Q: What does real listening look like to you?

Q: During campaign season, there's a lot of discussion around listening to the community. What does real listening look like to you?

A: Nearly six years on the School Board have taught me that listening is more than a campaign promise. It’s an essential part of public service and good decision making.

Listening to everyone and making everyone feel heard are not the same thing though. We can commit to listening, support opportunities that allow for feedback, consider different perspectives, and explain our decisions. But no candidate can promise that everyone will agree with outcomes.

The reality is teachers and staff bring different (and sometimes even conflicting) perspectives. Students have different experiences and needs. Families have different priorities. And many residents don’t currently have children in our schools. All of these perspectives are important, and it's my responsibility to consider the needs of the entire district.

That means listening not only to the people who speak up, but also recognizing that those who attend meetings or complete feedback forms don’t necessarily represent the views of the whole community.

My job is to weigh what we hear against student needs, legal requirements, policy, operational realities, financial constraints, and the long-term interests of the district.

When the district considered changing school start times based on adolescent sleep research, families told us they needed more time to adjust. We listened and delayed the change by a year. The input changed our timeline.

That distinction matters, especially now. Over the past three years, our district has made roughly $12 million in budget cuts. These decisions affect students, staff, families, and the broader community. Listening helps us understand those impacts, but it doesn't eliminate the difficult choices the board has to make.

Experience in the role has taught me that good governance requires judgment, the willingness to weigh competing needs, and the responsibility to make difficult decisions in the best interests of the entire district even when it's not possible for everyone to agree.