Parent Involvement
Students succeed best in school when the school system and the parents work collaboratively and cooperatively towards a common goal. It is vital for the school system to have parent input and perspective when making decisions so that what is learned at school can be supported at home. Currently there are no parents with school aged students on the Salem school board, weakening this vital link between school and home. I intend to bring this perspective to the school board to improve decision making by increasing communication and collaboration between families and the school district.
Special Education
One of the most common complaints I hear from parents with students in the school district is difficulty with special education. Whether they are facing resistance in obtaining an IEP or struggling to get the services that their child’s IEP or 504 plan specify, there is clear frustration among parents in this area. Additionally, the school district is facing an ongoing shortage of special education assistants and struggles with retention in those roles. There is much room for improvement in this area and as a school district, we need to work on a solution to this problem.
Mental Health
The Mental Health of our children is of the utmost importance. All parents want their children to be happy and well adjusted. Unfortunately for many years now, mental health concerns in children have been growing. Kids are more likely to have anxiety and depression. They are less able to handle stress. Suicide and self harm rates are trending upwards. Social skills are in decline. This is a huge problem for our kids and one that has become a major focus of our schools. As a parent I welcome partnership with the school system on this issue, but it is important as parents that we understand what the school is doing and make sure that it is working because nationwide statistics suggest that interventions aren’t working because the problem continues to grow. Our school board needs to be results focussed and data driven in this area so that we can begin to reverse these trends and help to heal our kids.
Assessment
The basic function of a school is to educate our students. Demonstrating success in that mission relies on a fair and accurate assessment of student achievement. The skills that students need to learn are constantly evolving and the curriculum and assessment landscape must change along with it. As a community, we need to ensure that we are measuring our students’ success in the right way and that we thoughtfully consider any changes we make to how we measure student learning so that we maintain high standards and encourage our students to achieve them. The Salem schools have been moving towards a competency based grading system for a number of years now but most parents I talk to aren’t convinced it is helping. We need to bring families into the discussion on how we assess our students so that we can better refine the system to one that works for everyone.