Amy Norman
Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township school board District 3
Tenure
Term ends
Years in position
Predecessor
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
Amy Norman is a member of the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township school board in Indiana, representing District 3. She assumed office on January 11, 2021. Her current term ends on December 31, 2028.
Norman ran for re-election to the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township school board to represent District 3 in Indiana. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Norman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Amy Norman was born in Chicago, Illinois. She earned a high school diploma from Georgetown Ridge Farm High School, a bachelor's degree from Georgetown College in 2000, and a graduate degree from Anderson University in 2005. Her career experience includes working in marketing, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. Norman has also worked in youth sports for the YMCA. As of 2024, she was affiliated with the Lawrence Township School Foundation, Northview Church, and Advocates of Marion County.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township, Indiana, elections (2024)
General election
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Norman in this election.
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Amy Norman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Norman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My husband and I have lived in the Castleton area for 18 years. All three of our children attend school in the district and our youngest has been greatly served by our special education program. As an involved community member, I coach youth track for the YMCA, instruct Taekwondo, volunteer in my kids’ schools, am a member of Northview Church Binford, and a member of the Lawrence Township School Foundation board as well as a former City of Lawrence Parks Board member.
- Special needs education.- supports for students and staff.
- Fiscal responsibility with tax dollars..
- Relationship building with our community partners and legislators for the collective benefit of our students.
Fixing the Complexity Index funding formula. Mental health support. Increasing pay for educators. Continued college and career pathway expansion. Safety and mental health support.
I look up to various people. First, the life and work of Jesus. He is the Savior and the ultimate example of servant leadership and humility and love. Also, my parents. They were both hard working individuals and my mom
Is a retired public school educator and former school board member. I got to see behind the curtain at the hard work educators do. My parents have enjoyed a 56 year marriage and are a good example to my husband and myself:
The Book of Proverbs in the Bible offers a lot of needed universal advice on wisdom, walking an upright path, and having a right view of our position in life.
Integrity, honesty, ability to look at the entire picture, be a good listener, accessible, humility.
Kindness, empathy, compassion, self control and the ability to look at the big picture.
Governance, not administration of the district. The board exists to create vision and policies and it is the superintendents job to administer them. Also, evaluation, working with, hiring, or if needed dismissing of the superintendent. Being a connection point for residents to the work of the schools.,
A legacy of paying things forward, of leaving my piece of the community I live in better than when I entered it: to teach my children to be good humans. Awards and accolades are great, but how you treat others is more important.
When the Spaceshuttle Challenger went down in 1986. I was in second grade (Mrs Reed’s class at Pinecrest Elementary) and I vividly remember her turning on the television so we could watch. I also remember reading the bios about the astronauts who lost their lives.
Walking beans! Coming from Illinois, my brother and I would walk the soybean fields for farmers and cut down weeds.
The Bible, specifically Proverbs and Ecclesiastes within it. It is great timeless advice on how to live, our place in this world and our relationship to God.
Wonder Woman. She’s tall like me, and I love how she serves justice and kicks butt!
Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison - it’s a great song from my teen years!
Self criticism. I am the hardest on myself and often don’t see myself as positively as others see me:
Governance - setting policy, creating vision, working with and evaluating the superintendent, and keeping the outcomes of the students as our first priority in decisions.
District 3 residents in the Castleton area but also ALL residents of Lawrence Township. Staff, students, parents are stakeholders we serve.
We have and will continue to serve our students and staff by eliminating barriers to learning and access, offering community partnerships as additional supports for needs, improving safety and making the learning environment safe and accessible to students of all abilities, including disability and neurodivergence.
Local business partners and churches are groups I have and will reach out to. They help support the work of our schools, provide resources, and offer employment options.
Good teaching involves seeing the child as a unique and individual learner, providing rigor and/or interventions when needed. Understanding what type of learning style each child responds to and not fitting everyone into a specific learning style mold. I am not an educator so I don’t have experience in which methodology is best. As a board member, we set yearly board goals with a heavy focus on student achievement, test scores, graduation rates etc that are measurable and continue to close any achievement gaps.
I would like to see a continued offering of the arts. Studies have shown that art and music education has direct positive outcomes on learning. Also, I support continuing dual credits with our local community college and universities. Our district has a wonderful CTE program: As a parent, it would be great to get to the point where we can have students earn their Associates Degree by the time they finish high school to: 1 - offset the rising cost of college 2 - provide access to more students for higher education 3 - allow students to be job ready at a younger age with a higher earning potential.
I will continue to work with our state legislators on both
sides of the aisle to ensure public schools receive the proper funding they need. Over 90% of students in Indiana choose public schools and we need to support them. In many communities, the local school
District is the largest employer or one of the largest. Also, I plan to advocate for an adjustment to the Complexity Index funding formula to ensure students with diverse needs and their schools get the proper funds to meet their educational support. I’m a parent and I understand the fears and worries fellow parents have around school safety. I now serve on our district safety committee. Minimizing risk, encouraging students and staff to say something if they see something, installing metal detectors (done) at the secondary schools, approving blue ribbon projects (that have additional safeguards), are many of the policies and procedures I’ve been involved with. Root cause is also an area of focus. Mental health services and behavioral support needs to be addressed.
Continue to ensure we receive grants, funding and community partnerships to provide behavioral and counseling services. Our district already has great partnerships but advocating for more awareness and funding is needed. I will also advocate for this with our lawmakers.
I don’t have a specific one but my daughter and I laugh at all “Dad jokes.”
I don’t currently have any specific policies I would like to change at this time. I will follow what the state legislature presents in their next session because it affects our policies.
Fellow board members, Wendy Muston, Marta Lawrence, as well as Indianapolis City Councilman Nick Roberts.
An environment where everyone feels seen and included. A clean and safe learning environment. staff who care about and recognize the different needs and learning styles of each student individually.
I believe we did the best we could with the situation, information and resources we had at the time. We followed the local department of health guidelines for our area. COVID was such an unprecedented event so it was difficult to address the needs and various comfort levels of the entire community. Continual communication is crucial.
Continue to foster an open dialogue. Always listen to questions and concerns. My three children are students in the district so I have several other parents I interact with on a regular basis through school
Events and clubs.
Continuing to look at a diverse pipeline. We have many English learners in our district so I will continue to support the work of our staff recruiting bilingual teachers and staff. Also, supporting the work of our administration as they provide leadership to our teachers and future leaders. Finally, advocating for public schools and making sure the great work that is being done for students is highlighted so that people understand the true impact of educators.
The budget and financial “grade sheets” should be up to date and available to the public as taxpayers.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
External links
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 19, 2024
