Principal Objectives of My Campaign:
Make sure all of our students are ready for life “after high school”.
This is important for our community. Our school system has many vocation magnet programs available for some of our students. Enhancing these programs to include all of our students, making sure our parents and students are aware of these programs, and funding them is a priority. 50% of all of the students graduating from Alachua County Schools this year will continue their education at college or vocational school. Of these, 80% will attend Santa Fe College. Building a strong working relationship between Santa Fe College and our schools is important.
Work closely with our community and business leaders.
Mentoring programs along with apprenticeship and internship opportunities need to be developed for our students. Building a good working relationship with community and business leaders is critical. We need to hold our legislators accountable and work to make sure that funding for our students’ education remains a high priority. Because of the vision and hard work of concerned citizens in our county, Alachua County is better positioned than many of our neighboring counties to handle the financial demands of legislative budget cuts. I believe that individual school board members should work closely with our legislative delegation to communicate and cooperate on areas of funding and cost containment and performance issues.
Build on our success in reading.
We need to maintain that reading is the foundation for all learning. Alachua County has made great strides in making reading a focus. We should continue to build upon these successes and expand the ability to reach children at all ages. I believe that for many students a love of reading is established at the Elementary School level but begins to fade as they get older. By talking with students, I have learned that by the time they reach High School, reading is a “chore”. I would like to see programs like the Elementary School “Sunshine State Readers” developed in our county for all ages. We should encourage students to read books that excite their imaginations along with literature that will stimulate their minds.
