childhood happens but once a lifetime

Topics of Importance to Courtney:

- An equitable educational opportunity for each student, which does not mean that every student’s experience is the same

- Developmentally appropriate practices such as behavior expectations and response by adults. For example, Whole Body Listening has been denounced by its creators for actually being harmful for children, specifically those who are neurodivergent, yet it is still being used in our elementary schools

- Protection of recess, specials and unstructured times so that they may not be used as leverage for punishment

- Support for our teachers and administrators as burn out is real and recent budget cuts have removed so much personnel from our schools, such as classroom assistants, who were able to create connected and meaningful relationships with students; as well as how state educational requirements continue to increase which are often directly at odds with the needs of our students

- Community togetherness to strengthen relationships between families and schools. I believe in rolling up my sleeves and doing the hard work, which in this case means creating a time and place for togetherness to happen.  I currently volunteer my time to run two before school programs at my children's elementary school, Play Club and a running club. I am also partnering with the Acton Rec Department to start a Community Play Club to provide a monthly opportunity for community togetherness.

Academic excellence is a core aspect of who AB is as a district. We have many incredible teachers and administrators who work tirelessly for this purpose. I firmly stand behind the belief that when needs are met, excellence prevails. My voice on School Committee would be a great asset because of my deep understanding of what many of those needs are that often get overlooked when studying only the data.