Education
BA, MA, Specialist Degree (30 plus hours toward PHD)
Current Public Office, dates held
None
Past Public Office, dates held
None
Military experience
None
Volunteer experience
Locally - coaching little league, Vice chair of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Mission trips to: Nairobi, Kenya, Guatemala, Rolling Forks MS, Okmulgee OK, and Idaho,
1. To restore trust from our local school districts in the NDE.
2. Address the teacher shortage through the certification process.
3. Support Local Control, to the point that NDE is balanced with service and compliance.
4. Address school district issues, and not create distractions from our core purpose.
The top priority is the teachers' shortage. I visit with seven superintendents today. All of which are concerned about filling their open positions. There is no easy fix, but it begins with certification and ensuring teachers are being processed in an expedient manner. Furthermore, is to address our reciprocity with our boarding states. Lastly, is to create an accountability system that is useful to districts, so that the results are return to the schools in a timely manner so that the results can be used to make academic decisions.
The Boards role is to provide policy and procedures, that will enhance our school systems to excel.
Education
University of Wisconsin-Platteville (Bachelor’s Degree in Education 1-9 with a minor in Social Science), Kansas State University (Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, ELL), University of Missouri-Kansas City (Specialist Degree in Admin.)
Current Public Office, dates held
NA
Past Public Office, dates held
NA
Military experience
NA
Volunteer experience
Moms of Preschoolers Service Leader, Wednesday Night Meal Organizer for Inner City Students
As a literacy and math educator of more than 20 years, I look forward to raising literacy and math proficiency rates by minimizing distractions and getting back to the basics.
Our teacher shortage is one of our greatest challenges. We have so many educators that do not feel equipped to teach in today’s classrooms. We need to safeguard our administrators’ time so that they remain in classrooms supporting teachers. We also need to make sure we have adequate university training as well as on the job training for our educators. We need to cut out anything that is not raising proficiency rates and get back to the basics so that teachers have the autonomy to do what they do best which is teach literacy, math, science, and civics.
The most important role is to ensure that state standards are written in a way that meets the needs of all students and are written so that educators can follow them easily. While following federal and state guidelines it is the role of the SBOE to ensure every student in Nebraska has an education that prepares them for their future.
