When we have voted in past elections, we have sometimes had trouble understanding what candidates actually stand for, because they’ve run on things like accountability, transparency and putting kids first that all of us agree on. So we want to be clear what we stand for.

Our priorities are:

· Supporting Every Student

We’d like to see more support for gifted students, students with learning differences and any student who could use individualized learning plans to meet their potential.

· Supporting Staff

 A truly extraordinary teacher who taught one of Kara’s children in Kindergarten recently left the district for a neighboring town. We want to attract and retain the very best staff by supporting them. We also want to keep teacher-student ratios as low as possible, since we know individual interactions with teachers are essential for student success. 

· Budget Decisions

With a limited budget, school board members have to make difficult decisions about where to invest resources. We recognize that there aren't easy answers and welcome community input and debate about what should be prioritized.

· Improved Communication

 Kara recently learned from her daughter that Spanish was being eliminated at Orchard Hill. We’d like to see the district solicit parent input before making such decisions and transparently share updates with students.

· Balanced Screen Time in Schools

 A lot of research now shows that too much screen time is terrible for kids’ physical and mental wellbeing and learning outcomes. Recently, the Surgeon General declared the problem a public health emergency. We have also heard from many, many parents in the township that they are concerned about how much time students spend on screens at school and how much time middle schoolers are on their school-issued Chromebooks outside of school hours. As Kara explained in a recent piece for CNN, research clearly shows that students learn best on pen and paper rather than on screens. Of course, we want students to learn how to use technology and how to protect and empower themselves online in technology class. We want teachers to use screens when doing so enhances learning and we want students to prepare for state tests – which are taken on computers – by using computers. However, we seek to write and pass a board resolution with guidelines on best practices for when screens should be used in school and how we can reduce overall screen time in accordance with the Surgeon General’s recommendations and the latest evidence.

· School Safety 

Sadly, school shootings typically happen in affluent, suburban towns such as ours. We feel that the safety feature missing in our schools is panic buttons which staff could use to immediately summon police. Panic buttons are documented to save lives by reducing police response times in situations where every second counts.

How We Operate

We believe that school board members should be models for students of how to be inclusive and treat others with respect. You won’t find us posting cartoons or negative comments about other candidates on social media, and we ask our supporters to refrain from doing so, as well.