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1.) List experiences that will be helpful in fulfilling the position’s duties if you win the Nov. 8 general election.
2.) What do you think are the primary challenges facing your community and how will you lead your school through these challenges?
Amie Fick is seeking her second four-year term on the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. She and her husband, Marlin, have lived in Beaver Creek for more than 23 years, alongside the farm homestead of 60+ years. The couple has a son, Tyler, 14.
1.) Serving on H-BC’s school board is my greatest experience.
•Working with policies, budgets/audits, curriculums, teacher’s union, contracts
•Serving on focus committees: community strategic planning, building and grounds, policy, gifted and talented.
•Played key role in successful financial turnaround of H-BC. I’m mostly proud of taking a $600,000 deficit, turning it into a surplus in under three years — auditors predicted 5+ years for turnaround.
•Lowered tax levy.
We have worked on growing our school with the following:
•Expanded technology, Chromebook laptops for students.
•Updated H-BC curriculum for Ag and other courses, allowing students to compete nationally, increasing achievement scores.
•Wonderful new elementary playground and carpeting.
•Adding teaching staff.
•New buses, updated bus garage.
I’m 110 percent committed to the future of H-BC, making honest, sound, transparent decisions, with a heart for our kids and a promise to work hard for you every day.
2.) Key challenges are financial sustainability and student achievement.
It’s critical to manage dollars so H-BC doesn’t get back into debt. One upcoming project is a new roof for the elementary school that could cost over $100,000. I’m on the building and grounds committee and am very familiar with the processes to help drive the best decisions. With experience, I’m ready to take on this and any other challenge immediately.
I support teaching innovations:
•Giving students planners to organize workload.
•Funding one to one initiative so all students get laptops.
•Investing in curriculum.
•Help teaching staff to focus on high needs students who don’t qualify for SPED.
•Ongoing, current testing to catch student needs faster.
•Creative approaches to education are driven at the board level to support our wonderful staff.
I’ve been proud to serve these past four years being fiscally responsible, while putting students first at H-BC. All kiddos deserve our best.
Blake Wysong is vying for election to the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. He was born and raised in the H-BC School District. A year ago he and his wife, Denise, moved to Beaver Creek with their children Avery Jr. (junior) and Gavin (eighth grade).
1.) I am passionate about our community and the H-BC school district and ensuring we are successful. As a graduate of H-BC, I felt prepared how to learn, deal with and adjust to face whatever challenges and opportunities life would present, and I want that same opportunity for everyone who attends H-BC.
I have been blessed to spend the vast majority of my professional career working with people from all over the world to develop themselves and those around them to grow and be more than they ever thought possible. My passion is to help people be successful, and I view my role as a board member as helping each student and our school to reach the highest level of success possible.
I’ve also had the opportunity to either sit on or participate in countless project teams, committees and boards, so I have a good understanding of how to collaborate with people of varying backgrounds and points of view to help reach the best possible outcome.
2.) A few things come to mind:
•Sustain and/or grow student enrollment and how we best support that through student-teacher ratio, teacher qualifications, specialized learning, facility space and high academic achievement.
•Ensure we remain on a sound financial track and maintain discipline with regard to funding, spending and utilization of available resources.
•Keep up with the pace of ever-changing technology and ensure access for our students.
I will take the time to consistently and fully understand the facts surrounding challenges and opportunities from all points of view and not form opinions or make decisions based on emotion or a narrow serving agenda. Integrity and character are my core values and I will work to ensure the right decisions are made for our school and all who are impacted.
Kari Kueter is seeking election to the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. She and her husband, James, live in Hills, where they have lived for 18 years. The couple has four children: Josh, 16, Kyle, 15, Casey, 12, and Jayden, 9.
1.) I have an early childhood development associate degree that allows me to realize the importance of identifying children early who may have learning issues and prepare them for their school career.
As a childcare provider, it also allows me to see how important it is to communicate with parents.
It is very important that school districts keep people informed on how they are spending taxpayers’ money.
I also have students that attend both the schools, which allows me to stay current with what is happening and see the needs that may be occurring.
I have had the privilege of learning how the board works from my husband and have attended several board meetings throughout the years to see how it operates.
2.) One challenge I see facing our school district is class sizes. Our class sizes are continuing to grow, which is a good thing, but we no longer have the smaller classes we used to. If hiring more teachers isn't possible, we need to look at hiring more paraprofessionals to help our teachers during core classes.
