Platform
I am running for school board because our schools need to do better for our students. That's not my personal opinion; that's the consensus based on conversations with parents, educators, and community members - those most closely involved in the process. I'm willing to listen, learn and work together, and I'm passionate about improving the opportunities our children have available to them. That is what earned me the endorsement of the Allendale Education Association and the Michigan Education Association.
Here are the priorities I plan to address when elected:
Get Back to the Basics
A Quality Education Is the Mission — Period
Our classrooms have become a proxy battlefield for political and cultural wars that have nothing to do with educating children. When we focus on these distractions, the fundamentals of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and critical thinking get sidelined. A school is not a stage for activism or a laboratory for social engineering. It is a place where young minds come to be formed. That doesn't require a political agenda. It requires focus, discipline, and the courage to say no to everything that distracts from the core work. Getting back to the basics means recommitting to a rigorous education that prioritizes skills our kids will need to thrive.
Getting back to the basics is not a rejection of the modern world though. Quite the opposite. The strongest foundation for 21st-century success is still the ability to read deeply, think critically, solve complex problems, and communicate clearly. Technology changes; these capacities do not.
Our students must also be equipped with digital literacy, financial literacy, collaborative skills, and the adaptability to navigate a rapidly evolving world. A modern curriculum should integrate these competencies as natural extensions of a strong academic core. Coding alongside composition. Analysis alongside algebra. These are not competing priorities — they are complementary ones, provided the foundation is solid. What matters most is that students leave our schools with both the timeless tools of an education and the practical readiness to enter college, career, or trade with confidence.
Parents and Teachers: Partners, Not Adversaries
Something has gone deeply wrong when parents/school board and educators view each other with suspicion. The trust that once characterized that relationship has been replaced, in too many cases, by adversarial tension. That has to change, and that change starts with our school board. We need our board to be our teacher’s allies, not adversaries. We should all be working together towards the same goal – helping our kids succeed.
Parents are the primary educators of their children. They have a right to know what is being taught, to have their concerns heard respectfully, and to participate meaningfully in their child's education — not be treated as an obstacle to work around.
Our teachers play an enormous role in the lives of our kids. They have spent years becoming experts in childhood education and have dedicated their careers to serving our children and our community. We need to trust our educators, respect their experience, and support them, and I believe it is essential that the school board work closely with them. Teachers should not be burdened with administrative mandates that pull them away from instruction, nor should they be asked to serve as frontline soldiers in culture wars they never enlisted in.
Rebuilding this partnership means transparency: accessible curriculum materials, open communication channels, and a school board that actively facilitates dialogue rather than shutting it down. Trust is not automatic; it is earned through consistency, honesty, and genuine collaboration.
Invest in the Next Generation
What Investing Means
I'm running for school board because I believe we can no longer defer the investments our schools desperately need. It's time to be honest about what it costs — and what it's worth. Deferred maintenance is not savings — it is borrowing against our children's future at ever-increasing interest. Every year we wait, the cost grows. Every year we wait, the disruption deepens. Every year we wait, we fall behind. The fiscally responsible thing is not to defer; it's to face the obligation now, on our terms, before our hand is forced. When we can't guarantee a safe, comfortable, functional environment, we break the trust of every family that sends their child through our doors.
Building for What Comes Next
Maintaining what we have — essential as that is — will not prepare our students for the world they are about to enter. Any district planning should include a significant investment in a dedicated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Center and CTE (Career and Technical Education) programs at our high school. This doesn't mean a converted storage closet with a few 3D printers. A purpose-built facility with flexible lab space, fabrication equipment, collaborative design studios, and the infrastructure to support robotics, computer science, biomedical sciences, and engineering coursework that align with real workforce pathways. Similarly, facilities where our high schools can get real-world, hands-on experience in the trades or other professional fields to help prepare them to make the important decision on their post-high school path. We need to help prepare our students so they are first in line for these career opportunities — not watching them go to graduates of neighboring districts that made these investments years ago.
Prepare for the Future
The world our children will inherit is changing faster than at any point in human history. Artificial intelligence, automation, and technologies we haven't yet imagined are reshaping the job market in real time — entire career categories are emerging while others disappear. Our schools cannot afford to simply keep pace. We must lead if we want our kids to succeed. That is the work I am committed to doing on this school board.
Reimagining Curriculum for a New Era
Curriculum needs to evolve with the times. The baseline expectation for what a high school diploma represents has shifted. Employers and universities alike are no longer asking simply whether a student graduated — they're asking what that student can do. We need a curriculum that answers that question with confidence.
This means strengthening our core academic foundations while integrating computational thinking, data literacy, and problem-solving frameworks across every subject, not just in isolated computer labs. It also means building the STEM Center our district has long discussed but never delivered — a dedicated facility where students can work hands-on with robotics, prototyping tools, coding environments, and collaborative project spaces that mirror real workplaces. This isn't about adding gadgets to classrooms. It's about giving students the environment they need to become creators, not just consumers, of technology.
College and Careers — Not Either/Or
Every student deserves a clear, viable path forward, whether that runs through a four-year university, a community college, or directly into a skilled trade. The false choice between "college track" and "vocational track" does a disservice to our kids. A welder today uses CNC programming; an electrician navigates smart-grid systems. Trades are STEM. We need to pursue a dual-pathway model where, by junior year, every student has had genuine exposure to both college-preparatory coursework and career-technical education, with the ability to pursue either — or blend both — as they move toward graduation. We also need to be utilizing the valuable members of our community with experience in these fields to help the next generation.
