Cindy Cummens
Elections and appointments
Personal
Contact
Cindy Cummens ran for election for an at-large seat of the Cave Creek Unified School District in Arizona. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Cummens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Cindy Cummens earned a high school diploma from Elk River High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1973. Her career experience includes working as a nurse. Cummens has worked as a flight nurse for Air Vac, as an adolescent chemical dependency counselor for Hazelden Treatment Center, as a district school nurse, as a cardiac cath lab manager, and in electrophysiology for General Electric Healthcare.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Cave Creek Unified School District, Arizona, elections (2022)
General election
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cindy Cummens completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Cummens' 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 Cave Creek for 35 years. We have 3 sons that graduated from Cactus Shadows High School and now all 5 of their children are attending public school in our district. I've been attending school board meeting, learning the challenges and opportunities facing our schools over the past year, Attending these meetings helped me see how many different perspectives parents, teachers, classified staff and community members have when viewing out district. Understanding the board's responsibilities and impact led me to the decision to run.
- Striving to retain certified teachers while attracting new hires is the backbone of public education and we need to make that our priority.
- Maintaining current enrollment with growth that is merited by the educational opportunities the district provides needs to be our focus in the public school arena where educational choice has become so competitive.
- Understanding the districts total financial environment, monitoring appropriate use and oversite is a paramount responsibility of all school board members.
I find it imperative that we offer higher education opportunities for all students not just college preparedness. Advanced technical training, apprenticeship programs and other career pathways available with the life skills needed to achieve these opportunities in the future.
ICU Critical Care nurse - adult and pediatric open heart specialist for 9 years
The school board must first and foremost be apolitical meaning that any personal ideology must not be part of policy, curriculum or financial decisions make on behalf of all the children in the district. Working together with the Superintendent of Schools to maintain these goals.
All the residents of the Cave Creek Unified School District.
Every child is different and have different ways they learn most effectively.. This is a daunting task for any educational system. We need to maintain programs that meet these needs from special education, gifted platforms, the arts, STEM, and the list goes on while always providing the basic principals of education.
Having attended the school board meeting for over a year was what opened my eyes to how little I knew about public education and where it was going. If I knew so little then the general public was probably equally as uninformed therefore getting accurate information out is imperative to building and maintaining community confidence and support in the education the district is providing. Presenting that public education is "not" perfect so when a problem is identified what the approach is put in place to correct it is important for parents especially and the community to understand. Encouraging attending school board meeting or viewing the meeting via You Tube. Making sure access to the school board web site is known as a go to for accurate information around policies, curriculum and esp for viewing financial distribution and audits.
Financial constraints are always present in funding all the educational programs, salaries for certified and classified staff as well as maintain and operational. expenses. Working to pass the Override on the ballot in our district has been a focus since the board approved it placement on the ballot. Working to make sure our Legislators understand how important the educational funding they control is to the overall educational sustainability of public education and that underfunding our public schools effects all aspects of Arizona's economy.
State and national test scores have been the gold standard for measuring the success of education but not having the critical thinking and problem solving skills to apply this knowledge is hard to test for but crucial. The future of technology and the application in the classroom is endless and exciting where it will take the next generation. Because of this we will need to make sure that the financial funding we need to expand these programs is part of the equation.
Physical safety by maintaining surveillance equipment state of the art and access to knowing who has access to being on campus at all times is a given. Routine drills for emergencies so all staff and children know how to respond quickly. Making sure that see something - say something is encouraged.. Employing safety officers on campus.
The ratios of counselors to student can not be compromised. .Board approved student programs that teach life skills and approaches to coping with behavioral and emotional issues.
I've met with the PTOs in the district to introduce myself prior to the election and will develop a listening policy with them moving forward should I be elected. Parents need to feel like they add value to the educational process because as good as the teacher is the support and reinforcement from the parents is key. So when we have events we should make sure we thank the parents not just teachers for making our educational excellence possible.
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 October 10, 2022
