Congratulations to Mount Si High School for being honored by for the second year in a row for increasing student participation in Advanced Placement classes. This is a result of the vision and perseverance of a small group of talented AP teachers and their drive for success. I ask you to think about the possibilities if we had district driven goals, priorities, and high expectations like these teachers had. We need to set high expectations for all students from kindergarten through high school, not just for the top performers. We need to ensure that this K-12 system results in keeping kids from dropping out and preparing all students to be successful in college and career training. Those are the key indicators of success for a school district. I believe that we need to put into place an action plan across the district, from K-12, to make sure this is our focus. Just think about the community engagement and celebration when we achieve that level of success. Just to be clear here: This is not to say that we don’t have teachers all over the district who are working in many different ways every day for success for students. Not at all. My point, is the same one I have been making since day one – we need district driven (top level) goals that are clear and measurable, that we can all get behind as a community of educators, teachers, and community members. With these goals, the district can prioritize decision making and funding where they are needed most.
Welcome
Welcome. I hope this website helps you learn more about my passion for education and why I want to serve on the school board. I am dedicated to raising the bar for student success, community planning and transparency. This interactive website will keep you updated with stories from the campaign trail and election updates via the Campaign Blog and Calendar on the Home page and will be responsive to your questions. I encourage your comments, and I appreciate your support so very much. Thank you.Carolyn’s Calendar
Everyday - Going door to door throughout the valley. Would you like to join me or cover a section? It's great exercise and fantastic conversation.
Thursday, November 3, 6:00pm Work Session; 7:30pm - School Board Meeting, District Office
Tuesday, November 8 - Election Day activities
Campaign Blog Topics
I am sorry to inform you that high expectation, goal oriented teaching is taking place throughout the district not just in our AP classes. My first grader at SES is having an educational experience that I wouldn’t trade for anywhere. The “regular” teachers in many instances are working as hard or harder than those with AP classes. To assert that if only non AP teachers would adopt their work effort and dedication is an insult and shows a lack of understanding of our educational system. A person running for school board needs to get to know what really is happening in schools and understand and appreciate the full range of learning styles, ability levels and challenges that many students face. There are no easy answers and all of us in Snoqualmie Valley school district are and have been committed to goal oriented improvement. Look just a little deeper and you will see many examples of excellence outside of AP classes. Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes I am getting used to using my new I pad.
Art, there is no need to apologize. I couldn’t agree more with you about the goal-oriented work our talented teachers are accomplishing every day in classrooms across the district. I have more years of experience observing these accomplishments than any other candidate on the ballot. Our own children had the distinct pleasure of being educated by these teachers, and they still talk about many of them in high regard. I have worked with dozens, if not hundreds, of teachers while serving on Mount Si’s Learning Improvement Team and the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation over most of the last 8 years. I have observed teachers and administrators make presentations to the school board in the over 6 plus years of attending almost every school board meeting, which is more meetings than any other candidate on the ballot. You are right, a person running for school board needs this experience to gain some understanding of the educational system.
In no way was I asserting that teachers who are not AP teachers don’t work as hard or aren’t as dedicated. I don’t believe that. My point in this blog post is the same one that I have been making for years. Although we have individual classroom and school goals, our district could be even better if we could pull all of this amazing work together to ensure we are accomplishing district goals. Other districts set measurable district goals. For example, Issaquah’s goals include decreasing the percentage of students that drop out and increasing the percentage of students who meet four year college admission requirements. Let’s join other districts and set our own goals and measure our results, district-wide. The school board should lead by working with the district’s educators and the community to develop our goals and priorities to ensure that all of the amazing work that all of our teachers are doing every day in the classrooms is aligned toward similar key indicators of district success.
Carolyn Simpson
It is quite obvious Carolyn that the district is running scared. To have a mover and a shaker, and someone who’s not a yes man (person) on the board is their worst nightmare. They are frustrated that your numbers are true, that your prognostication about the district not growing came true and that you are a brilliant thinker and willing to ask the deeper questions. The personal attacks on behalf of our school board and SVEA union against you is very sad to me. At MSHS this year, we are working hard to change the educational climate by changing some of the behaviors and personal and professional expectations of our staff. It’s so very sad to see that the union and school board are not willing to do the same thing for the betterment of our students. Carolyn, you are SO appreciated by SO many in this district. Many of us, if we took the advice of your opponents and looked just a little but deeper at the situation, would know the thousands of volunteer hours you have given this community over the last six years and the 10′s of thousands of dollars you have raised for our schools students. We would know how absolutely preposterous it is to assume you do not value ALL teachers in the valley, and how silly it sounds when people announce that your full-time job is running your campaign when you still put in 40 hour weeks volunteering on top of the campaign. Know that win or lose, no one will forget the negative campaign the district is running against you and that will affect future elections of union officers, school board members and district administration.
Finally. Someone else sees this. I have found myself disappointed the last month. This valley I love to write about has become a haven for negative political campaigning. Carolyn has done nothing more than devote countless hours to education in the valley. She asks the questions so many of us should be asking. Stop the negativity. Stop the spin. This election is about real issues – not about personally attacking a good person!
I too am sick of all of the criticisms of people not ‘union’ approved on this ballot. My colleagues would not have taken this as a criticism of non- AP teachers so stop trying to make bad news out of good news! For too long people in the school district have had it too cosy and now we have someone willing to ask the right questions and to get the right answers. Why should the union tell us who we should vote for, isn’t that our own job ?
It is upsetting that our Union leader would take time to send an email against a candidate like this. I would much prefer Mr. Galloway to spend his time doing other, more constructive things. I have worked with Ms. Simpson in the past and support her 100%. She is dedicated, bright, and is willing to ask questions that many teachers are afraid to ask. Mr. Galloway should not be spending his time spinning Ms. Simspson’s remarks and advising teachers what he thinks she is saying.