If elected, once the school board votes to approve an action or policy, what do you believe is your responsibility to that policy or action, especially if you did not support the policy or action?
In my experience as an administrator in school districts, it’s not that different than with the question asked about supporting what was voted on. It’s incredibly important that whether you agree with it or not, once a decision is made that you leave that space supporting that decision. Not backbiting, not telling your team right or wrong or whatever else behind their backs, but that you find a way within yourself to support that decision, and you do the very best you can to support that decision. I think that’s the most important thing, as has already been mentioned that unified front.
What are the three most significant challenges facing Taylor ISD?
I believe the growth in the area is something that we’re really going to have to keep track of. I’ve seen, in my career, several demographic studies and they’re never right. They do their best, I’m not saying it’s a sham, I’m saying they do their level best given the data that they have at the time. But, things can move along quickly, and slower would be better because we be able to then keep up with the pace and that would be perfect. I think that teacher retention and keeping those teachers, getting those mandates in place, and then also let’s look at our [kindergarten] through [third grade] reading program.
We’ve got 2,000 students, over half of our student demographic, that’s not doing very well the third grade reading STAAR. Let’s just look at that program. Let’s really dig deep and see how we can bolster that. I believe third grade reading is the most important thing that we need to do.
