This interview was originally published in the Heights Herald print edition.

I am most excited about learning all there is to know about our schools and to have the opportunity to work with our Superintendent, Teachers, Parents and Students to make our schools the best they can be!

Our current proficiency rates in Read- ing, Math and Science reported by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) are really low. I don’t believe that the rates are indicative of the true proficiency of our students. However, parents choose to move kids out of the district if they feel the school isn’t doing well. Therefore, I would like to work on
finding a solution to reporting our true proficiency rates and find ways to have them increase.

As a new board member, I am not familiar with all activities of the schools. I am excited about our vocational training that we are providing. Many schools have removed vocational training from the curriculum, but not Heights! This means many of our kids can actually apprentice or even start their careers right out of high school and don’t need to spend thousands of dollars for a college education to make a good income.