Support teachers and staff; build on the strengths of our district.

By Laura Chardiet

Athletics and arts programs are instrumental in closing the achievement gap. These programs engage students and enrich their lives in ways that lead to better student performance, improved attendance, and a strong sense of community. We must continue to fund these programs.

In educating students, we are creating the foundations on which their futures will be built. For them to have successful futures, we must make certain that the skills our students develop in our schools help them to build bridges to their post-secondary futures and prepare them for the job market. We need to fully develop programs that help our students make this transition. One way to do this is to expand the model used by our Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) where high school students take college level courses in the Arts and receive college credits. We should build on this model for students with talents and interests in areas outside of the Arts. We need to take advantage of the strengths in our community to develop more internship programs in a variety of fields such as the Arts and related technical fields or nutrition and culinary work.

Our schools are full of examples of the fine work being done by our teachers, administrators and staff, and yet, with proper support even more can be done to engage our students and enrich their lives. I will work to keep our focus where it belongs.