KSD Discussion Group Questionnaire and Answers

Why are you running for school board? Please describe your understanding of the role of the school board as well as your qualifications to be on the board.

I am a disabled Veteran of the United States Air Force currently working as a project manager at Comcast. I have a bachelor’s degree in Network Administration and Security from Green River College that I received in 2019. I am a board member of my daughters’ school PTA (they both attend Kent Schools along with my wife who teaches in the district).

I am running for this position because I believe I can bring open and honest communication within the school board, to district administrators and staff, and to the community at large. I will work to make this district the absolute best it can be. My children are 5th generation KSD students with my great grandmother having graduated from Kent High School in 1939, my mother and grandmother graduated from Kent Meridian High School and I graduated from Kentlake High School in 1999.

After watching the district the past decade or so become more and more detached from the community, I want to change that. I believe if we work together we can make this district a place where parents want to bring their students and teachers want to work.

My understanding of the role of school board director is that we provide the checks and balances by way of employee reviews for the superintendent as well as setting policy for the district as a whole.
Why are you running for school board? Please describe your understanding of the role of the school board as well as your qualifications to be on the board.
I am a disabled Veteran of the United States Air Force currently working as a project manager at Comcast. I have a bachelor’s degree in Network Administration and Security from Green River College that I received in 2019. I am a board member of my daughters’ school PTA (they both attend Kent Schools along with my wife who teaches in the district).

I am running for this position because I believe I can bring open and honest communication within the school board, to district administrators and staff, and to the community at large. I will work to make this district the absolute best it can be. My children are 5th generation KSD students with my great grandmother having graduated from Kent High School in 1939, my mother and grandmother graduated from Kent Meridian High School and I graduated from Kentlake High School in 1999.

After watching the district the past decade or so become more and more detached from the community, I want to change that. I believe if we work together we can make this district a place where parents want to bring their students and teachers want to work.

My understanding of the role of school board director is that we provide the checks and balances by way of employee reviews for the superintendent as well as setting policy for the district as a whole.
What does the board need to do in order to regain trust and confidence within the community? What is the first thing you plan to do if you’re elected to restore credibility and trust in the board with the teachers and the public?

The board needs to be far more transparent with the choices they make and their reasoning for doing so. Once that is provided the board will need to continually provide that transparency with all decisions made. The first thing I plan on doing is to work with the current Board members and superintendent to change the policies to reflect the goal of being a district that is open and honest with its choices and how they were made. I believe this one action will start the district and board on the journey towards trust and credibility.
A primary responsibility of the school board is to establish and oversee the budget. In your own words, what does it mean to “oversee a budget” and what is your understanding of school district funding?

Overseeing a budget in my understanding would be to provide guidance on how funding should be spent and to keep the district on track regarding our community’s values and aspirations. My understanding of school district funding is such that the district is, first and foremost, providing an equitable learning environment for all students who are placed in their charge. Once we have resolved the many issues in the district’s equitable learning environment to include, but certainly not limited to, special education, English language learners, and the safety and well-being of all our students, we can then start to look at the non-essential items the district proposes we spend our tax dollars on.
Please identify the top 5 needs for the district. Over the next year, how do you want the board to work to address and meet those needs?

1. Open communication with the community.
2. Hiring and retaining of special education teachers and para-educators.
3. Mental health support for both students and staff.
4. Providing adequate learning environments that meet the safety and well-being requirements of our students and staff to include but not limited to HVAC system upgrades (with air purification secondary to the heating and cooling needs being provided for) and upgraded security in every building to provide a safe learning environment for both.
5. Modifying the bond measure to include only those things that are a necessity for the district to meet it’s obligations in regards to all of the above issues. Once those needs have been met we should have multiple open forums to discern what is important to our community so we can appropriately ask for additional funding for those programs.
What are some of the best practices you’ve seen in other districts, and how will you work to bring things like that to life in KSD?

The Auburn school district has been on a long term plan of replacing all buildings in need of extensive repairs instead of constantly providing band aids for whatever new issue arises. Many of our nearby districts also provide for free lunch (and preferably breakfast) to all students, removing the stigma of being a student receiving that assistance.

I am also impressed with interest based bargaining that other districts use to make sure the bargaining done with our many labor unions is done in a way that provides the best outcomes for both the district and the labor unions together instead of starting to bargain at the last minute to create a false need of urgency while increasing the likelihood of strikes.
Who do you consider stakeholders in decision making? As a Board Director, how will you involve those stakeholders in the decision making process?

The stakeholders are the students, constituents, and staff in that order. In providing a more open and honest communication strategy with these groups, we will alleviate much of the animosity we are currently battling within the district. I believe the board can be far more communicative on the issues that are brought to them and hope to encourage these changes. Although we will never be able to make everyone happy all the time with the choices made, having a better understanding of how that decision was made will go a long way towards creating a trusting and supportive environment with our community.
Please describe the extent to which you have direct experience with any of the following: attending or viewing KSD School Board meetings (in-person or watching online) and/or giving public comment (in-person or via the online public comment submission form). If you are a current Board Director, what was your involvement prior to being a Board Director?

I have often watched many of the board meetings virtually and more recently I have made the effort to be in-person at these meetings so I am able to speak to the issues brought up by the board, community and staff. I have requested input from this group as well as the public at large so I am kept informed of what is important to the community at large.
A primary responsibility of the board is to review, revise, and adopt policies. Do you feel the school board should follow all policies?

The board should absolutely follow all policies and if they find the policies are no longer appropriate, they should be communicating this information to the public and seek the community’s input as to how we should change those policies. There should never be a time where the board is just ignoring existing policies prior to changing them to reflect the current needs of the students, community, and staff.
What experience, knowledge, or training do you have around special education law? In what ways do you believe the school board can support or improve the delivery of appropriate special education services to students?

I am aware of the district’s need to provide a quality education to all students regardless of their background or abilities. Being a member of the disabled community myself (I am a disabled combat veteran of the United States Air Force), I believe I have a unique understanding of the needs of our disabled populace. I believe the board sets the tone for how the district interprets their duties in regards to our special education community and as such has a leading role in the choices the district makes.
How will you address the needs of all students?

I believe we should always be looking both forward to where we want the district to be regarding students needs but also looking back to see if the policies and procedures previously put in place accomplished the intended goal and if not, why not. If we do both of those things we will have outcomes that better match our objectives and will be better able to adjust our policies and procedures when necessary.
What is the best way to address differences of opinion on the board and between the board and school district administration?

The best way to address differences of opinion is with constant communication within the board as well as with the district. When there is a discrepancy between the board’s and administration’s opinions the administration needs to defer to the guidance provided by the board. The purpose of the board is to provide that guidance and often it seems they are not provided the proper respect for the positions they hold. As the elected officials overseeing the district they are the voice of our citizen’s and should be treated with the utmost respect by all district employees, especially by the superintendent as her/his actions set the tone for the rest of the administration.
Imagine a hypothetical situation where you were presented with information regarding a resolution, the board acted on the resolution, and then later it was determined that the initial presentation was incorrect or misleading. How would you react, and what actions, if any, would you take?

My reaction and the actions I would take in such a situation would wholly depend on why the information was incorrect or misleading.

If the person providing the information chose to mislead with the intention of pushing a particular agenda, that would require disciplinary action up to and including termination for cause.

If the information was incorrect due to another reason (i.e. the information was incorrect due to an honest mistake or was out of the control of the person(s) presenting it) then we would need to adjust our policies and procedures to address the discrepancy and provide another more appropriate option for gathering the required information (possibly using a different option altogether if we believe the initial presenter is incapable of rectifying the situation).

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