Highly Competent and Committed Educators

Research is crystal clear that there is no greater school-based influence on student achievement than access to a qualified, caring teacher. Period. APS educators have moved mountains this year to teach and take care of our kids--and we need to take care of them, too.

Teachers are telling us what they need, locally and nationally: Competitive salary and benefits. Respect shown by giving them more influence over school- and district-level policies. Excellent professional learning that they have a real hand in planning and providing. 

And these teachers will tell you they can’t do their best work without the assistance of responsive, highly capable support and administrative teams at the school and district levels.

As a School Board member, I will:

1. Champion frontline educators to have a real voice in determining APS’s instructional priorities and programs. In the latest Your Voice Matters survey, only 26% of APS teachers responded favorably to the question, “How much influence do you have over school or department decisions that affect you?” That has to change: think of all the ideas and expertise we’re missing by ignoring teachers’ voices.​
2. Make salaries and benefits competitive in our region and protect the Compensation Reserve. APS used to lead local districts in teacher pay across all steps on the pay scale--but that’s no longer true. The Compensation Reserve fund was set up to keep our salaries competitive, but it’s being raided for other purposes.
3. Prioritize resources and access to excellent, personalized, teacher-driven professional development. We don’t want “one size fits all” teaching for our kids--so we can’t teach teachers that way. Our educators deserve learning opportunities that are tailored to their individual strengths and needs, and that whenever possible showcase the incredible talent we have within our own schools.
4. Work with APS to streamline the number of new programs and initiatives we’re asking educators to adopt. Whenever possible, we need to give educators the opportunity to focus on fewer things, do them really well, and give those time to bear fruit. Change fatigue and cynicism about “flavor-of-the-month” initiatives aren’t good for our teachers or our students.

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