Patty Jurich

Issues

I’m running for Piper School Board because I believe our District needs to be represented by board members who will listen carefully to our Parents, Teachers and Community members and reflect their wishes and values in our school district.

I’m running because I care about the kids and want to see them succeed,,, I believe passionately in the potential of all children and their abilities to achieve their dreams and be successful in life. And to do that they need to have a strong foundation to build up on... strong foundations come from a great education and a great education is the pathway to success.

I’m running for the school board because I believe as parents and educators it is our responsibility to provide the BEST education for our children, and that we are making sure they are academically prepared to be successful in life after leaving high school.

I am committed to serving the Piper community and will strive to work with my other board members, teachers, parents and students to make the best decisions for Piper school district.

The election is on November 4th and your vote matters.

• Focus on increasing student achievement and for all students to make meaningful progress toward college and career readiness. Where all students are proficient in Reading and Math and we are focused on core subjects. According to Kansas state assessments, we are a little over the state levels except for in Math, we are below. We have room for improvement.
• Ensuring a Safe & Healthy learning environment for our students and staff, where all students feel welcome and can learn and excel.
• Fiscally Responsible, Common-Sense spending that cuts waste, separates the wants from the needs, and prioritizes the spending of our tax dollars inside the classroom on instruction. We should continually seek out alternative ways to fund items in the budget. We should be realistic about what our community can afford.

Students

I want an education system that encourages intellectual growth and critical thinking.

• Our students should be learning how to think independently and not just what to think. They should be engaged and asking questions.
• Students need to know and be able to do the kinds of things that will enable them to be successful in life. They need to have confidence in whatever they choose to do and be productive members of society.

Teachers

Teachers want to teach. We need to encourage and support our teachers and provide them with the resources they need to excel at that.

• We need to have practices in place to retain our teachers and assist our first-year teachers with well-planned mentoring programs.
• We need to hire highly skilled teachers who are flexible in their teaching methods to be able to reach all of our students and recognize that not all students learn the same way.

Parents

Encourage and support parental involvement.

• Create an environment where our parents and caregivers feel welcome in our schools and to see meaningful family engagement.
• Parents are the first teachers to their children and are the primary value givers to their kids.
• We need to listen to what they are saying and be accessible to our parents when they have questions or concerns.

Growth

We need to budget with responsible fiscal policies while considering future enrollment.

• We need to look at all possible options when addressing this topic and include community members when planning and in the decision-making process.
• We need to consider if some things can be delayed and budgeted for long term and can private donations and fundraisers help in making them become a reality.