My lifetime of experience in education gives me a wide perspective on the workings of our schools. I’ve coached volleyball, basketball, softball, track, and speech, I’ve directed high school musicals, plays and one acts, and I’ve been a Knowledge Bowl judge for three years. I have a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership, which covered curriculum implementation, strategic planning, educational law, and teacher evaluation. That range of experience has given me a unique perspective on education. In my four years on the school board, I’ve served on the Policy Committee, the District Advisory Committee, Joint Powers Committee, MN State High School League committee, the Health and Wellness committee, the Facilities Task Force, and the MN State Concurrent Enrollment Committee. I’ve never missed a business meeting or work session, and I’ve attended dozens of workshops, conferences and classes to learn as much as I can about issues concerning our schools. Because I’ve lived in the New Prague area all of my life, I’d like to use my education, experience and energy to preserve and improve the quality of our school system. 

I think there are two important issues all board members should be especially mindful of. Our first and most important responsibility is to keep people safe, and that is always my top priority. While the 2025 Facilities Task Force assessment rated our buildings secure, I’d like to spend some time evaluating all of our current safety protocols with students, staff, parents, community members and media. To that end, I have attended two national school safety seminars in the last month, and I learned that there is legislation going through MN congress that would make Safety and Facility Grants available to school districts to help finance any security updates we deem necessary, such as facility modifications (like more secure entrances) and even emergency communications devices (like staff panic buttons) for violence prevention and security. A second important issue for our district is MCA test scores. I think it’s important that we school board members educate ourselves on the purpose of statewide testing and the proper use of these scores in evaluating student success and progress. To that end, I have applied to become a member of the 2026-2027 Minnesota Department of Education Statewide Task Force to evaluate Minnesota’s current standardized tests and identify possible recommendations for future reform. These are serious issues, requiring active engagement of all board members.