Educator Dr. Jennifer Johnson has an impressive resume.
- English, Reading, Speech, and Theater Instructor.
- High School Principal.
- Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources in the Glendale Union High School District.
- Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction in the Glendale Union High School District.
- Superintendent of the Glendale Union High School District.
- Deputy Superintendent at the Arizona Department of Education.
- Associate Vice President at Grand Canyon University.
Now, Dr. Johnson would like to take her impressive credentials and background and apply that expertise as a member of the Scottsdale School Board.
If elected to the board, Dr. Johnson pledges to work for the betterment of the district’s students and to promote high educational quality in all its schools.
Dr. Johnson graciously took the time to interview with Blog for Arizona and discuss her candidacy for the Scottsdale School Board.
The questions and her responses are below.
Please tell the readers at least two reasons you would like to run for the Scottsdale School Board.
“I always appreciate the opportunity to talk about what’s important to Scottsdale, what’s important to our students, and it’s a great question.”
“I gave it a lot of thought. I believe that everybody who lives in Scottsdale does so on purpose. I don’t think people find themselves here on accident, and many of us, probably most of us, live here because we appreciate the quality of life that Scottsdale affords us. We’re lucky enough to be able to choose to live here, and I think one of the big elements in the quality of life that all of us enjoy is the quality of schools in Scottsdale. There’s a direct correlation between the quality of our schools, the quality of life for our students, and the quality of life that the rest of us also get to enjoy. I operate on the premise that everyone in the community has an opportunity to support students and educators in making our schools the very best they could be. All of us have ways to contribute to make that happen, and so after doing a lot of thinking, I just felt called to lend my expertise and experience to the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board. “
“I’ve spent decades as a professional educator. I started as a classroom teacher. I coached athletics. I coached fine arts, theater specifically. I had always dreamed about being a principal, and I was lucky enough to earn that position. Then I went on to also serve in several roles at the district office, and ultimately, I became a superintendent. After retiring from the superintendency, I became the Deputy Superintendent for Public Instruction at the Arizona Department of Education, and after serving under two different elected state school superintendents, I then went to Grand Canyon University where I was an Assistant Vice President. I worked specifically on behalf of the university to support K-12 schools, specifically in Arizona, but also across the country, and so I’ve gained experiences and skills that I think are critical at this juncture for the Scottsdale Unified School District. I want to be able to help. Those are really important skills and experiences in areas like school budgets and resource management, analyzing student data, school law, human resources, strategic planning, and community relations. All of those areas go into running an outstanding school district, and a governing board member should have experience and expertise in those areas in order to contribute to the team that the board represents. I also have skills that will help me understand the challenges that are coming our way in public education and in Scottsdale. I have skills that help me bring people together to find the very best solutions to those challenges, the very best way to manage the resources of the district, and to continue to ensure high levels of student achievement. I think this is a good fit for me, and I want to be able to use that past experience and the skills that I have to help.”
What are two education-related issues you would promote as a governing board member?
“There are a number of issues, but let me focus on two education-related issues that I would promote. One is academic achievement for all students. I think the district does an outstanding job for many of its students. What we want to be able to assure families and community leaders is that we’re going to maximize academic achievement for all students because our community needs all of our students to grow into productive, great community members and leaders. I think it’s about understanding the academic demands that our students will face as they grow through the system. How do we frame a system that ensures academic achievement? How do we use our resources to provide the right kind of academic achievement? Students learn differently, just like adults, and the system must be able to adapt to a variety of student needs while living within a constrained budget. So, we have to be really strategic and savvy about how we do that. And I want to focus on that, again, using my past experiences.”
“I led a district where all of our schools were A schools, in a demographic area that wasn’t necessarily going to guarantee that A rating. We worked really hard to build important systems, and I want to continue to help Scottsdale refine the work they do to make sure all students are learning.”
“Secondly, I want to promote productive community engagement, specifically as it relates to career readiness. I think productive community engagement is the hallmark of an outstanding world-class school district. This district is rich in all kinds of resources, so engaging the community is a really positive thing to tap into the leadership, the time, the treasures, and the experiences the community members have. As we think about K-12 education as the launching pad for productive career pathways for our students, there are community members who can help us frame what the employees of tomorrow will need, what the emerging career pathways we should be preparing students for. Not specific jobs necessarily, but helping students explore career pathways, figure out what they’re good at, and how can they develop those skills into viable careers in our community. I think part of that happens in school during the school day. Lots of it can happen outside with internships, job shadowing, you know, guest speakers. There’s a long list of ways that we can leverage community engagement to make sure our kids are really ready for the next step after they graduate from our high schools.”
What are two reasons you would be a better fit for the Scottsdale School Governing Board than any of your opponents? Please explain.
“Obviously, I have confidence that I would be a productive, positive teammate for my board colleagues. One is the decades of experience and expertise and skills that I have developed as an educational leader. I’ve talked about those; I’ve worked at virtually every level of education in Arizona.”
“I also am the board chair for a statewide non-profit, School Connect, that works in this area of community engagement, helping school districts and individual schools build these community resources into a village of support for students. I think that is important. So, it’s partly my educational experiences and those professional opportunities that I’ve had, but also as a non-profit leader, understanding how to identify and leverage other non-profits, faith communities, parents, people that don’t have kids in school, all the different facets of the community.” “How do we bring those together? I have that direct experience.
