We don't want just quantity votes, we want informed voters. We want to ensure our area is choosing candidates with conservative values. It isn't just good enough to have an R next to your name anymore. There are a lot of Republicans who do not understand the principles in the party platform. To uphold the Constitution, return rights to the families, stand against unelected, unaccountable government and for limited government. We want informed candidates who know the issues and are willing to stand for them. And we want the area voters to be informed on who those candidates are.
We only received responses from two candidates Rebecca Wagers and Emily Curran. Here is the email body that they sent us.
From Rebecca Wagers:
Dear Community,
I appreciate the opportunity to share my motivation for running for school board. I am a mother of 5 children. I have three "grown" daughters ages 30, 27, and 25. I also have two adopted sons ages 9 and 11. I was privileged to homeschool my daughters from kindergarten through high school graduation. I served several years as the Director of one of our regional homeschool groups, TEACH, which boasted 3 separate school co-ops from Pre-K to High school serving hundreds of students and their families. It was an incredibly rewarding experience for both myself and my children. I had the benefit of being able to determine at what age sensitive subject matter should be presented to each child based on their emotional development. It also afforded me the ability to help frame the information according to our family values and ideas, while presenting information that allowed each child to grow into an independent thinker, able to receive and interpret information understanding the weight of this responsibility. For this privilege I will always be grateful.
When I was first given custody of my boys, my current workload precluded me from homeschooling. I myself went to public school, I have great respect for teachers and their challenges, and I genuinely believe that the majority of those who choose this career path have an honest concern for their students and a heart to serve them well. That being said I have to say I was shocked. I felt like I was dropping the kids off every day into a black hole. I had no idea what the content of their education was, and no access unless I wanted to spend the time I had with them in the evenings logging into a host of websites, trying to access articles and lessons, and working to track down assignments and grades. It was a far cry from my expectations of working with the teachers as a team. I felt very isolated from what was happening at school.
Luckily my sons were quick to share information, so it wasn't long before I found that some of the content was quite questionable, some of the values being taught were not those I agreed with, and some of the information even veered from accurate depictions. Furthermore, I found that I was limited in my own ability as a parent to even provide adequate protections from what could be accessed through the school chromebooks. I went to school board members and the Superintendent, and shared my concerns about student access, and while I found them willing to listen and concerned, they also seem quite limited in their ability to make certain changes without support. Over the next few years the Washington County Schoolboard faces a host of decisions that will very much help set the course for our county for years to come. I am running for school board in order to be an advocate and a voice for parents. My goal is to make sure the parents are aware of what is being taught, have access to understanding of, and a place to comment on, rules and regulations being implemented and how their students are affected by them. I want to push for a new transparency for parents, including school board meetings set at times more parents can attend, better promotion of agenda items and their impact, and most of all a reclamation of the idea that the school board exists to serve the families in our community and to represent the ideals of community in which it serves.
I am quite an open book and would look forward to delving deeper into issues and concerns that have arisen over the last few years, and how my family has been impacted by them. Please reach out to me via email: rebecca@netnipc.com (rebecca@netnipc.com), my cell 423-292-6514, or find me on FB. I look forward to having the opportunity to hear from you.
Thank you,
Rebecca Wagers
From Emily Curran:
Thank you for the opportunity to offer a little more information about my educational philosophy and what I think is most important regarding our schools. Touching on the survey I received from Danielle, the focus of our schools should be about the academic education of our children. Parents and caregivers should feel comfortable sending their children to school knowing that political or social agendas won't be a part of the curriculum. Parents and families are children's first teachers and top advocates, and parents and families should continue to have a prominent role in their children's education. As a parent and as a School Board candidate, I would like to find more ways to welcome and include parents and families in our public education system. I look forward to speaking to you at an upcoming meeting and answering any questions you may have.
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