With 25 years of local roots, community advocacy, and children currently navigating our schools, I bring a community-first perspective to the board.
Navigating recent closures showed me the burden on families, staff anxiety, and the need for stability.
My 11 years in healthcare (6 in clinical leadership) trained me to manage complex budgets, handle pressure, and advocate relentlessly.
I will deliver results for all stakeholders by:
Fiscal Responsibility: Transparent budget tracking for taxpayers.
Student Success: Prioritizing safe environments, academics, and well-being.
Staff Support: Empowering educators and support workers with respect and resources.
Collaboration: Building open partnerships with families and local businesses.
Our schools thrive when students, educators, and community come first. My top priorities focus on:
Academic Growth: Holding administration strictly accountable for evidence-based decisions that increase proficiency and graduation rates.
Supported Classrooms: Advocating for smaller class sizes to foster safety and connection.
District Growth & Fiscal Care: Using data to recapture enrollment while enforcing rigorous board oversight with transparent, accessible budget tracking.
When facing budget shortfalls, my priority is protecting classrooms and student supports. My strategy focuses on:
Common-sense cuts: Freezing non-essential central office hires, auditing leadership, and slashing wasteful administrative spending and third-party agency over-reliance.
Equity & impact: Using data to ensure cuts fall farthest from student-to-teacher ratios and essential supports.
Transparency: Sharing financials openly with families and staff to co-create sustainable solutions.
Bridging the 30% to 40% proficiency gap for students of color requires structural transformation across three core pillars:
Early Literacy: Implementing evidence-based phonics and universal screeners to ensure grade-level reading by third grade.
Targeted Resources: Directing critical funding, intensive interventions, and experienced educators to underserved schools.
Advanced Coursework: Expanding access and support in honors, AP, and dual enrollment classes to drive long-term student success.
Building and regaining trust requires active listening and early two-way communication to bridge gaps, align goals, and to build a stronger community together.
Open-Door Forums: Host monthly listening sessions across communities for direct feedback.
Advisory Councils: Form collaborative panels of educators and parents to co-design policy solutions.
Transparent Outreach: Utilize multi-lingual updates, digital town halls, and regular surveys to ensure every voice is heard before votes happen.
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I've worked in Robbinsdale Area Schools since 1999 and coached debate here since 2001. My kids graduated from the district, and my wife taught here too. I've seen it as a staff member, a parent, and now a board member since January 2026. One of the district's biggest problems right now is public trust and board dysfunction, and my approach has been transparency and a calm, steady presence. Before and after every meeting, I post detailed notes so people can follow what is happening at the board table. We know the board has hard decisions ahead, and I'm committed to asking tough questions with every student in mind. I'm endorsed by the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers and Parents for Good Robbinsdale, and supported by the DFL.
First, get the district out of Statutory Operating Debt with a real, board-approved plan, that is carefully monitored. Second, right-size our building footprint to match actual enrollment, which has fallen from nearly 18,000 students to about 10,000 without a matching drop in buildings. Third, and most important, protect classroom staffing and instruction while continuing to push on district achievement. Most district have to balance enrollment and costs, for Robbinsdale, we need to chip away at
Non-classroom costs first: administration, facilities, contracts, rent. Every dollar spent outside the classroom is a dollar that isn't going to the classroom. We need to ensure we do not outsource service as they come with a premium cost. Cuts to teaching staff and student-facing programs should be the last resort, with the community told what's being cut and why. When we reach that point, I'd push for non-classroom cuts to roughly match classroom cuts, dollar for dollar.
The board's job isn't to write curriculum, it's to fund and hold district staff accountable for equity. Curriculum review needs to match our student's racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity. We need to continue to give teachers more tools to assist in closing gaps and ensuring we are consistent across the district. And we need to work harder to get parents involved. Study after study shows engaged parents are one of the strongest predictors of student success.
I'd push for the board to see a full range of options before deciding, not the propose-react-revise cycle we've used in the past. Once we know the real options, we need to reach parents where they are: the board room, PTO/PTA meetings, direct mail, and anywhere else we can. If the district communicated at an A-plus level, a lot of our trust problems would go away. Personally, every meeting I write detailed notes about what is and about to happen to get direct feedback from the community.
I bring more than four decades of connection to District 281 and a lifetime of leadership experience. I am a Robbinsdale graduate, parent of 3 district grads and grandparent of current students. I’ve been a PTA president, educator, small-business owner, nonprofit and professional board leader, and 20-year volunteer firefighter in this community. I understand governance, budgets, accountability and how to bring people with different perspectives together. At this pivotal moment, I will bring preparation, stability and responsible stewardship while keeping students, educators and strong classrooms at the center of our decisions. Most importantly, I know how to listen, ask difficult questions, build consensus and move an organization forward.
