3000 doors
Over the next few weeks, I will be knocking on doors all around Hillsboro and North Plains, to introduce myself. I want to talk with all of your about the value of our public schools, and hear your opinions and your ideas. I have already visited close to 500 homes, and I had some very interesting conversations on many doorsteps...I have talked with many people who, for one reason or another, are not very supportive of our local public schools. I met with a retired couple who really does not want any more of their property taxes to go to fund public schools. My answer to them and to many others who have no current connections in our schools is that that they should vote and help elect someone like me who will help manage our limited funding well, to get the best educational value out of the taxpayer's dollars. The district recently refinanced many of the school bonds, which will reduce the total property taxes in the district by over two million dollars.
I met with the parents of an ADHD student who ended up taking their child out of school and homeschooling. I heard their story and shared my vision of a public school system that meets the needs of every student, including special needs students, ESL and TAG students. I want to see students, teachers and parents work together to find ways to improve our shcools. And I would like to see some meaningful conversation between the homeschooling community and the public school community in our neighborhoods. I think that we have much to learn from each other's experience.
I met with a first grade teacher, who teaches in one of our elementary schools where a large percentage of students are from Hispanic families. We talked about the gap that my wife and I see in the reading skills in our own school, for those kids are bright and hard working but don't have someone to help them after the school day is over. I listened and shared my ideas on how we can increase the quality and quantity of parent involvement both inside and outside the classroom.
I talked with a father of a second grader who feels that with our current system and our current resources kids who are more talented are not challenged. I told him of teachers I have seen do the impossible, and be able to challenge students according to their skills. I shared my idea of having our great teachers share their experience with their peers across the district, so that we can all benefit.
I heard from many people who are angry at some of the bad decisions that they feel that the district made in the past. I heard a lot about the new administration building, and the new facilities building. I told them that I feel that transparency is critical and that good communication is essential for people in the community to be aware of what is happening.
I talked with many parents, who were pleasantly surprised to see someone care enough about their schools and their opinion to walt to their home and knock on their door.
The countless conversations I had in these past two weeks have been wonderful. I am having a great time and I look forward to visiting three thousands homes during this campaign. All the rain in the past few days hasn't slowed me down a bit.
posted by Unknown @ 12:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home