Age
37
Occupation / Current Position
Steelcase Foundation- Program Manager & Community Liaison
Education
Undergrad: Psychology and Women & Gender Studies, Grand Valley State University, Master's Degree: Community Psychology, Michigan State University
Campaign Phone
616-648-6079
I have spent my career in and around public schools: teaching kids about gardens and nutrition, leading after-school programming, building partnerships to connect families and teachers with resources, organizing alongside students and staff for change, and working to improve how we fund schools at the state level. I have spent the last several years taking notes for the public at every GRPS board meeting, work session, and committee meeting, first as a volunteer and then as part of my professional role. When a vacancy on the board opened in February, it was an opportunity to use what I have learned in service of our students, families, and staff and to gain yet another perspective on this critical work as a board member.
We should prioritize care, collaboration, and clarity to improve district culture and stakeholder experience. We can care for teachers and staff by fairly compensating them and ensuring classrooms are well-resourced, which will reduce turnover and allow them to do their best work, and our students to do their best learning. We should improve processes for collaboration with families and local nonprofits and businesses who want to see GRPS succeed, and improve the capacity of our Family and Community Engagement and communication teams. Clarity means setting specific goals for academic outcomes, reporting out regularly, and building an accessible dashboard so the public can track progress and support the district in reaching its goals.
With some 90% of students attending public schools in Michigan, we must ensure our buildings are safe and welcoming, our teachers are well-trained and compensated, and our students are excited about learning. We need to increase K-12 public education funding to make this a reality. Additionally, you can’t talk about successful education without talking about healthcare, housing, immigration, and more. Students are impacted by what happens at home, so we need connected services and supports for families so schools don’t work alone and our kids can show up ready to learn. GRPS partners with the Kent School Services Network to help families navigate resources through the community school model. Strong schools mean strong communities.
Financial stability for GRPS requires continued work to right-size the district and increase revenue and resources. Like many districts, GRPS is seeing declining enrollment, which means consolidating buildings and putting empty ones to use in ways that generate revenue and benefit the community, whether through sales or long-term leases. We also need to wrestle with the cost of our numerous high school options and complex transportation system. Community education and open stakeholder engagement will be critical to retaining students through these transitions. At the same time, we must be strong advocates for equitable funding at the state and national levels; a district can only move money around for so long without increasing revenue.
