1. Stop believing everything you think
   1. Guard mouth from brain
   2. Common sense and a sense of humor
   3. Reboot your brain computer
   4. Grace; can’t earn is given to you, give it to others
2. Excellence
   1. Perfection is a disease
   2. Music and art open all the learning centers of the brain at the same time
   3. Rules don’t govern behavior; relationships govern behavior
   4. Role model education every single day – more is caught than taught
3. Servant Leadership
   1. If serving is below you, then leadership is above you
   2. Humankind; always try to be human and kind
   3. All means all
   4. Every day. Every student. By Name.
   5. Be the best human you can be
   6. Let’s look and the mirror and backpacks and get rid of anything that’s keeping you from being the best human you can be.
4. Serving students
   1. Overtime not overnight
   2. No one changes over night; students don’t change overnight; you don’t change overnight
   3. Every student is a study of one
   4. There is something beyond college for everyone – 3E employed, enrolled, enlisted; one is not better than another

Over the course of my four years as a board member, I have frequently connected with teachers and staff to receive and respond to feedback for the work of the board and concerns to be addressed. This past summer, I met with multiple groups of teachers and staff to specifically discuss their concerns and ideas to ensure a positive start to the school year and to incorporate their input into my priorities and board work for the year.

Over the past four years, I have continued to advocate for greater teacher voice, to reduce non-valued work and meetings to enable teachers to do their work effectively, and to ensure they are truly supported with real solutions to the concerns they bring forward including classroom environments, behavior, and managing the staffing shortage. I have advocated for a third-party system to capture teacher and staff voice, as is best practice in most industries. Less than 50% of staff are comfortable in sharing their input to the current district survey and requests for input. This is very concerning.

My focus in this work stems from seeing first-hand for many years what teachers experience. When my husband was recognized as Teacher of the Year at his High School and later nominated for the Gilder Lehrman Social Studies Teacher of the Year, I saw the many hours and effort put in to educate and make a difference in young people’s lives. I saw the frustration of poor decisions that impacted his ability to do his best work. When my mom served as a Head Start Teacher, I saw her nights of preparation for home visits and for the classroom. I also saw how her work environment was either an enabler or a hindrance to the difficult work she was already doing. It is for this reason that I’m constantly asking what we can do better, how can we ensure our district and school cultures not only enable scholars to thrive but teachers and staff to thrive, and how we can create more recognition for the incredible work of our educators.

Today educators are asked to do far more than any other industry asks of its people. We must realign expectations and systems to stop the loss of educators. I communicate this to our legislators in every conversation. I will continue to ask these questions and advocate for priorities to this end as I have at each board meeting and in my comments at the forum (27:37, 32:09). We can create a district with a culture of achievement and excellence for EVERYONE.

I was blessed to have met Herb this past weekend while door knocking. Herb shared his personal life story of going from street life in Chicago to changing his life to become a business owner and now entrepreneur. He has a heart to help young people through his story and experiences.

I also had the opportunity to meet Andrew while attending my church service on Sunday. Andrew is an Osseo Senior High Graduate. He shared his story of overcoming early learning challenges to believe in himself and his ability to succeed. His passion and interest in finance led him to learn to make wise decisions early, becoming a home owner at age 23 and now a financial expert and real estate investor. He has turned his experiences into a business to empower others to fulfill their passions.

This is our community. These are the people that want to be involved to change lives and encourage and empower young people to believe in themselves and achieve their dreams. We have many community members with experiences and skills that can help us do the work that the educational system cannot do alone, but we do not have a mechanism to harness this collective and untapped resource pool. I believe we can and must engage our community resources for the benefit of our scholars.

Thank you Herb and Andrew for amazing conversations and for your passion to help young people with your stories and gifts. We can and we will create more opportunities for our community to support every single scholar.

The best part of my job is creating connections to add value for our scholars and develop new opportunities for their success. I am proud to have received endorsement by the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters for my support of expanding trades careers.

Trades careers provide excellent opportunities for well-paid careers and high-value skills with paths to further education, training, management, and entrepreneurship. As demand continues to grow, young people can enter the workforce quickly without debt and on a pathway to a successful future.

This past week, I had the opportunity to tour the NCSRCC’s training facility to see firsthand the breadth and specialization of their training programs. It was exciting to learn how they are creating America’s skilled workforce in collaboration with industry.

As a district, we continue to grow career pathways to ensure scholars can explore their future while also getting a head start in accreditation, experience, and knowledge. I am very excited at the new opportunities that will be developed as we collaborate with the NCSRCC in programming and with future trades organizations to benefit all ISD279 scholars.