Q & A - Why do I want to be on the Board of Education?

I have added a Contact section to my website in the hopes that members of this community will ask me questions and send me their thoughts. Please feel free to use it to ask me what you want to know. Tell me what you want me to know. I’m listening.

As for questions, I’ll start: Why do I want to be on the Board of Education?

"If not now, then when?" - Hillel the Elder

I’ve always had aspirations to get involved with politics and administration, but until now I feel like I haven’t really found my niche. While pursuing my Masters in Social Work at NYU, I focused a lot of my education and learning on policy: how do laws, policies, and procedures affect the populations we serve? In recent years, I’ve become even more of a policy wonk. And now I work with kids and families one-on-one in my daily practice, so it is very important for me to understand how systems work to serve them - or, in many cases, how they fail. My goal is to figure out how to advocate for policies that best serve the populations for whom they are meant.

I feel much the same about budgets: how can finances either help or hinder the people we are working with and for? I have learned so much about the challenges and the importance of budgets both professionally and philanthropically over the years, and I hope to bring all of that experience to the Board of Education.

But the most important reason that I want to be on the Board of Education is because I love it here and I want to help make this an awesome place to live and go to school. I love that we have a tight district where almost everybody knows each other. Our family has been in attendance at 4 of the 5 schools in the district already, and we’ll have hit all 5 by the time my eldest gets to high school in a couple years (6 schools if you count our kitchen table for remote learning during the pandemic). I love our schools, our teachers, and the staff. I think we have great sports and fields and arts and creative programs, and I want to see them get the support and improvement that they deserve. I love that so many students from outside the district are brought here to learn. I want a chance to help guide the district in this community that I have come to know and love. I hope you will give me your vote and give me that chance!