Why I’m Running. The day that I filed to be a candidate for the Raytown School Board, I went to one of our beautiful parks with my wife and four children. It was an unexpectedly beautiful January day, and we wanted to seize that opportunity to be outside, and a part of our community. When we got to the park, we started chatting with another father who was there. I was still experiencing a natural high from the excitement of running and wanted to connect with another Raytown father. I was even toying with the possibility of saying something like, “So, hey, guess what! I’m running for school board!” when the man said something that temporarily took the wind out of my sails. “Yeah, we live here now, but we’re moving to Lee’s Summit just as soon as we can.” Argh! Don’t we hear that all the time? It’s almost as if Raytown is just a stop on everyone’s way to their hoped for final destination. Here’s the thing: Raytown is way too cool of a place to be just a rest stop on the way to better stomping grounds. Raytown is awesome! From Benetti’s Coffee Experience, which offers some of the best coffee in the KC Metro, to Smith Brothers Hardware, a gem of a store, that offers service and products way better than any of the big box stores. We have beautiful parks, with fantastic play equipment and great walkable paths. Not to mention that because of our location, we’re close to other attractions like the Kansas City Zoo and Starlight Theater. We could practically hear the excitement from Kauffman Stadium during the 2014 World Series! One of the things that I love about Raytown is the diversity we have here. I love that we can go to the park and our kids can play with kids who don’t look exactly like them. I love that when we go to school events there are so many different races and ethnicities represented. I love that this community of ours is not all the same. My point? Raytown is way too good to be a stop on the way to happy living in other suburbs. But, let’s be honest: we can do better. And this leads me back to why I am running for School Board. Schools are the backbone of a community, and I’ve spent the last fifteen years working as a teacher and alongside teachers to help students and families. I want to help us do two things: 1.) Get the word out on how awesome our community already is. We need better communication between our schools and the community. And, 2.) Get even better. Through fostering policies that improve the inclusiveness of our schools, improve motivation in our students, and support for our faculty and staff. While I clearly think we are as good as other suburbs, there are always ways to improve. While I see that we have wonderful businesses and people already in our community, a focused effort to bring research based, inclusive change to our schools is a way to bring vigor and new life to this community. I see that a change in our schools can help us become a closer knit, more prosperous, and cutting edge city. My candidacy is my way of saying, “Let’s do this thing. We are Raytown.”
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 02:54:22 +0000
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