Supporting Teachers and Staff

Thompson School District has an amazing group of dedicated teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, paraprofessionals, administrators, and more who do the difficult and important work of educating our district’s students each and every day. I believe it is important to support the work of these professionals and let them do their jobs as they have been trained to do. I will continue to do this through:

• Working to increase staff salaries whenever and however we can within the tight budgetary constraints we face.
• Ensuring professional development is provided in a way that is meaningful and useful to all staff and teachers. Professional development should be beneficial and applicable, not just activities to check off a box. The district has made great improvements to the professional development program and I will work to make sure those continue.
• Providing teachers and staff with the resources and support they need to help their students excel in the classroom. This could mean providing more support staff for an overburdened class or giving teachers more planning time to be prepared to teach. Last year we were able to come up with a creative solution to give elementary school teachers additional planning time while very slightly impacting student engagement time. I will keep working to support problem-solving initiatives like that to help our staff and teachers thrive. 
• Allowing the teachers and staff to do their work without excess oversight or mandates. They are the experts, I believe in letting them show their expertise every day in creative and fun ways. Certainly there are standards that need to be met, but there are many ways to do that and I think teachers should have the flexibility to adapt lessons to meet their classroom needs.