Keeping up with curriculum that is always changing is another challenge but something I believe is well worth the money. Money should be set aside each year to make sure we are giving the kids in our school district the best education possible.
We need to keep up with repairs to our buildings. We need to put a new roof on our elementary school, which is going to cost the district. We need to start discussing how the district is going to pay for it.
Our district has been through a lot over the years. We need to remember, though, that we need to stay within our means and keep saving money. The district's children are worth every penny spent on improving their education.
Karin Moser is seeking reelection to the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. She and her husband, Stuart, who is an H-BC Alumnus, live in rural Beaver Creek where they built a home in the spring of 2005. The couple has four children at H-BC, Samantha (seventh grade), Cody (sixth grade), Jack (fourth grade) and Hailey (second grade).
1.) Being a board member these past few years has been a great experience. I believe I have fulfilled the positions duties from assisting the district through budget cuts, hiring of new staff and successfully getting out of statuary operating debt sooner than planned. Thanks to our local community and your support to the board of education and administration.
Other beneficial experiences are being involved with policy, transportation and community education. Being a part of these committees has given me insight on helping to improve and update policies, vehicles and district community events. I was part of the strategic plan team working with the board, community and administration in helping to establish a district plan and timelines/goals.
I’m dedicated and believe in every student’s highest academic potential and achieving results, allowing them to discover new opportunities and be successful after they leave our doors at H-BC. I think back over the past four years and the great strides this district has made — look where we are today! I’ve learned a lot, made mistakes, but keep striving to do what is best for our students and our district moving forward.
2.) Primary challenges currently faced today are test scores, graduation rates, class sizes, curriculum and tier I-III education.
Currently we have a plan in place to address many of these issues, but yet we need to continually strive to improve upon the overall quality of education. I believe in the importance of honesty and integrity and will welcome criticism, continue to ask questions, expect results, hold individuals accountable and strive for transparency for the best education possible to all our students.
I would love the opportunity to continue to help lead our school through these challenges and be an advocate for education at H-BC.
Tami Rauk is seeking election to the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. She and her husband, Chad, have lived in Beaver Creek for 16 years and have three children, Taryn (eighth grade), Brynn (fifth grade) and Jordyn (preschool).
1.) My professional background and education in the accounting and human resources fields have given me opportunities to work on budgets, financial reporting and analysis, compliance, regulatory issues, and highly confidential information. Having children in preschool, elementary and junior high in the school district gives me a unique insight into the day-to-day happenings at H-BC. I believe being elected to the H-BC school board gives me an opportunity to be a part of continuing to make this district a great place for all children to get the best education possible today and in the future.
2.) The administration and board of H-BC have tackled great challenges in the past 4-5 years and have brought us through a very tough/bleak statutory operating debt situation. Our challenge is to continue that progress. We have a great strategic plan in place that challenges us to make strides in student achievement, give our staff proper training and development to facilitate that achievement, and continue to effectively manage the school district’s resources while always being mindful of how we allocate taxpayer resources. The plan is aggressive while remaining attainable.
I believe the Board's responsibility is to support the administration and staff in achieving those goals for the children in the H-BC school district and showing our taxpayers that their hard-earned dollars are being well spent.
We have outstanding community support here. The elementary playground project is an excellent example of how the community rallies to provide the absolute best for our kids. If elected to the board, I hope to advance the vision that has been laid out while being accountable to the communities that we serve.
Tim Bosch is seeking election to the Hills-Beaver Creek School Board. He and his wife, Trisha, have three children that attend H-BC, Chase, 14, Sawyer, 10, and Hope, 6.
1.) I am a lifetime resident of the H-BC school district. I have worked with and for some excellent businesses in the Tri-State area in the agriculture and construction industries.
I have been an employee and an employer and currently manage the livestock/crop farm that my wife and I own.
2.) I believe that one of the biggest challenges and blessings the district faces is increasing enrollment numbers and the difficulties in staffing that can bring.
I will work to ensure that our students have everything they need to achieve their goals, so that when they graduate from H-BC they will be able to move on and become productive members of their community. This includes providing them with teachers, curriculum, and courses that will challenge them and prepare them for their future.
I would do my part to hire the best possible teachers to educate our students. We must ensure that all students are receiving the instruction and attention they require.