| 1) Fiscal Effectiveness: Collaborate with the community to create a forward-thinking, fiscally creative, and responsible district.
2) Empowerment of all Stakeholders: Enhance a culture that supports, respects, and listens to the community, parents, teachers, staff, and students.
3) Instructional Excellence: Support a vision and strategic plan for instructional excellence characterized by challenging coursework leading to a competitive advantage for our children. Emphasize developing character, citizenship, and quality reasoning skills.
4) Direction and accountability: Provide employees with a sense of achievement and purpose and help to make Thompson the district of choice for educators and families.
Our district needs a powerful, transparent strategic plan that is inspiring, creating a sense of urgency and establishing strong internal accountability. I support a district that is driven by a common purpose, values and goals that are clear and compelling rather than guided by disconnected managerial directives. For success, our building principals and staff need the resources and flexibility to reach success.
- Specifically, we need a collaboratively build strategic plan that establishes:
- clear priorities
- an explicit understanding of what is to be accomplished by employees and the community
- a high level of agreement across the organization on the norms and values that guide the work
- an ability to monitor and measure progress
- a filter and criteria for making decisions
- full and open access to data on costs and success of tactics
Why am I running for School Board?
This is all about our children and providing them a high-quality education in a safe and supportive environment. By serving the community on the School Board, I will have the ability to set the tone for district administration and turn our values into accountable action. There needs to be a strong commitment to our children and strong board leadership, which I can provide. Educating our children and young adults is a passion of mine. I have spent the past 25 years serving as an educator and I have a deep understanding and appreciation for the importance of a strong education system for not only the direct benefit to the students and their families, but for the health of the overall community. It is frustrating and painful to see our district struggle. We struggle to raise student achievement. We struggle to develop a positive and inspiring work environment. We struggle to win the support and confidence of the larger community. I don’t think it must be this way.Yes, the district is facing difficult fiscal challenges that need to be addressed, but there are still opportunities to succeed and become a district of choice.I believe there are ways the school board can guide the district to rethink systems and approaches that can lead to success. We have some great people currently on the school board, and great people working in the district. The intentions and goals are right. Many good things are happening in the district, but we are not where we want to be.We can get there though. We can create and deliver a strong vision of our community’s educational future. I am running for School Board to be part of creating solutions and doing what is in the best interest of our community.
Why should I get your vote?
To preserve what is great about our district and to overcome the current challenges requires board members that deeply understand all aspects of education. This understanding enables board members to ask the right questions and to understand the system-wide implications of decisions. School Boards should have broad diversity of members that is able to represent a broad community. It makes sense though to have at least one Board Member with extensive experience and knowledge of education. With this knowledge and experience I would not be dependent on others to feed me what to believe and how to vote. I can create meaningful discussions and vote independently. This is what makes me an ideal candidate. I have 25 years of educational leadership experience at every level from pre-school through post-secondary. I still do educational consulting that exposes me to educational practices across the country and even internationally. I do deeply understand education and have a proven track record of educational leadership success. I also have the right disposition to be an effective board member. I don’t get shaken by negativity. I feel no need to do this for personal power or a personal agenda. I am comfortable with my untainted motives to help this district and community. All this keeps me free of negative influence and allows me to be fair-minded and focused.
Ethical Campaigning
I believe the political environment and behavior locally has mirrored much of what we have seen at the state level and national level. We have seen campaigns not about the issues and how candidates can serve their communities well, but about negativity and tearing down opponents. Already in this campaign, before I even have a formal opponent, there has been talk about smearing me and my campaign because I am viewed as too much of an independent and not part of the “club”. I commit to running a positive campaign. I will highlight differences in thinking between myself and any opponents but I will not attack them personally or engage in behind the scenes negativity. I will also be honest and forthcoming about myself and how I will serve as a board member. I would rather lose the campaign running it ethically, then to win an unethical, negative campaign. This is how we retain and enhance trust and confidence in the School Board.
Charter Schools
I support public school choice and recognize that charter schools are one of the avenues to provide parents and students with a choice and provide an opportunity to improve student engagement and achievement. Once charter schools are opened they are, in fact, another public school of the district that serve our children and should be supported to ensure high student achievement. Their operation can not be unconditional and disconnected from the larger school district. I support public charter schools that are opened to provide an educational option not currently available in the school district or planned on being made available. These schools should be considered a part of the larger district and work in full cooperation with the district. Charter schools should be held to the same level of accountability as other district schools and are transparent fiscally and in their operations. Charter schools should be supported with funds that do not divert funding from non-charter public schools creating inequity and hardship. They should prohibit discrimination and ensure access for all children and provide adequate support for all students to succeed. Charter schools should also operate under the current laws guiding the separation of church and state. Charter schools that can't operate to these standards should be challenged by the community and make appropriate changes. I do not support charter schools that are run by entities that seek a profit.
Why did I leave the district three years ago?
I had spent 22 years in education, 19 as a school administrator. I put my heart and soul into each position, often taking on the most challenging situations. I reached a point of feeling burned out as well as believing my philosophies and values were not sufficiently aligned with the direction of the district. I left the district to regain balance in my life and allow myself time to reflect on the current state of education and how traditional educational approaches that are not being successful can be challenged in a positive, meaningful manner. When this opportunity to run for the school board presented itself, I became excited and knew this was an ideal way to once again serve the community by improving our school district.
Does Paul support Private School Vouchers and/or Tax Credits?
I advocate for the improvement of public education for all children. Public education has been and will continue to be essential for a strong economy and democracy. I do not believe funds should be diverted to any private school choice option and/or voucher system. I oppose any kind of voucher system for public or private schools. I oppose tax credits for those attending private schools. These approaches will contribute to perpetuating economic and racial divides that exist within our school system. I can't support decisions that increase racial segregation, reduces diversity, and widens divisions within our community. Our public education system was designed to be a public good for democracy and to benefit everyone that will later serve as productive citizens. Public education should not be altere to become a private business for private consumption that in the end rewards the 'haves' and punished the 'have nots'.[4]
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Paul Bankes (unopposed)
