Why are you running for WCSD Trustee? What is your vision of success for this role? 

I am running for WCSD Trustee because I want to make an impact on my community. I am 21 years old and feel I can best relate to students who are currently in school since it has only been four years since I graduated. I want to be a voice for parents and students and advocate for what students need in public school rather than what adults feel should be pushed on them. My vision for this role is to look at how we can improve the overall experience for children in schools and help give them life skills for when they graduate.

How do you define student success? What experience do you have and what role do you intend to play in advocating for student success?

I define student success by how well the individual is thriving in the environment that they are in. I feel that students and their talents should be cultivated and encouraged, and success should be measured by their mental and physical health. I have very little experience professionally in this field, but I volunteered for two years serving alongside high schoolers at my local church and learned a lot about making individual relationships with kids and what they’re struggling with in that season of their lives. With that said I intend to advocate for student success by analyzing what most students struggle with in schools and seeing how the WCSD can come alongside and improve those aspects of school life.

On the 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), fourth-grade students, in Nevada, scored 6 points lower in math and 7 points lower in reading when compared to 2019. If elected, how can you use your position to ensure Nevada stops following this national trend and starts leading the way for student outcomes?

I feel the drop in test scores had to do with the transition from in-person learning to distance learning and masks. I feel that those two factors destroyed the learning environment for students and would use my position to advocate against them. Another solution for improving test scores is to make learning more fun for students and implement a sort of reward system that can be tailored for individual classes for learning new subjects and improving class test scores.

What, if any, barriers currently exist to educational excellence and equity for every student? If elected to the Board of Trustees, how will you help eliminate these barriers?

In my opinion, there is a barrier that exists in drawing in good, qualified teachers because their pay is not enough. I would like to eliminate this barrier by giving teachers who have high test scores in classes bonuses and looking for ways to make the school district’s budget more efficient; one of those ways would be making pay cuts to people who do not have an immediate impact on students.

What do you believe are the top three most persistent challenges facing the WCSD Board of Trustees? What is an example of a bold approach you would propose to address one of those challenges?

The top three most persistent challenges facing the WCSD Board of Trustees is not making the interest of student’s futures a priority. This is evident by wasting money on legal battles that have no effect on student’s education as we have seen in recent months. A lack of communication and willingness to listen to other board members and the community’s opinions. I have attended a few school board meetings recently and was very upset that the board had already made up their decision of what they wanted to do before allowing anyone from public comment to speak and refused to change any opinions based on what the majority of the public wanted. The last persistent challenge is the focus on updating the county’s sexuality, health, and responsibility education curriculum rather than improving test scores in math, reading, and writing. I would seek to improve student’s test scores and experience at schools before any other decisions are made and question board members who are not in support of putting students first.

Research suggests that more than 50% of a board meeting should be focused on student outcomes. How would you ensure the board allocates this amount of time to student outcomes?

Redirecting discussions to focus on what needs to be improved for schools and individual students rather than issues that do not directly relate and impact schools. I would like to ensure that the board allocates this amount of time by inviting teachers from different schools to meetings to get feedback from them on what is happening on the ground.

If elected to the Board, how would you approach challenging conversations and/or criticisms that might arise from fellow Board members, stakeholders, and the broader community?

With grace and respect. I want to hear other perspectives and allow opportunities for to self-reflect on how I need to be a team player and make the most impact on the community.

What key indicators would you use to assess the performance of WCSD’s Superintendent? How would you hold the Superintendent accountable?

If they ask for pay raises and other things that solely benefit themselves, it is a clear indicator that they are not suited for the position because they do not have the student’s best interest involved by selfishly using tax dollars when it would benefit many other aspects of our school district. I would like to keep the Superintendent accountable by sticking to the state’s new plan of raising test scores.

In a recent survey, 77% of Nevada residents agreed that parents should be able to send their children to the public school they feel is best for their child, even if it is outside of their neighborhood. Do you agree? Please explain your reasoning.

Yes, I agree with school choice as long as the school isn’t at capacity, and I applaud our governor for passing that bill.

The following question was submitted by a current public high school student: How will you ensure students are put at the forefront of the decision making process as a member of the Board of Trustees, and what accountability measures would you put in place to make sure this happens? 

I would like to send to out surveys for students to confidentially submit opinions on how the school is supporting them and invite students to come to board meetings for public comment and work on an incentive for students to participate.