Financial stability-navigate SOD, strengthen oversight, right-size responsibly, protect classroom resources and fairly compensate the people who serve our students. 2) Student achievement-support excellent educators, safe classrooms built for todays learners, and multiple pathways for every student to succeed. 3) Rebuild trust and enrollment-bring transparency, professionalism and collaboration to the Board while creating excellent schools families choose and educators are proud to serve.
I would protect students, teachers and classrooms as much as possible and look first for efficiencies away from direct student services, including administration, operations, contracts and our building footprint. I would involve employees closest to the work in identifying efficiencies and ensure we capture every available revenue source and grant. But we cannot cut our way to a stronger district; long-term stability also requires rebuilding enrollment and becoming a district families choose.
Equity means high expectations and high support for every student. I would use data to identify racial and economic gaps in achievement, discipline, advanced coursework and opportunity, then focus resources where barriers are greatest. Students should have equitable access to excellent teachers, rigorous academics, activities and support regardless of race, income or school. Every student deserves to be seen, challenged, supported and know they belong.
Good decisions begin by listening to those most affected. I would engage teachers, staff, students and families through accessible listening sessions, forums, surveys and regular communication. I’d also establish or strengthen advisory councils, bringing together educators, students, families and community experts in areas such as finance, to provide ongoing input to leadership. I will be visible, accessible and transparent about how community input informs decisions.
Candidate response is not yet available.
Candidate response is not yet available.
Candidate response is not yet available.
Candidate response is not yet available.
Candidate response is not yet available.
I am a classroom teacher with direct, front‑line insight into how district policies, curricula, and budget decisions impact students and staff. I understand daily school dynamics and use data driven decision making, metric tracking, and measurable goal setting. As a special education teacher, I look beyond surface issues to identify systemic barriers and approach challenges with patience, empathy, and creative problem solving.
My top three priorities are strengthening community voice, responsible financial oversight, and maintaining transparent governance.
I believe in meaningful engagement with families, students, and educators because schools function best when those directly affected help shape decisions. I believe in financial stewardship and oversight to support long‑term stability and alignment with community values. Transparency remains essential so families can easily access information and understand how.
Student outcomes must come first. I would protect classroom instruction and the supports students rely on. Resources should shift toward teaching and learning rather than administrative overhead, and outsourcing positions should stop so we retain talent and stability. Use LTFM funds to cover essential building needs, and closed properties should be repurposed or sold to generate revenue and reduce operating costs.
Addressing racial and economic disparities requires confronting the systemic opportunity gaps created by school funding. A key example is federal special education funding, which is supposed to cover 40% of costs but most districts receive only about 8%. Fully funding these mandates is essential to ensuring every student has equitable access to the resources they need.
I actively seek feedback from teachers and families on board decisions. People can connect with me in the community, through emails to the board, at listening sessions, or by responding on social media. These conversations help me understand concerns directly and ensure community voices remain part of my decision making.
I bring a unique blend of strategic leadership and lived experiences with a calm demeanor focused on policy governance and community impact. As the current Vice Chair of the Robbinsdale Area Schools Board of Education, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and an MBA in leadership change management and analytics, I offer proven expertise in organizational change and collaborative problem-solving. My deep institutional knowledge of the recent decisions is vital to safely guiding the district through our current Statutory Operating Debt (SOD) and high school restructuring. As an immigrant, parent, and spouse of a district employee, my stake is personal. Every decision at the board table must directly or indirectly protect and elevate the classroom.
I will drive fiscal responsiveness via the Vision 2030 roadmap, rightsizing facilities to stabilize finances and support teachers. Student-centered success looks beyond test scores to champion wellness, safety, and mental health resources that spark academic engagement. Finally, inclusive leadership requires collaborative governance that brings all stakeholders—especially marginalized voices—to the table, filtering every board decision through its direct impact on our learners.
To protect classrooms, I will target administrative overhead and maximize state funds to chip away at the $9 million deficit. We must optimize our footprint by selling unused buildings and ending costly rentals, building on $3.8 million in recent savings. I support combining high schools with or without a referendum for a projected $1.5 million in annual savings. Continue with immediate needs assessment that bring all stakeholders to the table for transparent governance prior to final votes.
As an immigrant parent raising multi-racial children in Rdale, this fight is deeply personal. I will bridge disparities by revising inequitable policies, protecting our LGBTQ+ students and students of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds, by heavily investing in extensive education for our teachers, who directly impact our children daily. We must ensure all stakeholders staff, families, and the board are fully educated on statutes and policies protecting classroom equity.
As a current vice chair of the board, engagement is about active presence. I will partner closely with our teachers' unions and labor organizations to ensure those who serve our children have a direct hand in policy. Attending PTO meetings as a parent to listen to families on the ground, while aggressively promoting and expanding community participation at our board listening hours. Actively challenge all view points and asked for 'alternatives' where possible to ensure a 'win win for all.
