(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) With less than two weeks until the April 8th election, KQ2 continues the candidate profiles for the St. Joseph School District Board of Education as they answered a list of questions ahead of the election.
Here are the full answers from candidate Jennifer Kerns:
SR: Why are you running for the school board?
JK: I'm running for School Board because I have been on the sidelines pretty much doing the PTA and advocating for our students and our district and our teachers and our staff for several years now. I've kind of been that voice of the Para-strong voice, and I'd like to bring it to the table. I'd like to go in with my decisions being, student advocacy, teacher and staff and retention, retainment, and community and family engagement.
SR: What are the biggest concerns facing the district?
JK: The biggest concern to me is the academics. Of course, you know they're slowly getting better, but we are still underperforming on the academics. So I think we need to address that first before anything else.
SR: Why should people vote for you?
JK: With everything I've done in this community, I think people see my track record. I've been that big voice for the community. I've been for the students and for the families, for the parents and for teachers, staff and community. I have no problem saying it louder and clearer and bring it to the table. And I want to be there to do that.
SR: What do you believe students need the most?
JK: Accountability. So enforcement of policies that we have with our academics, they need clear expectations of what their academic performances should be. And addressing the policies and making sure they're enforced.
SR: How do you plan on moving the district into the future?
JK: I would like to see you businesses and professions and families that want to move here. So in order to do that, we have got to make our school district, a desirable School District for the them to come in. We have tons of people that live out of town and they work here. I'd like to see them bring their families here to stay and grow our community together. But we have to start with our school district.
SR:Proposition 2 will be a major issue in April, how do you feel about Prop 2?
JK:So we all know we need change. I mean, that's just a fact for us, we do need a change here. I'm going to support whatever moves us forward, so if we get that new school. I would really like to make sure we have all stakeholders on board, so in the right committee, so we don't miss anything. We don't just build another school. We build something great for our kids and facility wise. But if it does fail, which I mean it could, I would at least like to see us go on and renovate what we have, and then make something that our kids will be proud of. They all say they're sports complexes. They want new sport complexes. Let's make them like a field house or something for them to be proud of.
