Patch Candidate Profile: Morgan Steele For ISD 197 School Board

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MN — This fall, Mendota Heights residents will vote on school board members for ISD 197.

Morgan Steele is one of 10 candidates running for School Board in the Nov. 2 election.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles over the coming weeks.

Are you running for School Board? Contact Morgan Reddekopp at morgan.reddekopp@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate profile and submitting campaign announcements to Patch.

Age (as of Election Day): 36

Position Sought: ISD 197 School Board Member At Large

Party Affiliation: N/A

Family:

My husband, Robert, and I live in West St. Paul with our two daughters. Noelle is 6 and in first grade and Aurora is 3. We have two dogs and a cat and really love our neighborhood and our Somerset community.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?: No

Education:

I have a Bachelor of Arts in French and Secondary Education from Cornell College. I also have a Masters in Teaching with an emphasis in Teacher Leadership from Grand Canyon University.

Occupation:

I just started my 15th year teaching French. I am the French teacher at Richfield High School and I am also an instructional leader there. Throughout my fifteen years, I have taught in both Texas and Minnesota.

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office :none

Campaign website:

https://www.facebook.com/profi...

Why are you seeking elective office?:

I am running for school board to increase transparency in the community and to ensure that opportunities are continuing to be more equitably accessed by all families in 197. I believe it is extremely important that we make pre-k more affordable and attainable for all of our families. There are so many barriers in getting kids into preschool; things like high costs, unreasonable schedules (considering parent work schedules), and transportation can all prevent children from getting the support and learning opportunities that they deserve. If we want to close the achievement gap for students exiting high school, one of the best things we can do is extend the opportunity for early childhood education to all students in 197.

As we are continuing into another year of disrupted learning due to Covid-19, I believe it is our responsibility to our students to break from what has always been done and start backing up our mission statements by truly valuing the individual. There are other metrics we could choose to use for how our students are doing with specific standards. There are other assessments that are more objective (as we know that standardized tests are biased) and policies and practices that we can change and put into practice that will be more equitable for our students. Do we want our students to perform well on a standardized test or do we want our students to have the tools they need to succeed in their lives?

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it:

Continuing equity work and ensuring that programs are accessible and affordable are two of the most important things that we should be targeting, in my opinion. As we look at test scores on the MDE report card as well as proficiency levels for English Language Learners, we can see that there is still work to be done in ensuring that our students are prepared for college and career beyond their k-12 education. I also think that focusing on each individual and on Social Emotional Learning needs to be a priority as we continue to move through a pandemic and unrest due to civil rights violations. The school board should be ensuring that programming is accessible by all families and looking at cost and transportation that can cause participation in early childhood learning to be inequitable.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?:

I feel that I have an in-depth understanding of how the decisions made by a school board affect teachers, students, families and the community as a whole. Over the past several years, I have watched as boards (state and nationwide) have navigated increased pressure from their communities and haven't been as transparent as they can be (legally) which has led to greater frustrations.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency):

I think that a lack of transparency and misses in communication have been some of the larger issues in 197. There are a lot of students and families who feel unheard and unsupported in accessing programming and advocating for their individual students. There is a huge opportunity for more clear communication, including clearly stating what cannot be shared with the community (due to data privacy or legality) and why things cannot be shared.

How do you think local officials are performing in responding to the coronavirus? What if anything would you have done differently?:

I think that 197 has done fairly well responding to coronavirus and mandating masks but wish that distancing and contact tracing were still being done diligently as able.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

In addition to equity and program accessibility, specifically with pre-k, I also think that ensuring that strong Social Emotional Learning curriculum is a part of every grade is important for each individual student.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?:

I have served several communities as an educator and am grateful to learn from students, families and colleagues every day.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Keep students at the center of everything you do and you can never go wrong.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?:

I truly believe that all students can achieve at high levels with the correct levels of support and I really want to help 197 students continue to work towards their goals.