in this country has the right to a public education, regardless of immigration status. Berkeley County schools should reflect that clearly, in policy, not just in practice.

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