10/21/2024
Recently, I have had several people reach out wanting to know my stance on a multitude of issues. Below are my responses. If you have questions about where I stand on topics not mentioned here, please don’t hesitate to ask. I do hope that each of you will get out and exercise your right to vote in this election!
4-Day School Week
My first concern when presented with a 4-day school week was childcare. I know there are some families who may count on their children being in school during the day so they can work. I worry that it may put people in a bind financially or otherwise to have to find and pay for childcare once a week. I would love to see our school try to accommodate this group of people at little to no cost if possible. Other than that, I would love to see some real data on how the schools that have already implemented the 4-day school week are performing. Are their students and teachers happier? Are they performing better? Has it attracted teachers and students to the school and are they able to retain them? I am certainly not opposed to a 4-day school week, I just have questions.
Teacher Pay/Retention
I believe teachers play a huge role in the development of our children. I think the task of truly caring for and reaching a significant number of students every day can be arduous, and teachers should be compensated with a fair wage. If it is possible to arrange the budget to be able to better compensate our teachers, it would certainly be a worthwhile investment. And certainly, an uptick in salaries would lead to retaining a greater percentage of well qualified educators.
Increased Negative Student Behavior
Of course, we know student behavior, whether positive or negative, starts at home. Unfortunately, we can’t control most of what happens in the homes of the children at our school. I believe we have some really good programs in place to try to help students develop socially and emotionally such as The Well and Capturing Kids’ Hearts. I hope these programs are used as a conduit for students to see that they are loved by the faculty around them. And I personally believe when a child feels like they are loved and cared for it affects the way they behave. Now, I also believe that if you truly love a child, you will discipline them. These kids are in the developmental stages, and it is our responsibility as a community to help them navigate that. Part of that is showing them that there are always consequences for your actions.
Student Enrollment
It is my understanding that the number of students enrolled for this school year is slightly lower than last. There are multiple reasons for this. Some students moved out of the district or to a different area completely, some chose to home school, and some changed schools to participate in activities or programs that Chapel Hill does not offer. One program I believe shows a lot of potential is Rural Pathway Excellence Partnership or R-PEP. This program “allows rural school districts to enter into agreements with other school districts to develop rural college and career pathway partnerships. The goal of the R-PEP program is to increase access to high-quality post-secondary pathways for rural students through multi-district collaboration.” I think there are some exciting possibilities for students within this program and it may help smaller schools like ours to draw and retain more students. I am also very hopeful that the improvements being made under the bond that recently passed will attract more students to Chapel Hill.
I hope this gives some insight into who I am as a candidate for CHISD School Board and exhibits my desire to see our students and our school flourish. I would greatly appreciate your vote, and I assure you that I will do my very best to serve our school and our community well.
For your convenience, I have listed voting dates and information below.
Titus County Election Office
110 S. Madison Ave
903-572-0902
October 21st-25th 8am-5pm
October 26th 7am-7pm
October 27th 12pm-6pm
October 28th-Nov 1st, 7am-7pm
November 5th 7am-7pm
