360° of Support.
“I am not a self-made man.”
- Arnold Schwarzenegger
Everyone needs support. Only through mutual support can society function well.
My vision is for the RCS School Board to positively support Administration, Teachers, and Parents to help all students succeed.
Teachers do this out of love. The long hours and concern needs to equally be rewarded with higher salary to ensure excellence in teaching quality. Only by retaining and attracting the best teaching talent can the RCS School Board continue to offer the best to our students.
Administration need to be committed. Inclusive of support staff, IT, and technicians, the RCS School Board need assist in considering the long-term decisions that allow our students achieve greater success.
Parents are the greatest influencers of all. In our children we see the mirrors of ourselves. Our daily actions subtly guide their moral principles. The RCS Board need to be transparent with our decisions, and respectfully take into consideration the opinions of the parents.
As teachers, administration, and parents, let’s give our students an all encompassing 360° of love and support for them to be their best.
Fun. Comfortable. Prepared.
“Is it not a pleasure to study and constantly apply the lessons that you have learned?”
- Confucius
My vision for the RCS School Board is to encourage three phases into our student’s life: Fun, Comfortable, and Prepared.
At the elementary school age, the priority should be a fun educational experience. Through exciting activities, they absorb knowledge naturally. Through teachers and support staff, children learn to feel safe and know they can count on Rochester Community Schools to support them.
At middle school age, students should feel comfortable. But not in the sense of complacency. At this age, they are beginning to be more aware of themselves, and of their changing bodies. They are pushing against their boundaries, and sensing their own place in family, society, and in the world. Let’s support them to have the confidence to be themselves, and explore their budding areas of interest.
When we arrive at high school, students need to feel prepared. Ready to take on adulthood, higher education, and life beyond structured schooling. Whatever path they take, we need to set them up for success. One way to do this is by support them with fundamental education in area such as taxation law, financial planning, and career guidance.
Thinking Critically.
One life-long skill obtained from my engineering degree and PhD is the skill of critical thinking.
My vision for the RCS School Board is instill critical thinking as a second nature.
We live in an age of constant information bombardment where fiction could be woven into fact. Textual, graphic, and video media can have the ability to inform, but also to misguide. Our students need to be empowered with the ability and judgement to tell real from fake, genuine from fictitious, and impartial from biased.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
- Benjamin Disraeli
We should also be wary of those that misuse the words, “science”, “statistics”, or whatnot to peddle their own agendas. Every topic has it’s positives and negatives, strengths and weaknesses. Be wary of those that exaggerate one side of a discussion. The only solution to this is to let our students be widely read and in all types of topics. Then, teach them to analyze information for tone, attitude, bias, and more. Giving students the innate ability to think critically about everything, they can go forward into their world as much more informed citizens.