Community Q&A

Bullying increases the chances of gun violence in schools and it is a major problem in Centennial schools.  We need to build empathy in our students to decrease bullying, making our schools safer.  Voters want support for students with differing needs for learning as well as choices after High School.  I support Special Education, College Prep, and our Manufacturing Pathway.  Book banning is a concern. I support our kids’ freedom to learn; book banning is wrong, ineffective, and illegal in MN.

Book banning is wrong and ineffective.  As a lifelong bookworm, if you told me that I was restricted from reading a book as a child, I would have found a way to read it.  When we make things forbidden to our children, we give them incentive to seek out the forbidden.  I support our children reading books they are interested in to foster a lifetime of reading and to nurture their curiosity.  Our children need to build their critical thinking skills and reading books that cover tough and oftentimes controversial issues helps build their critical thinking.

Bullying and physical violence is a major issue in the Centennial School District.  Our children have had an unprecedented life experience that has affected their mental health and development in so many ways as well as lead to a dearth of empathy and acceptance for one another.  There would be less bullying if our children felt more secure to be themselves and had more empathy and acceptance for others.  We need to look at providing more services and programs to guide and help our children grow past the disadvantages they have had so they can be capable, kind, empathetic, and productive citizens.  I want our kids to not just survive the pandemic, but to thrive despite the collective time of discord we all experienced.

If a parent does not approve of a book or an assignment, there is already a policy in place for them to restrict access to the book for their child as well as a policy that says they can get an alternative assignment from the teacher.  I support these policies as parents have the right to choose what they think is best for their own children.  I do not support parents pressuring the school board, administrators, and teachers to change the curriculum for all children because they do not approve of a certain book or assignment.  You have the right to choose for your child, but not for everyone else's child.

I would champion racial bias training for teachers, staff, and administrators.  In writing and reviewing policies for attendance and discipline, I would oppose policies that further disadvantage students of color and students who are already disadvantaged economically and recommend changes that could help close the gap.  If redistricting were to come up, I would support redistricting where we are including areas that have economic disparities or areas where a racially diverse population exists.

A safe environment is paramount to improving the quality of our children’s education.  When children speak of having adequate cover while using the restroom during class time in the event of an active shooter event, we as a society could be doing better.  Our students should have an equitable education, where kids with special needs get the support needed to have a successful education and career path as well as challenging students who need a more rigorous curriculum to remain engaged in learning.  Maintaining the College Prep Pathway and the Manufacturing Pathway is essential to giving our children choices for their futures.  We need to give our kids the tools to succeed when they move on from K-12, which requires evidence based teaching methods, evidence based Science, History that is accurate and honest, as well as the nuts and bolts of Civics.

I would utilize our listening sessions as well as feedback from our strategic planning team that they have gathered from parents in our schools.  I would elicit feedback from teachers on policy decisions to ensure we are doing what’s right for our kids and them.  I plan to listen to the union reps when they have concerns and work with them to come up with solutions.  I would push to have listening sessions offered at later times for our working parents.

Looking at the current budget for Centennial School District could give one some pause that the deficit created was about thirty percent of the total budget expenditures for this coming school year, however, the rationale for this deficit (which was long-term facilities maintenance projects, the voter-approved operating referendum plan, food service capital projects, debt service advanced refinancing, trust fund retirement payments, and internal service fund inflation adjustment) was reasonable.  This school year’s deficit was ten times the previous year’s deficit and reflects how inflation has affected our district over the past year.  The proposed budget for next year will not start to be discussed until December, however, I would like to see more granularity in the budget, so that we can better see where our spending is going and determine what adjustments are needed.

As a person who makes decisions based on available data, I would ask for a granular breakdown of the budget by programs and services and I would want to see data from an audit of those programs and services.  I would look at what was failing and see if it could be fixed, replaced with something better, or if it would be better to discontinue it if it was not needed anymore.  I would look for areas where we may have overlap in our programs and services that could be eliminated.

I was an active officer of the PTA at my daughter’s Elementary School in CA and served as the PTA President our last year there.  I have done community organizing work with Take Action Minnesota, that has taught me how to have relationship building dialog with people of different perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds.  Being an Engineer has also taught me to think out of the box and come up with creative solutions to complicated problems collaboratively as a team.  I have led diverse teams, managed estimates and budgets for Engineering projects for the past 12 years.  I think all of this experience will be rich with value to bring our School District up to pace with our rapidly changing community and build bridges within the community.

I have done community organizing work with Take Action Minnesota, that has taught me how to have relationship building dialog with people of different perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds.  As an Engineer, I come up with creative solutions to complicated problems in collaboration with a team.  I led diverse teams, managed estimates and budgets for projects over my career.  This experience will be valuable in bringing our School District to pace with our rapidly changing community.

