Priorities for Austin Students, Families, & Schools

About four out of ten students in our district boundaries are not attending our schools. Enrollment directly affects our financial stability and is also an indicator of how well we are - or are not -serving our community.

Our enrollment process - the first touch point for so many families - is confusing, lengthy and not customer service oriented. When I was filing my trustee candidacy paperwork, I witnessed a grandmother walk into Central Administration looking for anyone who could help her. She had just received custody of her grandchildren - her family was in crisis. The online enrollment system wasn’t working and the phone number listed for her to call had not been answered for days. She had to take the time to drive down to find someone in person who could help her. I know that she is not alone in these types of negative experiences and I have spoken to several families who did not enroll in AISD because enrollment itself was a terrible process. 

AISD needs to: 

1. Overhaul the enrollment process. 

2. Develop a comprehensive plan to support school staff with implementing customer service practices to drive engagement and retention.

3. Connect with recent district leavers to better understand why they left and what could have made them stay.

Our mission is to educate all children and while we have significant financial challenges, it should be of no debate where we focus our limited dollars. I would also work to ensure that staff roles most proximate to improving student outcomes and having a positive impact on a student’s day are prioritized for maintaining current salaries and hopefully pay raises when those are possible.

Austin ISD has persistent and deep achievement gaps between student groups.

For example, 8 out of 10 economically disadvantaged AISD students did NOT meet grade level expectations for Algebra I last year. Students who don’t pass Algebra I have just a 1 in 5 chance of graduating high school, which is critical for being on a path to life success. 

We need stronger vertical team alignment, increased and equitable access to Algebra I in middle school, and strong teacher supports for math instruction.

For our special education students, the work that is being done now to fix the delays in special education evaluations and services must be paid close attention to with a strong focus on family engagement and seeking authentic feedback on progress being made or not made.

Teachers need more training on supporting students with special needs, curriculum choices should reflect universal design for learning as much as possible, and our data systems must provide early warning indicators for when our inputs to improving special education are not yielding the results we want to see.

Additionally, to ensure we are closing achievement gaps and improving outcomes for ALL students, I want to see our district leadership shift away from the current focus of “inputs” - such as number of training hours, number of teachers hired, etc. -  which is how the district’s annual reports are written and how updates to Trustees are given, to a focus of what are the actual outcomes achieved that are directly connected to fulfilling our mission of preparing every student.

It should be a cultural norm and expectation to share information in easy to access ways with families, beyond just an online gradebook. Any time a significant assessment is given that is used to drive instruction, families should receive information about how their students are doing and how a teacher will use that information to improve their students’ achievement.

Families are sometimes given surveys for their input, but how that input is used (or not) is unclear. It is not enough to say that you got input; more must be done to ensure you are getting input from more families, show how the input is being used, and when the input wasn’t used, why. 

For our community, we ask our taxpayers to support our bond initiatives and there needs to be more, clear, and consistent communication about how the bond money is being used equitably, when projects are completed, and how that work is directly tied to ensuring a supportive learning environment that improves student outcomes.

And as part of my own community engagement, here are my responses to a few questions I’ve received from different community members and groups, such as candidate forums. 

If elected, how would you address the systemic issue of students who are moved from elementary to middle school and middle school to high school without being able to read on grade level?

If elected, I would focus on two things: 1) the students we have right now in this situation who don’t have 5 years to wait for AISD to get to some marginal improvements in student outcomes, and 2) how to prevent this problem from ever happening again at a systemic level. We can’t expect a student to be successful in other academic areas, much less be prepared to “thrive in college, career, and life” - AISD’s mission - if they can’t read at least on a middle school level while in middle school and on a high school level while in high school when reading is the key to learning new knowledge.

From a solutions standpoint for students who are behind right now, AISD has a wealth of data on who is on track and who is not with reading. AISD knows who these students are, and we need to ensure that we are partnering with experts in providing substantial growth in literacy outcomes and providing those students and campuses with added supports including training our existing staff; holding high expectations for all students and setting the expectation that all students have the right to and can learn to read; monitoring closely as a school board and not just at the end of the year; and developing a plan with families to ensure there is transparency and clarity about what their students need and how AISD is responding.

For prevention, I also want to see an improved partnership with data-driven, outcomes-proven organizations who can provide the people resources (including bilingual educators) needed to support our early elementary students with closing the literacy gap that a lot of our students enter into school with. 

Our K-3 teachers are also the frontline for ensuring our students are learning to read and should be provided with the ongoing training and supports needed to implement effective, scientifically driven approaches that also incorporate culturally responsive reading material.

As a school board member, how would you respond to the efforts of special interest groups who advocate the censoring of existing curriculum perceived by them to be in conflict with their personal beliefs? We ask candidates to address this generally and specifically as it relates to advanced coursework such as AP, Dual Credit and IB?

One of the biggest challenges in addressing this is not letting special interest groups intent on censorship take up valuable time that should be focused on improving educational outcomes for all students. In general terms, I would direct the individuals representing those groups to our policies for curriculum adoption so that they can understand the process for how our curriculum is adopted. If they happen to be a parent of a student in the district, I would also point them to policies regarding how they can and do have the right to opt out individually to any content they may find objectionable. But they do not have the right to dictate what other students do and do not have access to.

More specifically, it is important to teach an inclusive and whole truth about our history as a nation and as a state, and to ensure that we are providing our students with access to and an understanding of the diversity of viewpoints and cultures so that they are prepared to navigate a highly diverse and pluralistic society.

An example of an attempt to thwart this in parts of our country is with the newly issued AP African American Studies from The College Board. It has been in the spotlight - and scapegoated - by political leaders who are trying to position the course as something it is not in order to gain a short-sighted political win. Preventing students from grappling with hard truths and not allowing them to wrestle with texts and critiques of texts is the antithesis of preparing our students for college, career, and life - Austin ISD’s mission.

You wrote a Letter to the Editor for a local publication 15 years ago where you shared “pro-life” views. What are your views now?

Everyone has an individual belief on the issue of abortion, myself included. Every issue is nuanced. Everyone has the right to make their own decision on this issue. I hold to a consistent life ethic that also includes ensuring women have the right to the medical procedures they need to save their lives and that students have access to comprehensive sex education that reflects the diversity of Austin’s families.

My campaign is about what is best for students. It is not appropriate for any Trustee to force their beliefs on students, their families, teachers, and staff. As a Trustee, it would be my job to listen to each issue with an open mind, listen to key stakeholders, and make informed decisions in the best interests of students. My priority has been and will always be that all students are welcomed and valued no matter their circumstances.