The record Four years, and what they added up to.
I was elected in April 2023 alongside a slate of candidates who agreed on one
thing above all. A school board’s job is governance. Set direction, hire and
support a strong Superintendent, take care of the community’s money, and stay
out of the work you hired professionals to do. Here’s what that made possible.
01 · Facilities We passed an $89 million referendum, then finished the work.
D64’s buildings needed serious attention. Aging mechanical systems.
Doors and locks that no longer met a modern safety standard. Instructional
space that hadn’t kept up with how our kids learn. In November 2024,
voters approved an
$89.1 million bond referendum
with 64% in favor, a
decisive margin for a tax question.
Then we did the harder part. Construction ran across all eight schools and
wrapped up in about a year. Anyone who has watched a public construction
program knows how unusual that is.
What the Board did to make it happen - Scoped the ask honestly and
lowered it in response to community feedback
rather than defending the original number.
- Went to the community with a specific, itemized case covering health and safety needs, mechanical systems replacements, and instructional space upgrades, instead of a vague appeal.
- Held the administration to a schedule and reviewed progress in public, so any slippage would have been visible right away.
02 · Access We made full-day kindergarten tuition-free.
For years, D64 families who wanted full-day kindergarten had to pay for
it. Beginning in the 2026–27 school year, they will no longer have to.
Every eligible child can
enroll in the full-day program at
no cost.
A decision like this only happens when a district’s finances are in order
and a board is willing to spend its funds on a priority rather than study it for
another cycle.
Why it matters - It removes a real cost from the budget of every family with a rising kindergartner.
- It ends a two-tier kindergarten system, where a family’s finances decided how much school their five-year-old got.
- It puts D64 in line with what surrounding districts already offer.
03 · Academics Math and reading are moving, and we’re honest about where they aren’t.
What the Board did - Set a clear, public growth target and asked for data against it during every reporting cycle, including when it was unflattering.
- Backed the administration’s instructional strategy long enough for it to work, instead of changing direction every year.
- Prioritized a middle school redesign strategy aimed at creating the conditions needed to tackle this issue.
04 · Middle school We redesigned and implemented a new middle school experience.
Sixth through eighth grade is where D64 has the most ground to gain. We
took on a full redesign of the middle school program and carried it through
to implementation, which is more than most program reviews can say.
Why it matters - Students now receive additional learning time in math and reading & writing.
- Students continue to receive all the benefits of the D64 middle experience they enjoyed before, including choice of electives and the teaming structure.
- Our bell schedule is standardized across all 3 grade levels, matching best practices and improving efficiency in scheduling.
05 · Student services We built programming so our highest-need students can stay in D64.
When a district can’t serve a student’s needs, that student gets
placed outside the district, away from their neighborhood, their siblings,
and the friends they started kindergarten with. It costs the district a
great deal of money, too.
We invested in specialized programming that lets D64 serve students who
need the most support. That includes
extending our Structured
Learning Community for students on the autism spectrum to the middle school
level, along with social-emotional supports at Lincoln and an Academic
Life Skills program at Emerson.
Why it matters - Students stay in their community schools with the peers they grew up with.
- Families stop navigating out-of-district placement on their own.
- It’s better practice, and over time it’s better stewardship of district money.
06 · Governance And underneath all of it, a Board that does its job.
This is the least visible item on the list and the one that made the rest
possible. Boards that argue about management decisions don’t pass
referenda. They don’t keep superintendents. They don’t hold a strategy
long enough to find out whether it worked.
Since 2023 this Board has been steady, professional, and clear about the
line between governing and managing. I served as vice president for two
years and now chair the Education
Committee and serve on the Policy Committee. Steadiness sounds like a
small thing, but everything else on this page depended on it.
The next four years are about the classroom.
Strategic Plan 2030 outlines the path forward.