Candidate for Maplewood Richmond Heights Board of Education, Dale Chambers, shares his thoughts about running for the school board.
Hello! I’m Kenneth (Dale) Chambers, and I’m honored to be running for a position as a Director for the Maplewood-Richmond Heights School Board. My family (son Calvin, wife Jackie, and I) chose MRH schools twelve years ago, during a time of major change and growth for the district. In those years—from preschool to high school–we’ve experienced every campus in the district. We’ve travelled many a mile together with faculty and staff (including a lot of literal miles on capstone and expedition field trips!).
MRH has more students today than at any point in the last 25 years. As our student population grows, we have to make sure we can continue to provide the caring, personalized, equitable, and high-quality instruction that has attracted so many families, including my own, to MRH. Being part of the MRH learning experience has been amazing, and I am a passionate advocate for the district’s continued success. I feel confident in understanding both the history and the future direction of MRH activities—in addition to being an involved parent, I’ve regularly attended MRH Board meetings (about half of them over the last five years).
The voices of teachers, students, parents, and community are essential to shaping our district’s future. Having listened to parents and other community members about their vision for MRH, I will work to:
- Ensure educational equity to support student achievement. Every student should have the support and resources to be successful.
- Continue to develop and recruit professional staff. Successful teachers support successful students.
- Prepare for changing educational and community needs. We need new plans for our district’s future that address population growth, students’ evolving instructional needs, and facility and equipment updates.
Professionally, I have experience in project planning, meeting facilitation, and instruction across all ages—these experiences give me tools to help support conversations throughout the MRH community. I have worked for more than a decade in community-focused emergency response and planning. I can provide a voice of experience and leadership as the district embarks on a long-range effort to update and enhance safety and security in our buildings, along with working to sustain our district’s uniquely welcoming and open learning environment. All MRH students and families should feel welcome, safe—and heard!
I would very much appreciate your support, and would love to serve our community and our schools as a Board member. Please reach out to me if you have questions or concerns. You can find me on Facebook at facebook.com/daleformrh or by email at [email protected]
I regret I haven’t written this sooner but in case there are those that are undecided I wanted to speak up and say a good word for Dale. I don’t want to diminsh any of the other candidates as I know them all and know each would do a great job in this capacity. I believe Dale, especially, would be an excellent addition to our existing Board of Education. He has the benefit of years of experience and interaction with each of our schools that will serve him well in this role.
When I served on the Board a few years ago, Dale would often be in attendance in the audience observing and forming the foundation that is needed for this service. I connected well with this as this is how I found myself in service both on the Board and on the Maplewood City Council. Like Dale, I attended the meetings just to become familiar with the things that were going on in our district. Running for office was not what was motivating me.
But as is often said, the most important thing is to get out and VOTE!
Thank you Ray
Dale would be a nice addition to the MRH School Board! Collaborative, analytical thinker who has a broad view of our district and time to commit to moving the goals of the district forward! Good luck on Election Day, April 2nd!