Four candidates up for two open St. Regis School Board seats

Four candidates are running for two open seats on the St. Regis School Board. Ken Jasper currently sits on the board and his term is up along with Brant Moeller who is not re-running for his seat. Jasper is re-running for his seat along with three other candidates: Christine West; Mark Farris; and Jessica Connolly.

The election is open to all registered voters in the St. Regis School District which extends from Saltese to Sloway. The polls will open from noon to 8 p.m. on May 8 with polling places at the DeBorgia Schoolhouse and the St. Regis School Library.

Candidates were asked to answer four questions regarding this position: 1) Why do you want to be a Trustee? (2) What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of St. Regis Schools? (3) What criteria will you use when making decisions as a Trustee? (4) What areas or issues are you especially interested in working on as a Trustee? Below are their responses.

Christine West

I have lived in the area for 40 years and have 27 years teaching experience. I live in the West End and am a member of the Historic DeBorgia School House Foundation. I have 10 acres, 3 horses and 2 dogs and I love the area and loved teaching at St Regis School. Education has been my life and I have 61 years of Education – teaching & taking classes.

I love St Regis School, the teachers, the kids, and the administration and want to see them succeed. As a board member, I want to find ways to keep our highly qualified staff. I also hope to help write grants to provide more money for Technology and School Security and I want to see Summit, the online curriculum to be continued.

I also want St Regis to have a Safe and Secure School and I think it’s important to pass our levies, we have an obligation to help our Kids and school, as our parents helped, Paying it Forward.

We have a strong and excellent administration, highly qualified teachers and a strong curriculum in Summit. Challenges we face are high turnover in our teaching staff and technology needs. For decision-making criteria I will weigh each decision with the criteria of Kids First and will closely watch spending. I will use my best judgement when making decisions and talk with teachers and administration to understand their requests and understand their priorities.

I am especially interested in a Safe and Secure school, looking at grants to help get this done. Also a technology levy, writing grants, and help to keep our highly qualified teaching staff with better housing to slow turnover also to address the drug problems in the area and mitigate the affects on our students.

Ken Jasper

I love our school system and the kids that attend this District. There are very few things that I treasure more than my affiliation with the St. Regis School District. I want to help provide an environment that will let the children of this district thrive academically, socially and in a competitive setting.

The greatest strength of the district is the staff and the lengths that they will go to provide a quality education to our students. The biggest weakness, in my opinion, is how we allocate and prioritize our finite economic resources. We need to do a better job budgeting and planning for the needs of the school district. We also need to communicate better with the communities of this district and work with them to come up with a vision of where we want this school district to be in 20 years. We also need to improve our test scores. Until we are able to do this on a consistent basis we need to keep our kids in school more days and not fewer.

I only have one criteria when making decisions as a Trustee and that is: Will this decision make this school better for the kids who are attending now and those who are coming after them? Areas I am especially interested in is I would really love to work on the finances of the school district. I believe if we worked to maximize the resources we have, we could offer our students greater opportunities through programs aimed at those wanting to attend college and also prepare those who don’t with greater vocational skills. I would also like to help create an environment that provides greater transparency and communication from the school to the parents and the community at large. I think our school works best when we include all of the stake holders, the administration, board, staff, parents and the community.

Jessica Connolly

I want to create the best school possible for our children and will bring strong financial experience to the board. The best thing about our school is the children. I will make every effort to ensure they have the best education and school experience. I believe the greatest challenge is declining enrollment.

As an accountant, I am very data driven and I believe decisions need to be based on facts and research. In addition, I will strive to follow the strategic plan approved by the board. I am interested in working on the budget, finance and hiring committees.

Mark Farris

I have lived in Saint Regis for almost 13 years and I have 4 boys who attend school here. Ian 15, Hunter 10, Joseph 8, and Shawn 5. My wife Amy and I feel very grateful and strongly about giving back to the school that has done so much for our kids. I want all the kids in our community to reach their fullest potential and feel how special it is to attend school here.

Our school has very small class sizes. Its strength is in the ability to allow teachers to cater to the individual needs of our students. The school has recently implemented the Summit Learning Program. This program teaches our students to work independently and use critical thinking skills to accomplish the work assigned. The biggest hurdle our school has is to hire and keep the best teachers. Some teachers will always leave for greener pastures and that cannot be prevented. But we need to work extra hard to hire the right people and keep the teachers who want to be here.

I work as an Insurance Claims Adjuster. Every decision I make at work and home is based on the facts presented. Emotions can cloud decisions when you try to force an outcome based on an emotional plea. I make difficult decisions at work often. All decisions as a Trustee should be based on the largest possible positive benefit to the students of our school. As a Trustee I also feel my personal conduct and decisions should reflect positively in the community.

I want to make sure the education for our kids continues to be unique. I envision our school becoming a destination school for teachers and students who want to see how schools can be run in the 21st Century. Education as we all had it so many years ago is managed differently today and we need to make sure we keep up with the ever changing landscape of what is education.

Current St. Regis board members are Board Chair Charlee Thompson, whose term is up in 2020, andDave Jensen and Vice Chair Carol Young, whose terms are up next year.