Name and office sought:
Wanda Brownlee Paige
School Board Candidate
Age: 65
Education: Grade School -Hawthrone Elementary
Junior High – Northwest Junior High
High School – Wyandotte High School (Class of ‘74)
BA – Simpson College – Indianola , Iowa (majored in History)
MST- University of Wisconsin -Stevens Point (Masters in Social Studies)
30 hrs – Drake University – (Adult Education)
15 hrs – Kansas State University – (ESL)
Organizations: Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (Fund Raising Chair)
Tabernacle Baptist Church (Board of Trustee – President)
Heart of America Sisterhood (President)
Reason for running: I want to continue to improve student academic achievement, strengthen the accountability of school programs, improve communication with the community, and provide social – emotional growth.
What are the three most important issues facing this position and how would you handle them?
1. We need to provide a quality education to every student. That means we need to hire a highly trained and diverse staff to teach. The student teacher ratio should be 1 to 18. This should help to create learning environment which would be more productive. Offer tutoring for parents and students. We have the funds to do this.
2. We need to hire more teachers and work to retain our existing staff. Our Human Resource Department has to be overhauled to make this happen. We need people who can go out and recruit a qualified and diversified staff. In addition, to providing our teachers with a competitive salary. This would help to reduce the stress on our teachers, while also helping to lift the morale in the building. We have the funds to do this.
3. We have to keep our students and staff safe. The fight against Covid 19 hasn’t been easy. We need to require that students and staff between the ages of 12 and over be vaccinated or get tested weekly. Then we also need to improve facilities’ ventilation systems. Monies have been provided and we need make sure it is spent on that.
If you are an incumbent, list your top accomplishments in office.
As an incumbent I’ve helped to provide the following during my tenure in office:
- Started a listening tour my first year in office.
2. Hired 30 psychologists and social workers.
3. Updated our textbooks purchasing system to help assist our students and teachers.
4. Started the process to try to raise minimum pay to $15.00 (we’re still working on this)
5. I’ve been working with the Equity and Inclusion Department to better our working environment. (on going process)
6. Worked extremely hard to protect everyone during the pandemic. (mask mandate, went to virtual learning for three nine weeks)
7. Implemented the bond passed by voters to build new schools and do remodeling on some older buildings.
8. During the pandemic helped to deliver food to parents who were struggling.
9. Stressed the importance of hiring local tax paying vendors daily. (currently trying to create a policy to hire local vendors)
10. Still fighting bias in the system.
11. Helped parents, teachers, and students who needed and – or requested help daily.
12. Help to reinstate the position of school operator. This helps us to communicate better with students, parents, teachers and our community.
Have you run for elected office previously, what was the result?
I did run for the school board in 2017 and won.