In the upcoming election, Lee County residents will have the opportunity to fill three contested seats. Seven candidates are currently vying for those seats -- two incumbents and four challengers.
In this seven-part series, we've asked the candidates specific questions about the too-often-overlooked segment of our population: elementary schools. Have a follow-up question? Leave it in the comments and we'll get it answered!
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Candidate: Kimberly Lilley, contender
Question: Many parents were upset earlier this year when the district chose to use Saturday make-up days rather than the ones built into the calendar. What is your stance on adhering to the calendar? How would you correct or improve upon LCS’ calendar policy?
Per the guidelines for inclement weather as stated on the LCSS website: “8 days should be designated as make-up days for inclement weather.”
(Link)
I believe parents have a right to be upset regarding the Saturday make-up days. We should have used one of the 8 days built into the calendar. I believe adhering to the calendar is important for the school system, for parents to plan family time and activities for their children, and for teacher preparation. I am not sure of the protocol used for determining if Saturday was the best use of everyone’s time but it would appear that the parents, students, and teachers were not considered.
The link below provides the full board policy for the calendar year. (
Link)
“The superintendent has the authority to designate Saturday as a make-up day in lieu of, or in addition to the use of designated make-up days. Saturday school can only occur during a week where there are 4 days of school for students. When possible, the make-up day will be the Saturday of the same week in which the day was missed.”
As we can see from the above statement, the only time a Saturday make-up day can be used is in the same week the students miss a day for inclement weather. Therefore, Superintendent Moss and others chose to use these days because they have authority to do so.
Improvement for the policy: If we are going to use a Saturday as a make-up day, this should be stressed at the beginning of the year when the calendars are published, re-emphasized as weather changes occur to remind parents that this is a possibility and, above all, make the decision early or the same day the school is closed.
Furthermore, I would not have chosen to use Saturday for the make-up day but would have utilized the built-in days to be considerate of family activities and teachers the opportunity to have appropriate time for their own families.
As a side note, it appears that the Saturday make-up day was added since this current administration's tenure.
Question: Many parents of elementary-age students are choosing alternative education options, such as the local Montessori school and homeschooling. Would you encourage a partnership (curriculum sharing, workshops, etc) between the public schools and these families? Would you support a public Montessori option?
I am a firm believer that public school training is not for everyone. My personal reference comes from my own family. My younger brother has chosen to homeschool his children, my children have been in private school education in their elementary years and public option after second grade, and my oldest brother has chosen the public option. I believe it is every parent’s right to make choices that benefit each child because every child is different.
I am in support of a partnership of curriculum sharing, workshops, etc between the public school system and homeschool. Every person who lives in Lee County is a taxpayer. Therefore, sharing what is available should enhance the availability of knowledge and make a cohesive community to become stronger.
The information I have gathered regarding Montessori schools indicates that individualized learning programs are established for each child and this program works based upon the child’s desire to complete tasks at a pace appropriate for their maturity of age, etc. I need additional information on statistics to determine if I can support a public Montessori option. At present, I do not have an answer for this question.
Question: In an era when there are more communication options than ever before, many parents still complain about feeling cut off from their children’s teachers and school administrators. How would you resolve communication gaps? Would you encourage better and more reliable use of technology (email, websites, etc) as part of the solution?
If we are going to compete globally with other schools, we must be prepared in the technology arena. Therefore, I am an advocate of teacher web pages, posting weekly homework schedule and daily routine online for parents to review and assist their students at home who may have failed to write assignments in their agendas.
How many phone calls do we receive in a week about events happening at the schools? I believe email communication is an acceptable form of communication. I believe the phone call communication should be used for emergency type information.
Many times, we receive information from progress reports that is halfway through a grading period often is too late to identify and correct issues. The biggest asset about web access is the availability 24/7. The down side would be additional administrative tasks assigned to teachers. If the homework schedule, etc, is kept in a Word document; cutting and pasting information would be most effective for webpage updates.
Question: Programs like STEM have been highly effective in the upper grades. What innovations would you spearhead or support for use in the lower grades?
First, before I could spearhead or support [programs] for lower grades, I must be voted on the board. With that being said, I would like to see a parent ad-hoc committee at each school (approximately 5 members or so that represent all ethnicity within Lee County) and one representative from each school reporting to a combined ad-hoc committee to work alongside the board of education to assist with information for board decisions, when necessary.
Question: Many candidates all across the country are turning to social media to connect with voters and constituents. Are you currently using any social media (such as Twitter, Facebook, or blogging) and if so, would you provide the link to your site(s) so that we can share those with our readers?
I am using Facebook page –
Vote Kimberly Lilley for Lee County BOE, a webpage
www.lilley4boe.com, and email (klilley4boe@windstream.net).
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Come back tomorrow to see how other candidates responded to these questions!
Shannon Gurwitch's responses.
Dana Wicker Atkins' responses.
John Bonardi Jr.'s responses.
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