School Safety and Student Wellbeing

Safety means more than secure buildings. It means every student and staff member walks into school each day feeling physically safe, emotionally supported, and like they truly belong. I’m committed to strong facility safety standards and to building the mental health supports our staff and students need so everyone, no matter their background or challenges, has a place where they feel seen and valued.

This also means addressing student discipline. Through community feedback, the school board has heard our community’s concerns about student discipline and disruptions in learning environments throughout the district. The current board is actively reviewing how we can strengthen our systems to make meaningful improvements in both areas.

Academic Outcomes

As the Read Act and our new math curriculum continues to be implemented, our role is to set every student up to succeed from their first years in school through graduation. Success starts before kindergarten, which is why I’m committed to our partnership with Scott County for early childhood screenings, catching potential learning, developmental, or health needs early so families and teachers can act right away.

That commitment carries through elementary years, building strong literacy and math foundations, with the right interventions in place at every grade level so no student falls through the cracks.

I’m committed to giving teachers the training, time, and resources to implement these changes well, and to tracking real classroom data to see if students are actually improving, not just assuming new curriculum will do the job. That means watching FastBridge scores closely, since they’re a better reflection of progress than the MCA’s, a single snapshot in time. FastBridge testing happens two to three times a year, so we can catch struggles early and act fast.

Every school needs tiered interventions and enrichment, for students catching up and those ready to be challenged, so we build strong foundations early and stay focused on outcomes through graduation, when every student leaves Shakopee Schools ready for college, a career, or whatever comes next.

An inviting classroom interior centered on a large, well-organized teacher’s desk with neatly stacked textbooks, a silver laptop, and a small potted plant. Rows of student desks are arranged in cooperative clusters, each with bright folders and sharpened pencils, suggesting engaged learning. Colorful yet tasteful educational posters and a large whiteboard fill the background walls. Warm afternoon sunlight filters through tall windows, casting soft, diagonal light across the desks and creating gentle shadows. Photographic realism with an eye-level composition and moderate depth of field keeps the front row of desks in crisp focus while the back of the room subtly blurs. The mood is optimistic, orderly, and focused on student success and effective leadership.

Fiscal Stewardship

I’m also deeply grateful for our community’s strong and continued support of our public schools. That trust is not something I take for granted, and it’s what motivates me to keep working hard to be a good steward of every dollar entrusted to us. It’s also one of the reasons I ran for school board in 2018 and it’s continued to guide me every year since.

In my time on the board, I’ve worked alongside my fellow members to keep close oversight of our spending, making sure our funding goes where it matters most: the classroom and our students. As we navigate real budget challenges ahead, I’ll continue applying that same discipline with careful review of expenditures and a commitment to spending decisions that put students first.

Fiscal stewardship doesn’t stop in the board room. I will also continue to be a strong advocate for Shakopee Schools at the Capitol in St. Paul and in Washington, D.C., working directly with our elected officials to make sure our schools receive the funding they need to serve our students well. Our students deserve a board member who will fight for Shakopee’s fair share at every level of government, not just manage the budget we’re given.

Staff Retention

Great schools start with great people, and we need a culture where our staff want to build their careers here. That means continuing to invest in teacher and staff compensation. This isn’t just about holding our position in the middle of our 12 comparable districts. It’s about working to move us closer to the top. Retaining excellent educators and support staff is one of the best investments we can make in our students’ futures.

But compensation is only part of the picture. Staff retention also means building a culture where teachers, paraprofessionals, and support staff feel valued, heard, and supported in their day-to-day work. That means administrators at every level actively listening to staff feedback. It means providing meaningful professional development. And it means making sure classrooms are staffed and resourced well enough that our educators can focus on teachingand not on managing overwhelming workloads.

When we invest in our people, our students feel the difference: consistency in the classroom, experienced educators who know our community, and a school system families can trust year after year. I’m committed to making Shakopee Schools a place where great staff choose to stay and build their careers, not just a place they pass through.

Trust and Transparency

Families, staff, and our community deserve a board that communicates openly, especially when facing tough decisions. I’m committed to staying transparent about how and why decisions are made, and to keep building the confidence our community places in this board, because good decisions start with an informed and engaged community.

This issue is personal to me. Rebuilding trust is actually one of the reasons I first ran for school board in 2018, at a time when the relationship between our community and our schools had been badly damaged. Over the past eight years, we’ve worked collectively to rebuild that trust, one decision at a time, by consistently doing what we say we’re going to do. That work is never really finished. Trust has to be earned continuously, not just restored once.