Values
- Sue understands the complexities and challenges with Texas’ broken education funding system. She will continue her fight to reform that system while at the same time ensuring that our district’s limited dollars are maximized for the benefit of our students.
- Sue will prioritize family and community engagement in the education of Houston students by empowering the adults and mentors outside of the classroom that influence their success to be advocates for their own children and the children of their community.
High-quality Educators
- Sue will prioritize policies and practices to recruit, support, develop, and retain highly effective principals and teachers. These educators are the most critical factors in achieving student success in our schools. Every student needs and deserves high-quality teachers in their classrooms every minute of every school day.
High-quality Schools
- Sue believes that ALL kids should have access to a high-quality education. We should not have lengthy waiting lists of students each year competing for a few highly desirable seats through a lottery system. Our school system should respect the district’s long-standing culture with our magnet programs and create more opportunity and equity within that system. At the same time, it should also provide high-quality neighborhood schools so every family can access the educational environment that best fits their child. Our system should include diverse choices that accommodate a wide range of student needs and interests with multiple pathways to success so schools in our district are the first choice for families.
- Sue supports the community schools model, which calls for “wraparound” social services to address social and economic challenges that students face outside the classroom, by seeking out successful partner organizations to provide these services in the place where students spend most of their time – their schools.
High-quality Education
- Sue believes teachers should be allowed to focus on teaching. Our system has turned into something for students to endure, not one designed to develop their full potential and thrive. Parents and teachers need meaningful student assessments, but student learning should not be driven by standardized tests, as skills like application of knowledge, critical thinking, and creative problem solving are critical to their success in college, career, and life in the 21st century.
- Sue will seek innovative solutions that will enhance student achievement, through a collaborative, community-engaged, student-focused process that determines and enacts the levers of change based on best practices to maximize student accomplishment.