Community Trust
“Trust is a currency; you can't afford not to invest in it. Interestingly enough, trust can only be built, maintained, and repaired through conversations.” - Juliana Vergara
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There are sections of the Richland One family that do not have a basic trust in the district to do the best for their children. The issues revolve around safety of students, financial transactions, test scores and teacher turn-over. Whether these perceptions are accurate or not, the board and the administration need to combat those perceptions with decisions, information and complete transparency whenever possible. If the community can come to trust in those things, then when discretion is called for, they will trust the board to do the right thing. I will work to improve community perceptions, be forthcoming with information, to provide the transparency and to take steps to change those things that need changing in order to build that trust.
School Board Effectiveness
“Constantly talking isn’t necessarily communicating…” - Charlie Kaufman
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Although I have noticed some improvement of late, It is evident from RCSD1 Board meetings that the relationships among the board members are not conducive to respectful discussions of the concerns and issues and therefore, not conducive to making the best decisions for the district. There also seems to be a lack of communication between the board and the administration. The flow of information from the administration is not currently sufficient for the board’s needs. I would work diligently to improve those relationships.
Staff Morale & Retention
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.” - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
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If board relationships are improved and the community’s trust is improved, it will go a long way towards improving staff morale and retention. in addition, we need to listen to our staff and take seriously their concerns and their ideas about what would keep them in our district. We need to resist unfunded mandates from the state that ask more from our teachers without additional staff or time. We need to work to hire the best and not only pay well, but give them environments where they feel challenged, accepted and supported. We need to look closely at where we spend district funds and work on putting more time and energy into those positions directly impacting children and on increasing the number of staff members who are in those positions.