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Personal (Occupation, Education, and Family): Occupation:
Stay-at-home mom and licensed cosmetologist since 2013. Background: Grew up in the metro area, moved all over the Western United States, and proudly planted roots in Marshall in 2021. Family: Mom of two sons (ages 15 and 7) currently attending Marshall Public Schools; married to a wonderful husband who is an immigrant from Egypt.
Why are you running for a school board seat?
I'm running because our schools are interconnected ecosystems, and right now, the legacy structures we rely on aren’t keeping pace with the changing demands of our kids’ future. My background is in systems thinking, looking at how the whole puzzle fits together. I believe deeply that our public systems can and should be built around the dignity of the people who live and work inside them. Society is currently at a specific place in history, asking for a shift in how we support our students, our families, and our educators, and our local district needs to proactively adapt to those changing responsibilities. As a mom of two sons in Marshall Public Schools, I see it from the family side too. I want to bring that relational, big-picture perspective to the board so we can build resilient systems where every student is set up to thrive.
What are the major issues facing the District?
From where I sit, the biggest issue is communication. There are a lot of moving parts changing all at once, and families, staff, and the board can't work through any of them well if we can't talk to each other openly and respectfully. Imagine a parent with a concern who doesn't know who to bring it to, or a family that learns about a change after it's already happened. Good communication looks like the opposite of that. I've seen it work: I've had many conversations with staff at the high school, and together we've solved problems, not perfectly, but to the best of our abilities. That says a lot about the people who spend every day with our kids and how much they care. That's where I'd start, because budget, resources, curriculum, enrollment, and policy all depend on it. I'm not someone who shies away from difficult conversations or opposition, because that's where we learn what matters most to people. I'd like to help design safe spaces for respectful, dignified communication, so those conversations can actually happen.
What are the areas of concern regarding student achievement in the district?
Mental health is probably the most concerning aspect to me when it comes to our kids. I believe the conditions built into a student's daily environment, like heavy workloads, packed schedules, and constant pressure, shape the mental space they need to process information and build achievement. If the system is burning them out, learning suffers.
Do you have specific suggestions for improvement?
Not at the moment no, It will start with me pausing to listen to our community and make sure their voices are heard, and rather than offering a rigid top-down policy change for the board and people, I want to leave anyone reading this with a question -- and I truly hope to get answers for it -: What is the difference between the Marshall school system you wish our district to be and what it is now? As Leonardo da Vinci wrote in Codex Madrid I, “An arch consists of two weaknesses which, leaning one against the other, make a strength.” True improvement in our schools starts when we slow down, acknowledge where our structures are strained, and remember that our strength as a community comes from leaning on one another to build good policy.