With every need and every gap there is an equal opportunity to step up with energy, creativity, and talent to make it better for kids. We still have a long way to go but this is St. Paul – together we can do what our students need to ensure successful futures. Here’s how I’ve focused my efforts since joining the Board in 2000:
Community involvement, support, and communications: Succeeded in revamping community engagement efforts to be more authentic, inclusive, and representative. Helped create new board listening sessions. Significantly improved collaborations and partnerships to support students across the community, school district, schools, families, and the city/county.
Equity: Constantly help force attention to seeing choices and opportunities through the lens of equity, and working to address them on all fronts including race and ethnicity, gender, home location, sexual orientation, age, home language, socioeconomic status, immigration status and documentation, family structure, special needs, academic performance, and so on. I helped craft the mission for St. Paul Public Schools, “Premier education for all,” and “all” means all.
Funding: Actively lobbied for responsible state and federal funding, and aggressively worked with community members to win several local referenda that have funded among other things a tremendous expansion of early childhood opportunities – thanks, St. Paul!
Strategic Plan: Helped shape districtwide strategic planning processes and active community participation in decision making.
Staff support: Successfully led efforts to equalize employee benefits, structure contracts to provide health care for bus drivers, and improve proactive and collaborative decision making.
Regional and national leadership: Representative to the national Council of Great City Schools, the Association of Metropolitan School Districts, the Joint Property Tax Advisory Committee (city/county/school district), and other policy and leadership groups.