Secondly, I’m the parent of two sons. My husband and I raised them here in Arizona, and they are wonderful young men, very productive, loving, wonderful kids, in part because of the nurturing they also got in public schools. I have tremendous respect for parents and the support that a solid school district can provide parents as they identify the strengths of their students, the challenges they’re facing, and the dreams they have for their children. I understand from a parental perspective what I think people expect from a school district, and I think I can help bridge that communication. But also, because my kids are raised, I represent the demographic that lives in Scottsdale that doesn’t have kids in school. About 70 percent of the people that live in Scottsdale don’t have kids. Either they haven’t had kids yet, their kids aren’t old enough to be in school, or their kids have aged out of the K-12 system, or they may have retired to Scottsdale and never had kids in our schools. Nonetheless, that 70 percent of our demographics is a really important part of our community, and I think that we can do a great job in helping that 70 percent of the people who live in Scottsdale who may not think they have any connection or reason to care about what happens in schools, and I want to have conversations with them and work with them to identify ways that bring meaning to them and meaning to our students and bring them together. I really look forward to conversations with people that you might not think of as cultivating active supporters for the school district. We have a lot to offer our kids, and they need every single one of us to be supportive so that they can maximize their potential.”
As you know, some school boards, they have had eventful meetings where you have representatives of organizations like Moms for Liberty and others who advocate, for example, certain reading lists, changes to science and history curricula. How would you function as a board member if confronted with people with representatives of organizations like that?
“Well, I think it starts with basic respect. I’m always conscious of the fact that our students are watching adult behavior. That’s how they learn to be adults, is by watching the people around them. So, certainly as a board member, but just as a human being, I always try my best to be very respectful.”
“I understand that there are differing perspectives and differing priorities across our community. I think it starts with respectful listening in a way that helps you understand their perspective and their experiences. I also believe that because of my training and education and experiences, I have a pretty good feel for the things that work well for kids based on research and experience.”
“Third, I would say that I think I’m pretty good at finding common ground, even though we have a wide variety of opinions and perspectives. I want to bring us together to find the things that we do agree on, and for the things that we don’t agree on, we may come to a point where we just have to agree to disagree. There are state laws, federal laws and district-level policies and practices that we have to recognize in the conversation around a variety of issues. At the very least, we can be respectful of one another, seek to understand each other’s perspectives, find common ground whenever we can, and then always stay committed to what we honestly believe is best for all kids.”
Please describe at least two ways you and your team will reach out to voters and convince them to support you, particularly voters that do not vote generally down ballot. How will you remind them to vote for the school board candidates?
“That is a really important issue, and on a ballot like the one we’re going to see in November, there will be lots of elected offices on the list. There will be several ballot propositions for people to wade through. So getting all the way to the end of the ballot certainly is something worth reminding our voters about. I guess on a light note, I’d ask you to start at the bottom and move up.”
“I think it’s going to take a multifaceted approach. Certainly, there are traditional ways with signage, social media, mailings, where I can highlight what I think my strengths are and why I’m working hard to earn their vote. I think that we do have to make a conscious effort to ask them to read all the way through the ballot and to do whatever we can to answer any questions that they have before they cast a ballot. I think one of the other ways that my team and I will be helping voters understand all their choices and to vote all the way down the ballot will be just being out in the community in a very literal, personal, face-to-face sort of way. I am eager to meet as many people as I possibly can as I visit different areas in Scottsdale and I meet with different groups. I meet with individuals. I’m willing to have conversations about the campaign and about the issues and about why it’s so important. Many of us get really frustrated at national politics for one reason or another. We also feel frustrated that we can’t always do something about our frustration because the source of that frustration seems so far removed from where we are. A school board is very close. It’s in our backyard, and the choices that we make about who leads the school district, who makes those decisions about things like school district budgets and resource allocation, and how well the district works with parents and how much our students are achieving and enjoying school and celebrating their special talents in art and music and athletics. Those kinds of things we have a much closer arena of control over. You can go to a board meeting and talk directly to your elected officials. You can reach out to them all the time, and they’re responsive. So I think part of it is helping people understand that voting for those offices that may be down the ballot are in fact some of the most important decisions they’re going to make because that’s where they have real influence. Their voices are heard in a very real way, and we can come together to make sure that all of the students in Scottsdale prosper in the way that they deserve.”
“You know, somebody took good care of us as we were all going through school. We’ve enjoyed successful careers. We live in a great place, and I think the kids that are sitting in school today just want that same thing from us. They want real people who actually care about them and the things that they face at school and the successes that they enjoy at school, and to celebrate teachers who are working really hard. I’m eager to learn from the community, from different parts of the community, about how we can do this thing called school to the very best of our ability on behalf of kids. We ask them every day to meet challenges, to work hard, to show up, to be respectful. All the things we ask kids to do every day at school, and I think adults should be good positive role models about those same kinds of things. Do we listen? Are we kind? Are we respectful? Do we do our best? Do we try hard? Do we show up? And a governing board election is one of the places where we can model that kind of positive behavior for kids.”
Is there anything not covered in the previous questions you would like the readers to know about you and your candidacy for the Scottsdale School Board?
“I hope readers will visit my campaign website jennifer4susd.com to find out more about my background and the things that I want to promote as a governing board member for Scottsdale Unified School District. They can also follow me on Facebook at jennifer4susd.com. And again, I look forward to meeting with groups of people. Whether you have kids in school or not, you have an influence in the success of our kids. They all want to be successful. They all want bright futures. They want to be happy and healthy, and they want to know that the community they live in cares about them. I think the next few months will be really important to have those kinds of conversations about how we make that happen for our kids. What are the best ways for us to meet the challenges that are headed in our direction, and how can the board work together as a cohesive team to make the very best possible decisions for kids? So, I am excited about meeting new people, learning about their perspectives and their ideas, and helping to share the kinds of thoughts I’m having about the board and what we can do together to help kids. Anything that they can do or any questions that they might have, again, they can follow me on Facebook. They can check out my campaign website, and I appreciate this opportunity. Thank you.”
Please click here to find out more about Dr. Jennifer Johnson and her candidacy for the Scottsdale School Board.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.