Since I was elected to the board in 2017, there have been many positive changes in the district:
Completely restructured administration team.
De-emphasizing standardized tests- focusing on the WHOLE CHILD, not just test scores. (Frankly, I would like to see a district boycott of the PSSAs!)
Kept Berkshire Heights a Wilson run preschool!
RECESS- all elementary students are guaranteed two full recesses every day!
Involving teachers in the curriculum process. I can see the difference in the four years that I've been curriculum chair.
With administration, teachers, staff, and parents, were the first district to announce plans for opening schools during the pandemic, including virtual, remote, and face-to-face options for families, full time face-to-face for grades K-5 and low incidence special education students, and hybrid for middle and high school students. (Not that this is a positive change per se- but I do think given the worst of circumstances Wilson had the best plan!)
Repairing the Board's and administration's relationship relationship with teachers, including Dr. Faidley holding weekly office hours and stopping the rash of teacher resignations
Work Remaining
Sometimes change happens overnight, most times not. Here are some things we are still working on:
Repairing the Board's relationship with teachers- Still work to do here, but during my third week on the board we NARROWLY avoided a strike and we just approved an early bird contract. We also did a "listening tour" where we went to each building to hear all teachers, which was very eye opening to some standing board members and led to lots of great changes (see several on the list above). Keeping the communication open has helped, but there's still room to grow!
Class sizes/ equity among buildings. This one is taking a long time, but it is in process. The main reason I want to stay on the board is to complete building renovations at the high school for safety and additional space and to build a new school for our elementary students so our class sizes can be lower, and we can also avoid splitting Spring Ridge kids between West and Southern (which I think is just terrible for those kids!!).