My Priorities As A School Board Member

Achievement Gap and Inclusion - The school system must provide the resources to enable high achievement for all students and equal access to all programs. I will raise the profile of this issue within APS and the community and devote more resources to it.
Promoting STEM disciplines - I will strengthen partnerships with local academia, businesses, and government to promote STEM interest and education, with a particular sensitivity to engaging more girls and young women.
FLES - Our students will enter a global environment that demands much greater cross-cultural fluency. I will promote instruction of foreign languages at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

Facility investments - Building new schools is not the only facility planning we must do. I will increase the focus on facility investments to assure students are in safe facilities that are in good repair.
School safety - APS’s first duty to the Arlington community is to assure school safety without fail. I will establish protocols to address all aspects of school safety. In particular, traffic and pedestrian safety around schools and bus stops must be addressed by APS in partnership with the County and our neighborhoods.
Teacher Compensation - The community has high expectations for skilled and effective teachers and school staff, and in return the community must respect and support them. I will not balance the schools budget on the backs of the teachers.
Integration of technology - Software and hardware are changing our lives at a dizzying rate. I will work to set effective investment limits, mesh curriculum goals with new technologies and platforms, and insure that we effectively integrate, deploy and support the technology we buy.

Student population projections - Projections are at the heart of investment decisions. I will insure greater transparency for projections and elevate the state-of-the-practice. We need to have both immediate (three- to six-year) and long-term projections.
Planning beyond the projections - We must identify programs that APS will adopt in coming years. I will make better long-term planning a priority.
Early Childhood Education - This is a great investment in our students’ future. I will maintain the community’s commitment to early childhood education.