I think adults need to make less of an issue out of what pronouns a child wants to use in the classroom.  If a child wants to use a specific name or set of pronouns that is different than the gender they were born with, use them.

I want that child's focus on their school work.  If using their preferred name and pronouns makes that child comfortable and able to focus on the schoolwork in front of them instead of what they are being referred to or worrying about using the wrong name, use them.  I would prefer the adults in their life get on board with using that preferred name and the preferred pronouns, so they can focus on their education and not the battle over pronouns and names.  They may keep the pronouns and name their whole lives or only for a short time, let them figure that out and lets support them in feeling comfortable to be themselves, so they can focus on what really matters in the classroom, their education.

My stance on the 1619 project is mixed, I appreciate the mission of the project and honoring the contributions and struggles that Black American slaves endured to build our country.  I think their history should be honored by teaching our children about the truths of the slave labor that built our country.  I also acknowledge that one of the biggest claims in the 1619 project was absolutely incorrect.  The incorrect claim being that one of the main causes of the American Revolution was to preserve African Slave labor in the colonies.  Unfortunately, because of this first claim being incorrect, it has made many reject the entire 1619 project in whole.  I think there are things we can learn from the 1619 project that are true, but we need to be careful and critical of what we take from the project when using it in any classroom curriculum.  Mainly to review the materials and ensure what is being used is in fact accurate and honest history.  Fortunately, over the past 5 years since this project was first launched, it has been critically evaluated and many pieces have been written to challenge the incorrect claims of the project, and I think we can also learn a lot from those evaluations.  It would also be a great learning opportunity in critical thinking, ethics, and journalist integrity to evaluate the incorrect claims and learn how they were allowed to persist in the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 project edition.  In addition, there are many stories that are correct that our kids could learn from or be a jump off point to find primary and secondary sources that support the claims of the accurate stories.

The first side of this subject is that Critical Race Theory is a theory taught in law school and is not taught in K-12 or even undergraduate college courses.  Teaching this in K-12 would be like teaching Differential Equations (a graduate level Calculus course) to K-12, it is an advanced topic that most children would not be able to grasp without a lot of foundational knowledge about civics, government, sociology, multicultural diversity, and law.  I think we should be teaching our kids developmentally appropriate curriculum and this would be out of that scope for most children in K-12.  On the subject of the theory existing and being taught in law school, I think it is a viable course of study and should be taught.  There is systemic racism in just about every aspect of American society, economy, institutions, and even in our country’s infrastructure and in order to combat that and have a truly equal United States of America, it should be evaluated and alleviated as much as we possibly can.

The second side of this subject when brought up to School Board Candidates is usually a Conservative fear of spreading wokeism in our schools, or a Progressive fear of rejecting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our schools.  Both of these tropes of CRT disappoint me immensely.  I think we should be teaching our children to understand and honor the differences of the many cultures that make up the United States of America.  When we understand other cultures besides our own, fear of the other is greatly reduced.  When conservatives call that woke, it is worrisome to me, because when their ancestors were immigrants in a strange land, they were the other.  Their ancestors had to learn to understand the culture they found themselves in and those who were here when their ancestors arrived had to come to an understanding of the differences in cultures of those immigrating.  This is a uniquely American experience and to reject that and call it woke is quite anti-American to me.  When progressives have to worry that a new buzzword of CRT is going to be the end of learning to understand and accept other cultures, religions, races, disabilities, sexual orientations, and gender expressions, this also worries me.  Those with differences are already under the microscope of being the other and they don’t need more fuel in the fire that burns with the hatred for others, especially when we are talking about children who need the best education Minnesota can give them.  We should be teaching our children to be better than ourselves, teach tolerance, kindness, understanding, and acceptance of those not like themselves.  This would greatly reduce bullying in our schools, which would then lower our chances of gun violence happening in our schools, and make our kids feel safe enough to learn the academic part of their curriculum.

I am a Centennial parent with one child in High School (Jillian - 14) and one child in Kindergarten (Emma - 5).  I live in Circle Pines with my husband (Mike) and my children.

Education is near and dear to my heart and I know from experience that a great education is the key to a successful future. As a Principal Software Systems Engineer, I make a lot of decisions about how a user is going to interact with a System using its Software.  I've designed Software Systems for Radars, Military vehicles (Bradley Fighting Vehicles and AMPV), as well as Cardiac devices systems.  I have always worked amongst a diverse team of engineers and have lead design teams.  I could not have obtained this career without valuing education and having the best teachers, coaches, and administrators creating an environment where I could discover and develop my talents.

I truly believe that in order to get the best from your community, you need to contribute to it.  I volunteer to be the Cookie Mom for my eldest child's Girl Scout Troop as well as for whatever the troop needs, for example, running games at elementary school carnivals in the Centennial School District.  I have also spent some time volunteering for Centennial's Theatre Boosters at the Middle School Performances the past couple of years.

