Priorities Good to great.
In May 2026 the Board unanimously approved
Strategic Plan 2030. I, along
with the rest of the Board, helped draft it. The next four years are about
implementing it, and about being
willing to say out loud whether it’s working.
These are my priorities, as a board member, for the next four years.
01 Implement Strategic Plan 2030 all the way through.
Strategic Plan 2030 is organized around
five pillars: community
engagement, student culture and behavior, student learning, educator
excellence, and resource allocation. Underneath it sits a coherence
framework. A Portrait of a Learner defines what every child should be able
to do by eighth grade. A Model Classroom describes the instruction and
learning environment we want every student to experience. A Portrait of an Educator sets the professional
standard we hold ourselves to.
That’s the most academically and financially serious document D64 has
produced in years.
It’s also the kind of plan that quietly dies when a board loses focus,
turns over, or gets distracted by something louder.
What that looks like on the Board - Help the administration focus on the work that moves the plan forward.
- Use the Strategic Plan Scorecard as a real accountability tool, with a clear annual report to the community on what’s working and what isn’t.
- Continue to leverage my national educational reach to ensure we are bringing national best practices to our work.
02 Meet our growth goals for eighth grade.
District-wide, our growth numbers are improving. However, we have
not yet met our district’s
growth goals for our eighth graders.
There is immense work happening across our middle school classrooms that
the district can continue to leverage, including the middle school redesign
work and the design and implementation of the Model Classroom. This is work
I know well.
What that looks like on the Board - Keep eighth-grade results in view every cycle so the Board can direct support where it’s needed.
- Bring 20+ years of instructional experience and national connections to the table as the administration leads this work.
03 Protect the district’s finances, and the community’s trust.
The community gave us $89 million and we delivered what we promised, on
time. At the same time, we were able to make full-day kindergarten free
because the district’s finances were in order. In order for
the district to continue to deliver for students and families, we need to
strengthen our financial position.
I want the Board to keep making decisions the way we’ve been making
them. Conservatively,
transparently, and assuming we’ll be asked to justify every one of them.
That’s the only way for us to maintain the community’s trust and
build a fund balance that gives us financial flexibility in the future.
What that looks like on the Board - Keep long-range financial projections in public view, not just in the annual budget cycle.
- Hold the line on the governance discipline that got us here. Set direction, support the administration, don’t manage.
- Treat the next ask of taxpayers, whenever it comes, as something that has to be earned again from scratch.
Want to discuss something here?
I’d rather chat about it now than after the election. Send me a note. I
read everything that comes in.