Mr. Samuel Cowan is running for a school board position in District 3 of Jefferson County Public Schools, KY.

Samuel can be reached through email at: samcowan72@yahoo.com

(For more detail on the exact questions asked, see the Survey Guide)

TOPIC ESSAY ANSWER MOTIVATION:  I am a retired public school educator and Principal who wants to continue to make positive impacts in the lives of our children. ROLE OF EDUCATION:  The role is of upmost importance. Quality public schools are essential to all members of society. We must raise educated and conscientious children. The board of education monitors all functions of the school system to ensure this happens effectively. It is difficult in modern days to separate many of the domains that should belong exclusively to parents. I have always believed in teaching character education to supplement the gaps from home. Schools can easily teach loyalty, trustworthiness, honesty, etc. ….which assists parents. These are universal character traits. CURRENT DISTRICT ASSESSMENT:  I plan to review closely the travel expenses of the district. Taxpayer funds should be utilized with great respect. I also plan to review the effectiveness of Project-based Learning through existing student academic data. Last, I would wish to review the culture created by district leadership for school administrators. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:  I would continue to utilize and review school MAP data for every school three times per year. TAXING & SPENDING:  I believe there is waste in professional development travel in the district. I plan to review this effectively. I believe in staying comparable to other like-sized districts in regards to our tax rate. Furthermore, I believe public opinion should always be sought in this area to increase trust and transparency. CHARTER SCHOOLS:  I am generally not in favor of Charter Schools. I would keep an open line of communication on this issue with our community and state department of education. SEL & DEI:  Yes, I support these. As a retired Principal, I am extremely familiar with both topics. These topics are highly effective for staff to improve teaching practices in classrooms. Many children can also benefit from SEL as they come from socially defunct homes. I would evaluate these practices and programs through observation and anecdotal record-taking. A program I started at my last public school was the Leader In Me. It greatly benefited both students and staff….and parents were extremely satisfied with results. I would examine the need for this program in other schools. RESOURCE ALLOCATION:  Simply, every school in our district should have the resources and tools identified by local school leadership teams to increase student learning. Schools with increased funding should be Title I schools and/or ones failing to reach academic goals. Increased funding should come with increased oversight. STUDENT DISCIPLINE:  I believe in Progressive Discipline and its methods. With that, I do believe many of our schools have severe issues relating to the disruption of learning environments caused by unruly and combative students. Many times, students and parents are not held accountable in our schools for poor behavior as well. I would review discipline data as a board member in order to move forward regarding this issue. As a former teacher in an alternative school, I saw first-hand the effectiveness of this type of program. COVID:  I will support making masks optional. ANY ILLICIT PERSONAL CONDUCT:  No. OTHER THINGS VOTERS SHOULD KNOW:  None.