Our children's education is of utmost importance to me and we are in a critical time to make changes that will help our kids succeed in an ever changing landscape of obstacles.

First key message

Safe environments do not exist in a vacuum, they are created from a culture of support and acceptance at all levels.  Unsafe environments are created when teachers are not given support, children are made to feel alone, bullying is not handled well, school staffing is inadequate, and mental health resources are strapped.  As a school board member, I will help develop a school culture among students, staff, and teachers that strengthens safety.

I will create a culture of transparency, where teachers and staff can raise issues and give feedback on what is working and what isn't without worry of retaliation.  I will be open to hearing about new ideas and creative ways to offer our kids the support they need to be able to learn and grow.

Second key message

When everyone is given the same tools and resources without regard to where they are, inequity looms.  Our kids have differing needs for learning that need to be honored in order to create equity.

I want to support the spectrum of students we have: those that need to come up to grade level, those who do well in mainstream classes, those who are well beyond grade level and need a challenge to keep them engaged in school, as well as those whose goals will never be grade level but will be life skills centered.  All of our kids need to be supported to succeed in their education.

As a school board member, I will create a pathway to equity for our students, so they can get the education they deserve.

Third key message

The consequences of limiting what our kids learn comes at a great cost to our country.  If we want our children to be the leaders of tomorrow, we need to provide them with the best education we can give them.  Educating our children honestly, empowers them to think critically about the world around them.

Honesty in education means trusting our educators to provide age-appropriate curriculum that tackles complex issues as our kids are ready for them.

I will encourage our teachers to create curriculums that include the diverse history of our country, rich in science and STEM, and literature that is diverse as well as age-appropriate.  I want your children and mine to have limitless opportunities in whatever they choose to pursue.

Bullying and physical violence is a major issue in the Centennial School District.  Our children have had an unprecedented life experience that has affected their mental health and development in so many ways as well as lead to a dearth of empathy and acceptance for one another.  There would be less bullying if our children felt more secure to be themselves and had more empathy and acceptance for others.  We need to look at policy around bullying to guide and help our children grow past the disadvantages they have had so they can be capable, kind, empathetic, and productive citizens.  I want our kids to not just survive the pandemic, but to thrive despite the collective time of discord we all experienced.

All of our students, teachers and staff deserve to feel safe in the schools they are learning and working in.  Schools are supposed to be safe and stable learning environments where each child can learn and grow, no matter what racial or socioeconomic background they come from.  Safe environments do not exist in a vacuum, they are created from a culture of support and acceptance at all levels.  When everyone knows they belong and that the environment that they learn and work in is supportive of them as a unique individual, the environment becomes a safer one.

What this looks like is addressing bullying in an appropriate way which is getting to the root of why the child bullying is feeling so insecure that they have to lash out at others and getting them the support they need to be more secure in their environment.  This also includes giving the victim the support they need to feel safe in the classroom again even if it means that they need the bully moved to a different classroom or schedule.  Repeat offenders should be given more intensive resources to address their issue, especially if they are going after the same victim or multiple victims.  Children should feel free to tell a trusted adult about bullying incidents and be able to trust that it will be dealt with and the only way this can be done is to show them that they are heard and that they will be protected from future incidents.  This is an important issue to me, because properly addressing bullying is a keystone to better safety. If we can reduce the amount of bullying in our schools, we can reduce the chances of gun violence ever happening to your child or children.

The explosion of the space shuttle, Challenger, was the first historical event in my lifetime that I remember.  I was 5 years old and was in Kindergarten.  Our teacher was so excited that a fellow teacher would be going into space that we talked about space and what it would be like to take a space shuttle and experience space the entire week leading up to the launch.  As a special treat, our teacher rolled the television into our classroom to have us watch the launch together.  After it launched, we all watched it explode and our teacher left school early that day because she was so upset.

I wouldn’t fly on an airplane until I was 13 yrs old, because to me, anything that could fly could also explode.  However, after I took that first airplane trip, I learned that it was all quite safe and that I really enjoyed it.  I was already a science obsessed kid, so I started to really look into what happened with Challenger to alleviate my fears.  I read about astronauts and what they do and decided, it would be quite something to be one…which led me to become an engineer.  My favorite uncle challenged me to look into what careers astronauts had and encouraged me to become an engineer since I liked science and math.  Becoming an astronaut became my goal at the time.  I eventually switched that goal to be a Software Engineer.

As a part of my college courses, I had to take Ethical Engineering where we really dug into the Challenger explosion.  There were many unethical decisions made that led to that tragic launch.  Managers who did not listen to their Engineers, Engineers could not properly communicate the data that would have given the urgency needed to stop the launch.  There was also a lot of internal pressure to not report issues for fear of losing your job or being held back from promotion.  It really illustrated how the culture of NASA helped breed unethical decision making and it really encouraged me to always speak up even if it costs me personally.