Leveraging Who We Already Are: A College Town
We are a college town. That is an extraordinary asset we underutilize. Grand Valley State University should not sit at the edge of our students' experience until senior year — they should be woven into it. We need to expand dual-enrollment to allow students to earn transferable college credits during the regular school day. This reduces the cost of higher education for families, accelerates students' post-secondary timelines, and creates a natural pipeline to GVSU that encourages talented young people to remain in our community, contributing to the local economy and workforce rather than leaving for opportunities elsewhere.
The same principle applies to our relationship with local employers. Apprenticeships, job-shadowing, internship-for-credit programs, and industry-sponsored capstone projects should be standard offerings, not special exceptions. When students see a direct line from the classroom to a career here at home, they're more likely to build their futures in our community.
A Strategic Roadmap, Built Together
Short-term thinking has no place on a school board. The decisions we make today - about facilities, staffing, curriculum adoption, and budget priorities — will ripple across the generations to follow. That's why we need a clearer large-term Strategic Roadmap for our district. This shouldn't be a document drafted in a boardroom and handed down. The roadmap must be built with structured input and on-going feedback from the people who actually live inside our system every day: classroom teachers, school counselors, parents, paraeducators, local business owners, and higher education partners — and students themselves. That roadmap needs to be readily available to the public - to serve as a commitment to the promises we've made to our children and a framework to hold us accountable to them. Annual public planning sessions, advisory committees, and transparent reporting ensures we hit the milestones we set together and that we better support our children on their journey.
Community Commitment
The only way any of this is possible is through robust commitment from the entire community through engagement and investment. This November voters will deciding on two bond initiatives that will have a major impact on the trajectory of our schools and, in turn, our community. Proposal One is centered on essentials our district needs (ex. - mechanical systems, roof replacement, security enhancements), while also include funding for important initiatives to allow our district to keep pace in a rapidly changing world (ex. - STEM center, CTE investments like a wood shop and metal shop). Proposal Two is focused on a multi-purpose building that will house important facilities for our high school team, while also creating a space that can be utilized by youth sports leagues and community groups. You can learn more about the initiatives here: https://www.allendale.k12.mi.us/district/bond-information/. Passing both of these bonds will result in a zero millage rate increase for homeowners.
I support both of these bond initiatives and I think it's critical for our community, even those without kids in the public schools, to support them as well. Why? Because I believe it will cost our community more if we do nothing than if we choose to invest in our children today! I understand the weight of that word "millage". Many in our community are on fixed incomes. Many are already stretched. Even though these bond proposals aren't asking for more (just extending the pay-off timeline), this is not something that should be taken lightly. But I believe the conversation we need to have is not just about cost. It's about value. It's about return on investment. The evidence tells us, district after district, community after community, that those investments pay off. Here is why these bonds need to pass:
The Fiscally Responsible Decision: Most of the funds on the ballots, specifically for Proposal One, are funding essentials the district needs. Our kids needs schools without leaky roofs, where they will stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and where they will be safe each day. The bond is needed to fund this basic maintenance. Without that funding, the district will need to rely on short-term loans, as we have had to in the past, to fund the maintenance, which ultimately costs the community hundreds of thousands of dollars more in interest payments than a bond would.
Property Values Rise with School Quality: Families pay a premium to live in communities with strong schools, with school quality having a 10%-20% impact on home values. Realtors will also tell you: A good school district is one of the most important considerations for the majority of their buyers. A district with outdated facilities that does not invest in itself signals decline. A district with modern labs, well-maintained buildings, and forward-looking programs signals vitality. These bonds are not merely an expense for homeowners — they are an investment that comes back to each of us in the form of sustained or increased property values. The alternative — doing nothing — is the real threat to the equity in your home.
Good Schools Create Safe Communities: There is a well-documented correlation between educational attainment and lower rates of criminal behavior. High-quality schools attract families who are invested in their neighborhoods. These residents tend to participate in local organizations, know their neighbors, and watch out for one another, which inherently lowers crime rates. Students who attend well-supported schools with strong extracurriculars, counselors, and academic programs are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior.
Investment Builds Stronger Communities: When we invest in our schools, we invest in civic infrastructure. We create spaces that invite participation and engagement, that signal to residents young and old that this is a community that takes itself seriously. We attract families who want to put down roots. We retain talented teachers who want to build careers in a district that supports their work. We tell businesses scouting locations that our workforce pipeline is strong and our community is stable. The alternative — a district whose buildings broadcast neglect — sends the opposite message. It tells families to look elsewhere. It tells teachers their efforts are not valued. It tells employers that the local talent pool may not meet their needs. The cost of that reputational damage far exceeds the cost of the millage.
A millage, however, should not be a blank check. You've been responsible with your money, and the school district needs to continue to be. Any millage should come with a clear, publicly available timeline for every project funded by the millage, with milestones and regular progress reports. Projects should have competitive bidding and local contractor preferences where permissible, so the economic benefit of this investment circulates within our community. A citizen oversight committee needs to be empowered to review expenditures and flag concerns — because transparency is the only durable foundation for public trust. Any millage needs to include a sunset provision, so voters know that this is a targeted investment, not a permanent expansion of government.
A millage is about more than buildings. It's about whether we believe our children deserve facilities that match their potential. It's about whether we see ourselves as a community on the rise or one in retreat. It's about whether we're willing to pay for the things we say we value. I believe in this community. I believe we understand that some costs are worth bearing because the returns — in student opportunity, in homeowner equity, in community pride and safety — repay the investment many times over. Let's build something our kids deserve. Let's build something we can all be proud of.
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