I believe that a strong public education system is at the heart of what makes a great community. Our goal should always be to provide the highest quality education for students at the lowest cost to tax payers making Derby an attractive and affordable place to live, raise a family and do business.
As a 16 year Derby resident and parent of three children, I recognize the significant role our schools play in developing our future workforce. Our schools are also an important consideration in helping people decide if they want to live and work in Derby
Putting our schools at the heart of our community can be accomplished by starting with three actionable commitments:
1. Establish Our Position – Derby Schools represent almost half of the city budget and serve as our city government’s largest employer. However, our schools have low visibility in city government or in the overall strategy for Derby.
We can change this by establishing stronger ties to the Mayor’s Office, Board of Alderman, Tax Board and Town Committees. We need to work in collaboration to ensure our schools produce a high quality education at a low cost and are a symbol of Derby Pride. We invest a lot of your tax dollars in our schools and they should be part of the strategy to move Derby forward and not just something we fund.
2. Change Our Learning Culture – We have recently benefited by $496,000.00 in grant money to acquire online learning technology in the classroom and beyond. Online learning when used alongside classroom instruction provides a wealth of opportunity to improve educational quality with long term cost savings.
While some have claimed credit for bringing this technology to our schools, the real work is far from being done. To leverage this technology, we must foster a change in how students learn and how they are supported at home. We start by ensuring every student has access to the technology and that we support them and parents in learning how to learn with this new academic tool.
This effort cannot be left to Teachers and School Administrators to tackle on their own. Changing a culture requires the support of everyone and it must start at the top with our Board of Education.
3. Be Accountable – We must be held accountable for our schools performance and our decisions. Consistent accountability is our best defense in avoiding issues which serve as distractions to our goal of providing a high quality education to students.
With 15 years of experience in Workplace Learning and a first time candidate for the Board of Education, I am excited about the potential to serve those in my community.
If you believe as I do that high quality and low cost can be achieved and that putting our schools at the heart of our community is a cause worth pursuing, I ask for your vote on Nov. 3.
The writer is running on the Republican line for a position on the Derby Board of Education.
