Nanette Kidby, current Stafford County School Board member representing the Garrisonville district, has served the district since 2007. This year, she is being challenged by R. Pamuela Yeung. Previously, Kidby served as a mathematics high school teacher in Prince William County for 21 years. She says her experience and dedication to education makes her a successful school board member.
“Education isn’t what I do, it’s who I am,” says Kidby. “I can bring experience of working on the board and there’s definitely something to be said for that. With that background coupled with my background in business and accounting, I can not only bring the educational experience, the managerial experience, but also the budgeting experience.”
She is focusing her campaign on areas such as teacher retention and pay, overcrowded class rooms, and maintaining modern learning and technology in the schools.
“The biggest challenge facing education in general is bringing in 21st century learning to the classrooms,” says Kidby. “Education sometimes has the tendency to lag behind what’s really going on in the real world and our kids need to have 21st learning skills, tools and opportunities and to be able to leave Stafford County Public School’s doors and be productive members of society.”
Additionally, Kidby says that teacher development and technology is critical.
“Many times our students will come in and they’ll be more technologically savvy than some of our teachers will be,” she says. “We have to make sure that we are all singing on the same sheet of music and that were all staying on the cutting edge to accomplish the skills that are necessarily to stay competitive in the work force.”
Kidby says it is important to realize that teacher pay, retention and classroom size are all elements that are interactive within the school system.
“You can’t look at one without looking at the other,” Kidby says. “One of the things that we have to keep in mind with our teacher salaries is that they need to be competitive with the other salaries in the areas communities in order to be able to attract the best teachers to Stafford County.”
Kidby says Stafford County has gone above and beyond the state guidelines, in terms of class size. However, she says it is important to continue to monitor the class sizes.
“You have to make sure that you build into your budget if a teacher repositions so that you can respond when you have classrooms that are starting to become overcrowded, particularly in elementary schools.”
Kidby says as economic development grows in Stafford County, so will the schools. She says it’s important that the expansion be managed carefully.
“As a school board member, we need to be very aware of the development that’s going on,” she says. “We like to see development in Stafford County if it’s controlled and the infrastructure, in particular to schools, can meet the needs of the community.”
When asked what attributes are necessary to make a successful school board member, Kidby says that it involves a willingness to serve the community and make related improvements.
“You have to be very aware of the needs of the schools system itself and be able to manage those needs of the community and the system together in order to make an effective school board,” she says.
Kidby says her dedication to the board is portrayed in the board’s involvement in the community. She was recently endorsed by the Stafford Education Association.
“We have a made a board that is extremely active in the community and active in day-to-day operations of the schools,” she says. “I can’t begin to tell you of a time we didn’t go above and beyond.”
