Who Me? Run?!
I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d run for school board.
by Shawn Lovely on May 21, 2024
I am running my campaign as a parent who has observed the turmoil of the school board for some time. I’ve seen how special interest groups have been a destructive force for our educational community. These are challenging times for our country as a whole, and if I can in help to put CCSD back on the path to success, I’m going to work hard to do so. I see a lot of positive work done lately, and I’d like to keep it going. I fear if there isn’t a change in District 2 leadership, the positive steps will be reversed after the election.
Here are some questions I’ve had from the community.
What is your experience and qualifications for this position?
I am coming from a parental background as a CCSD parent who has worked closely with teachers and administrators for various reasons. I have a son who is autistic who is in 6th grade. I am coming from a place of concern regarding the push of special interest groups to control CCSD policy.
I would love to hear your ideas for pay raises for educators and how you plan to pay for them. I absolutely think teachers should be given higher pay, I just want to know your plan to implement this.
It looks like this year, the board is planning on 7.5K raises. There are board members who would like to see it at 10, but I'm not sure if that will happen before Nov. 5. I'd like to work with the board to implement a second increase, and then incremental raises yearly.
Also, I would love to speak to you about the policy that middle school students must purchase their own required reading materials. How do lower income families who can’t afford food buy three to five books a year.
If there isn't a free paper copy available, there is an app that connects with CCPL, and other library systems, called Libby. It's available on phones or computer at Libbyapp.com. It sounds like all you need is a CCPL card. No fees. I looked up the Lightning Thief, for example, and it has a digital copy.
Can you elaborate more on "remove the influence of special interest groups?"
Moms For Liberty has been a driving force for 5 of our 9 board members. There are other school board candidates who are are being challenged by a M4L candidate this year. If we support her, and win against Ed Kelley, the influence of M4L will be in the minority and lose effectiveness.
I don’t see anything about raising the quality of education…why is that not a top priority? I’ll never understand that!
With Anita Huggins accepting the Superintendent position, there is hope for the future of raising the quality of education. But I would like to discuss this with you more, because it's not a question that is answered easily here. I'd like to hear viewpoints on how to raise the quality of education.
How do you feel about school vouchers going toward private schools?
I first heard about these vouchers in 2016, when we had our children enrolled in a private school. I remember asking myself, why? If we have enrolled in private school, it’s something that we can afford and funds shouldn’t be taken away from public schools. So, I am against the creation of school vouchers. The funds should stay with the students that they were intended to serve.