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Age: 25
Occupation: Nonpartisan Hearing Clerk for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee
Bio: I grew up here and attended George Mason Elementary, George Washington Middle and graduated from Alexandria City High School in 2017. I received my bachelor’s in political science from Lewis and Clark College. Along with my day job as a nonpartisan hearing clerk, I am also a member of the ACPS Budget Advisory Committee.
How should ACPS address transportation staffing shortages?
We are contending with a national shortage of drivers. I believe that we should continue to offer signing bonuses, guarantee a set amount of hours and make sure that transportation staff get a fair deal during unionization.
What is your goal for collective bargaining?
I want to make sure that teachers and educational support staff get the money they deserve and that they feel valued by our school system. This is a new opportunity to build goodwill and morale across our system.
What do you see as the role of the School Board? Is it subordinate to the superintendent or their boss?
The School Board is an oversight and budget body that, among other responsibilities, hires and fires the superintendent. It is our duty to make sure that we are being responsible to the school system, parents and voters.
Two students, one who is disabled, have recently left school in the middle of the day at Francis C. Hammond Middle School. How will you work to solve this problem?
All students should stay accounted for and safe throughout the school day. As the Board, we should continue to make sure that staff has what they need to make sure our students stay in class and stay learning.
What is your plan to equitably address overcrowding?
The Board should have a meeting to explore all the options for the short term, including, but not limited to changing capacity reassignment clusters. Long term, I believe that redistricting will help to alleviate overcrowding and that we should explore decreasing the five-year intervals between redistricting.
How do you plan to increase teacher retention?
Through the unionization process, I hope that teachers will start to feel supported and that they are making good money here in Alexandria. I believe this will help us stop the loss of our teachers and give them a greater sense of investment in our system.
What specific steps can be taken to enhance school safety?
As a former ACPS student, safety is a significant priority and we need to make sure that any programs put in to support safety, such as weapons detectors, digital IDs and school resource officers, are collecting data and reporting back to the Board. With such data and reports we can stay abreast and make any changes if needed to keep our schools as safe as possible.
How can central office communications become more effective and accessible?
One good way is to continue improving the ACPS website. It should be a one stop shop and we should make sure that information is never more than one menu or one click away, improving readability and ease of use.
How can standardized test scores be improved?
It comes down to two things: students having the help that they need and teachers having the support that they need to focus on teaching. I believe that unionization will help retention and morale of teachers, which in turn will help students get an even better education and improve test scores.