A Word from the Candidate¹

"Anybody who know me knows that it’s all about the students first, then staff, then the community.

Our district is not where it needs to be and staying in means I could hopefully be able to turn things around. We need new leadership. We need new blood and we need people who are willing to stand up for our staff."

Information About Karen Stokes

• Current Ward 5 Seat A School Board Member

Foster's 2021 Candidate's Questionnaire²

What do you see as the top three issues facing the district, and how can the board address them? 

1- Transparency between the district and the stakeholders.  There have been many RTK 91:a requests from the community in recent years.  It has been discussed that this is an expense that continues to increase.  We need to do better at being more transparent so our money continues to go directly towards student education 

2- Staff Inclusion has been at an all time low.  When you have staff outside of meetings holding signs asking for the board to listen to their concerns, we are not doing our job.  We need to have more of an open door policy for staff to collaborate with the district.  I have always felt that we have the highest quality staff in the area and I am sure they would bring a lot of fresh ideas to the table if invited to join

3- Student outcomes in Rochester for English language in 2016 was 44%.  In 2019 it was 50%.  This is far below the state average of 56%.  Math in 2016 was 44% and in 2019 was 43% (the state average was 48%).  We need to do better for our students.  This is where collaboration with our staff that are working with our students would be instrumental to increase these.  We can't keep making excuses for low outcomes. 

How, if at all, would you work to strengthen the district’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts?

All students should feel safe, included, and accepted in all of our schools.  Teachers need to role model appropriate speech and behavior.  Students are sometimes too nervous or afraid of acceptance if they speak up about words, phrases, or texts that are inappropriate.  When a staff member hears or sees someone making comments about a student's culture, sexual orientation, disability, or other, it is their responsibility to speak up and have that conversation with the student.  This should be done in a respectful, professional way that does not make either student embarrassed.  We should never wait for the student to speak up because if they don't, we as adults are condoning the behavior.  Our job should be to support teachers in this task 

How, if at all, would you work to strengthen the district’s mental health and wellness efforts for students?

The first thing we should be doing is reaching out to people that are experts in the field of mental health and wellness.  Our staff of teachers are educators and may not know how to deal with mental health issues.  We need to be working in collaboration with outside resources that specialize in mental health, homeless, and wellness.  Students who don't know where they are sleeping from night to night, have food scarcity, or don't have access to clean clothes and showering facilities are not going to be thinking about homework or assignments due.  They have adult issues that they need to worry about to survive.  We have agencies that can focus on the family as a whole so that everybody can feel safe, secure, and mentally strong. 

Resources to Learn More About Karen Stokes

Foster's Candidates Questionnaire (2021)