Meet The School Board Candidates: Leslee Boyd

This is the first in a series of Q&A articles with the candidates up for the South Washington County School Board.

There are . We begin today, alphabetically, with incumbent Leslee Boyd, the sitting board chair.

The election is Nov. 8.

Leslee Boyd, Woodbury

I have a liberal arts background with a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from Missouri State. I work for the families in our communities as a board member for District 833.

Outside of taking care of my family and helping with my kids activities, the majority of my time is spent on committees and school board business.

My business background comes primarily from state and city government in the area of communication, planning and emergency assistance, as well as communication positions in the private sector.

I was fortunate to have been elected to the District 833 School Board in 2007 and now have nearly four years of experience and training to draw on. And I was unanimously elected by my colleagues to be board chairman for the past two years.

I have been an active volunteer and leader in PTA, and school improvement since my oldest son began kindergarten. That involvement evolved into everything from booster clubs to graduation activities as my children have grown. Throughout that time I have been an active participant in many district level committees both before and during my time on the school board.

As a board member I have participated in various training opportunities including education assessment, finance, employee performance and best practices in many areas of education. In addition, my previous work experience in government and communications gives me a broad base of knowledge in both how the board operates and what it takes to work within the other governmental systems that touch our district.

Assuming that nothing is resolved with equalization of state funding in the near future, I would support bringing the expiring operating levy to the community for renewal.

However, with planning and foresight I don’t think it’s necessary to ask the taxpayers for a renewal before it’s expiration in the fall of 2013.

A quick look at surrounding districts like Stillwater, White Bear Lake, Mounds View and others shows funding in District 833 anywhere from $300 to $1,800 per pupil below theirs, which shows that the district has been working to be more efficient and resourceful with the management of the funds entrusted to us by the taxpayers.

But if the levy isn’t renewed and state funding continues to diminish, our district will fall further behind in funding and will reach a point where the school board will no longer be able to keep budget cuts out of the classroom.

Since 80 percent of our funding comes from the state, we are certainly vulnerable to the effects of the state budget deficit and the continued payment shifts the state has implemented to ease their cash flow problems. Because of sound financial management our district has been able to weather those shifts with little impact, but that can’t continue much longer.

Between now and 2013 our school board needs to work with our local legislators on more creative funding solutions and we need to reach out to our community members for suggestions on additional ways we can reduce the burden on our property taxpayers.

We need to look at our budget in a whole new way. This past summer, under my leadership, the board set a goal to develop a new budgeting process.

I intend to make sure that process includes ample opportunity for both staff and community members to provide input on ideas to reduce spending. I believe there are obsolete programs, curriculum, and practices that need to be adjusted or removed to reduce cost and to meet more current needs of our students and communities.

In addition, budget adjustments that involve staff or programs need to be backed by data so that board decisions can be based on hard information and not just on our own experiences or emotional appeals.

Secondly, we need to work with our legislators to help them understand our financial issues. Homeowners in our district pay nearly three times that of homeowners in the western suburbs for the same amount of levy dollars per student due to a smaller commercial tax base.

The state funding formula should take that and other issues into account and address the inequities in our current funding policies.

There are a number of important issues that need to be addressed. Technology and staff development are just two that come to mind.

Technology: We need to meet the growing technology boom in the classroom head-on. Digital textbooks are cheaper in many instances that traditional textbooks and can be more relevant, particularly in areas like science and social studies where written material can very quickly become outdated.

In addition to keeping students interested digital technology can quickly and easily allow instructional materials to be individualized to better meet the needs of students across a wide spectrum of academic achievement.

However, it’s not as simple as putting a device in the hands of our children. For technology to be effective our staff needs two things. One is an infrastructure that assures whatever devices are used, whether its Smart Boards, laptops, iPads or smart phones, will work reliably when needed and that they are accessible to students of all income levels.

Second, our teachers need the training to know not just how to operate technology, but how to apply it in their classrooms to make learning more effective and engaging. Simply replacing what we are doing with new technology won’t get us there.

We need to transform learning by utilizing these tools to make learning more flexible; enabling a student to move at their own pace, whether that’s faster or slower than their peers so that our students truly learn before moving on. These tools make it easy to track a student’s progress and mastery of content before advancing to the next concept instead of moving on because the class is, regardless of individual understanding.

Staff Development: Improvement in the evaluation and development of district staff is another area where the school district can have a bigger impact on our students. You often hear that schools are a people driven business and that’s true.

When 80 percent of district expenses go into salaries and benefits, it only makes sense to do everything we can to make sure those people have the skills and development needed to succeed.

I support an improved teacher evaluation model that includes both formative and summative evaluations based on professional standards and that provides valuable insight and steps for improvement. I also support annual evaluations for ALL staff and that starts at the top!

During my past year as School Board Chairman we have begun a top down improvement process. The board met twice this past year to study characteristics of a highly effective boards and our next step is to set our initial benchmarks with a board evaluation. Last spring we implemented our first 360-degree evaluation of our superintendent.

In addition, we need to begin annual evaluations of our principals. They need professional feedback and development as well, because their leadership is the basis for success in each and every building.

Efforts in the last legislative session will make some of these things a requirement, but for District 833, we were already on the road toward these improvements. I want to help take this well beyond what’s required to what will create the best possible environment in for our students and our staff.

I enjoy being of service to the community and the school board is a great opportunity to make positive changes that benefit our kids and the future of our communities.

Our district has begun a number of improvements including a new budgeting process and improvements in our employee evaluation system that I want to follow through to insure that needed changes are made.

And there are still other improvements that I hope to lead regarding improvements in the learning environment in our buildings and in our efforts to better serve average students, who get caught in the middle as we work to meet the needs of gift students and students with special needs.

Aside from my enthusiasm and experience, I believe I bring a couple of key qualities to the school board. One is my availability.

There are many school activities and meetings that occur during the daytime where a board members presence is needed. Many board members have difficulty working those into their schedule, but I have the flexibility in that allows me to participate in those events.

I am also a parent of children in our district and see first hand the challenges families face in our current environment and the impact of school board decisions. Something as simple as helping my son plan his high school schedule has shown me an issue that needs to be brought forward.

In fact, that is exactly the experience that led to our current practice of allowing high school courses offered to our advanced students in middle school to be counted for high school and graduation credit.

I believe I have the skills and perspective needed to continue to be a strong advocate for our students, their families and the dedicated staff that serves them and I respectfully ask for your support on Nov. 8.

To learn more about my views on education and our school district, please visit my website, www.lesleeboyd.com.