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tylerforsopo
About
tylerforsopo
About
About

What I Believe

Technology in Schools

We are living in a time where the pressures of technology are bearing down on students and schools from all directions: smart phone use during the school day, AI and other tech use in classrooms, and the proliferation of misinformation spread through social media. 

I believe our district needs a comprehensive vision for how to effectively approach all of these tech challenges. Our students and teachers need to be tech savvy, but also have the tools to counteract the dangerous downsides of these new technologies. As a millennial who has grown up with the smart phone and internet culture, and as a parent who is deeply concerned about my son's relationship to these technologies, I am well-situated to build this vision.

School Financing

Our district is at a crossroads, facing multiple constraints. Property taxes are higher than ever, while enrollment is declining, pandemic-era funds are disappearing, and support from state and federal governments are uncertain. All while teachers are stretched thin and struggling with burn out. 

We need a school board that is willing to include students, teachers, and administrators in the decision-making process so we can create the optimal conditions for learning. We also need a school board that understands the details of school finance so they can keep our budget under control for working families and those on fixed incomes. This is a difficult and delicate tight rope that I believe my experience prepares me to walk.

Support and Agency for all students and parents

South Portland schools has become a diverse mosaic of cultures and backgrounds, but we don't feel the benefits of this unless we intentionally build bridges across difference and create space for everyone to be involved in building our school culture. 

I will work to ensure that our leadership, parent groups, student groups, social committees, and all other decision-making spaces reflect the diversity of our student and family body. This only happens when those in power create space and invite in new voices who have been excluded from those spaces, both historically and today. As a school board member I will use every means that I have to do that.

Student Wellbeing and Flourishing

Young people today are more anxious and depressed than ever, despite what feels like years of focus on mental health. 

I will push our district to create a positive, all-encompassing plan for student wellbeing that doesn't just treat the symptoms but gets at the roots of the problem. We need to build a strong, connected community where students feel safe, included, and free to find themselves. 

Having the right mental health support staff in schools is absolutely necessary, but just the bare minimum. To truly promote student flourishing, we need strengthen social ties across social and economic difference, protect LGBTQ and neurodivergent youth, defend investment in the arts, and create spaces for real community building. 

Schools as Democratic Institutions

Schools are not just places to learn math and reading. They are cultural hubs where the habits and values of democracy are instilled in our student body and larger community. 

Now more than ever our democratic norms and institutions are under attack. We need a school board that will defend our schools as places where students learn not just how to take standardized tests, but how to be citizens and stewards of our democratic institutions.