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Sabrina Coone-Godfrey, At-Large, Democrat

 

1) Describe any experience you have in a public school environment, whether that be as a teacher, administrator, coach, staff member, current member of the school board, substitute teacher, PTA involvement, etc.

I have been volunteering in our schools for the last decade. I first started volunteering as a grade parent and with the PTA. My involvement grew and I’ve been boots on the ground ever since! My involvement earned me the honor of Top 5 Finalist for the District’s Volunteer of the Year in 2022. I have proudly served as a parent advocate on school improvement teams, PTA president, district trained Reading Warrior, book fair chair, member of the Parent Focus Group and community presentation team for the code of character, senior mentor, testing proctor, as well as many other committees. In addition, I have been engaged by attending the Board of Education Committee meeting and board meetings for years.

2) What do you feel are the biggest issues facing students, teachers and staff at schools currently and within your authority as a member of the BOE, how would you work to fix them?

Our district has had an achievement gap that pre-dates the pandemic. Closing or eliminating this achievement gap must continue to be a priority. As a board member we must continue to support programs like the “90 by ’25” initiative with the goal of having 90% of third graders proficient in reading by 2025.
Reading is a foundation for all the aspects of learning including math. Our staff and educator retention and recruitment are also critical issues and must be a focus — without our staff and educators we cannot make the academic strides needed. We need to not only work to ensure we have proper funding, but we must work to ensure that the environments in our buildings are ones that foster respect and trust of our educators and staff. We need to listen to the voices of these folks and work with them to find solutions outside of just the financial needs.

3) What would you do as a member of the BOE to establish relationships with the schools and students outside of being present for all meetings?

I intend to continue volunteering within the schools and I would love to create involvement teams (a parent/caregiver, a student and an educator staff) that include members of the board as well as the superintendent. These groups would be set up to rotate throughout the district and to include variety of voices.