Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
How long have you lived in the district?
Do you have children in the district? How do you feel this will help you in serving on the school board if elected?
I have lived in Worland for 27 years and have 4 children in the school district.
Why are you running for the Worland School Board?
Do you feel you have the time it takes to serve?
What would you do to help the district bring back students who have dropped out? Do you feel it is important to try and bring back students who are attending online schooling or home schooling? Why or why not?
I have been a board member for 20 years and am very excited about our Pathways that we have created to help students with choosing a path for a career after High School. This will be a huge step in helping our community with employment shortages and gives our community more involvement inside our schools. We also have created an alternative school for those students that do not fit traditional brick and mortar. This has been very successful this year and provides students the same opportunities as our traditional school, but with more one on one education with focus on their career paths and provides a "family" type setting in which every student is held accountable, and their needs are addressed individually.
As a board member I really want to see this through and continue to work down into the middle school to give our students many opportunities that they can consider for the future careers in life. This also helps our elementary students see the opportunities that our older students are doing and receiving. I really love the community involvement and participate myself. These two additions to our high school and plans in the future for the Middle School will help in lowering our drop out rates and giving accountability to our school system. We hope this will also encourage home schooled students to come back and participate in public school to better prepare them in a future career.
Do you feel enough is being done regarding the mental health of our students? Why or why not? Do you have ideas on how to address this? Do you feel enough is being done regarding bullying – (online and in person) – in the school system? Why or why not? Do you have ideas on how to address this?
When it comes to mental health, we will always have work to do. This is a growing problem, and our District has taken steps in trying to deal with the problem. We have hotlines like "988" and "Safe to Tell," in which anyone can call in who is struggling with mental health or if they feel or see anything unsafe. We try to educate our students and parents with available resources and encourage them to reach out and not feel alone. This also ties in with bullying. Though the faculty and staff try to identify and correct anything we see, it is going to take the "village" to successfully combat these problems. We deal with a lot of broken homes, poverty, social media, and many other factors. The students are only in our care for 8 hours, the other 16 hours they are out in our community. Our community needs to have the awareness and tools to also be able to assist in these ongoing problems. It is not an easy nor quick fix, but I believe if we make more people aware in the community, we can all make a difference together. We do offer many extracurricular activities such as band, choir, speech and drama, sports, FFA, and many clubs that we encourage student to get involved with and help build relationships. This reduces idle time and builds better work ethics, strong relationships, and a sense of belonging.
What is the most important issue the school district is facing and how would you help address it?
I believe that mental health and bullying are two of the most important issues facing our school district. These problems will probably never go away, but it doesn't mean we do not keep trying. Public education is a driving force that can help our students and the community to understand, detect, and resolve poor mental health or bullying. It takes all of us, but everyone of us can remember that one teacher, bus driver, cook, custodian, para, secretary, administrator, or coach that helped us get back up when we fell.
We need to continue to hire the best staff and faculty. Provide premium education that focuses on the wellbeing of every student. Continue to educate our community and welcome all to get involved.
