Ms. Valerie Rose is running for a school board position with Covington Independent Schools, KY.

Valerie can be reached through email at: rose.valerie88@yahoo.com
(For more detail on the exact questions asked, see the Survey Guide)

TOPIC ESSAY ANSWER MOTIVATION:  I purchased my home in Latonia, Ky back in 2014. I love the Latonia area and living in Northern Ky. When I am out and about talking with my neighbors, I was surprised to hear that most of them have chosen to send their children to Holy Cross, St. Augustine, Scott and Highland schools, instead of Ninth District and Holmes. I would love to see our community confident and proud enough in Covington Schools to want to send their children to their neighborhood schools instead of attending schools out of our district. We are living in some very troubled times. I want to stand up for our children – they are our most precious commodity. ROLE OF EDUCATION:  K-12 education provides the groundwork for children in building their skills (academically and socially) to be successful and responsible adults. Strong academic skills are needed – in math, reading, writing, history, science, music, phys ed., spelling for our children to grow into confident, strong, stable adults. Academics should be handled by the schools. Faith and pride are important as well. Prayer time, quiet time for reflection, the Pledge of Allegiance need to be back in our schools. CRT and sexuality do not have a place in our school system. We need to protect our children. CURRENT DISTRICT ASSESSMENT:  I think we’re headed in the right direction. I understand that core academics have been revamped to ensure all kids within the school district are learning the same curriculum in their respective grade levels. I would like to ensure or children are learning cursive writing – without it, they are unable to read any of our historical documents – they’re dependent on “translation” instead of being able to read and understand them for themselves. We also need to get back to basic math, grammar and phonics. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:  I would evaluate academic instruction by a national level. We all want our children to receive the most comprehensive academic instruction available. I would use age/grade related test scores, compare to national levels to evaluate and identify areas of strength and weaknesses in our school system. TAXING & SPENDING:  I am not in favor of any tax increases at this time. We are being heavily taxed as it is. Money should be allocated for core academics of children as well as providing a safe and healthy learning environment. I think the board should always be fiscally accountable to the public. The public deserves to know where their tax dollars are spent. Our school board owes it to the public to be responsible with budgets. I realize there will be tough calls to make, financially, I will strive to ensure our tax dollars are spent responsibly. CHARTER SCHOOLS:  Charter schools are now funded by KY, there aren’t any yet. My perspective is that they can be a good thing. Parents have more say in the curriculum and the staff of these schools. Having a charter school in and near our district will help us strive to grow in order to give parents a choice. Competition can be a good thing, it keeps us on our toes to do our best. SEL & DEI:  SEL and DEI while they sound and look good in theory can be challenging. No one child should be left to feel inferior or even superior to another. However, when we look at SEL and DEI I think that although they can be helpful, they can be pushed to an extreme. As with anything, logic and common sense need to be utilized with these resources, to ensure we are doing the right thing. RESOURCE ALLOCATION:  Children should be given the same material, and then depending on their skill level, challenged as their competencies grow. Those children who have difficulty keeping up should be provided with assistance. They should be encouraged to perform at their best. School resources should be provided and utilized to best of the staff’s ability for each child, despite demographic groups. STUDENT DISCIPLINE:  Discipline should be consistent and evaluated on each individual circumstance. Children need boundaries in order to learn respect for one another. We should all live by the Golden Rule. Disciplinary actions should be evaluated and escalated dependent on the severity. Criminal harm to others should be a police referral. Children need to learn to accept responsibility for their own actions. I am not a fan of segregating children based on demographic groups or behavioral issues. Disruption of the classroom is unacceptable. All children deserve a safe environment. COVID:  I will say that I was disappointed to see the mask mandates were in place much longer than they needed to be. We also need to protect our children’s health by not promoting them receiving vaccines that are not yet fully FDA approved. ANY ILLICIT PERSONAL CONDUCT:  No to all of these. OTHER THINGS VOTERS SHOULD KNOW:  I am a mother of 3 adult children, ranging from ages 27 to 33. I am proud to say they are all successful and independent adults. I have one granddaughter. I look at her and wish her the best future possible. That is dependent on our educational system. Children are our future. We have the responsibility to mold them into confident, competent, hard working individuals. It all starts in our schools. I have been an RN for the last 37 years. I finished my BSN several years ago. I left the healthcare system not because I wanted to, but because I was forced to. I was fired for not taking the Covid vaccine. I believe medical choices should be personal and not forced. I am saddened how the Covid pandemic has instilled so much fear in our community. Masking does more harm to our health than good. Our children need to be healthy and to be part of a community to learn how to deal with life’s challenges. Instilling them with fear of each other is dividing us all. I want the best for our youth. I will stand up and fight for the health of our children – and staff.