What motivates you to serve on the school board, and what perspective or experience would you bring to the role?

As a Sauk Centre graduate and lifelong community member, I want to continue to serve on the school board to help the district continue to succeed and grow for years to come. A great school district is one if not the most important parts of the community.

How should the district balance academic achievement with supporting students’ mental health, safety and overall well-being?

I believe that academic achievements are not the only measurement for success as a school district. Teachers, administrators, coaches, school staff, and school board are in positions to make good human beings out of the children of the Sauk Centre district. This cannot be only measured by test scores, we need the students to enjoy being in the building, learning skills & useful knowledge they can use in life, as well as making lifelong friends & memories. If we can achieve this hopefully, they will come back to Sauk Centre to raise a family and send the children to SCHS.

What do you believe is the most significant challenge or opportunity currently facing the district, and what role should the school board play in addressing it?

State Funding and Declining enrollment are the major challenges that the district faces currently. These are items that the school board is and must continue to address. These are not going away anytime soon. We need the state legislature to fund programs & plans that they implement. We need to investigate all options as well as adapt with the students when options for different types of learning environments present themselves.  

How should the district prepare students for the different paths they may pursue after graduation, including college, skilled trades, healthcare, military service, entrepreneurship or entering the workforce?

I feel the district is already partaking in a lot of these after graduation paths, with WSEO, CTE offering, Post Secondary(college course offerings) and other career course offerings. We as a district must continue having these offerings for the students of the district to help them after high school. We have a lot of agriculture, manufacturing, service orientated careers in our district area and we need to be educating the next group of employees, managers, and owners in fields that have career positions available.

School board decisions can involve limited resources, competing priorities and strongly held opinions. How would you gather and weigh input from students, families, educators and the community while keeping students’ best interests at the center of your decisions?

As a school board member, we are put in a position to make the best decision available for everyone’s most important asset, their child. Not every decision is going to be agreed with or liked. But as a board member it is our duty to make the best decisions with the information at hand for the students, staff, families, and taxpayers of the district.  As a current board member, I have had conversations with parents, school staff, taxpayers, and students on what is working, what can we do better, and what needs to be addressed. These are the ways that the district can continue to strive to be the best.

*All candidates were contacted at email addresses and phone numbers listed in public filing records. Questionnaires had word/time limits and are published EXACTLY as submitted. No info is displayed if a candidate didn’t respond. If you would like a copy of the PDF forms that were submitted by the candidate, please submit that request to saukcentrechamber@gmail.com. Thank you.

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