Life running to give back to community

Kym Life

by Charlie Comfort

OSKALOOSA, IOWA- After living and working in the Mahaska community for many years, Kym Life now feels called to utilize her experience in a way she feels she is best fit: serving on the Oskaloosa School Board. Life and her husband Scott Campbell have called Oskaloosa home for sometime, but Life said that she never really got too involved in the community.

“After living and working in the community I feel that it is now time to give back to the community,” Life said.

She added that she wants to see the school district make strides to maintain and improve the education for all.

“I would like to help make this school system on that is attractive to incoming families as well as our current residents,” Life said.

Life said that her strong work ethic is one main reason why she would be a quality candidate for the board. She added that she believes she works well among others.

“I am able to work well with my coworkers in a respectful manner and am able to make difficult decisions that have significant consequences and would be able to make good sound decisions,” Life said.

When asked if she would send her own students to the Oskaloosa School District if she was a young parent moving into the district for the first time, Life talked about personal experience she and her husband hand as they considered whether or not to open enroll their children to different schools.

“When the elementary consolidated, my daughter was a first grader and we did weigh the option of open enrolling to a smaller school as the elementary was a lot larger than the neighborhood schools. Once the move was made, I realized that the class size remained similar to what her old school had been and due to the way the school was designed, it did not seem as large and imposing as I thought that it would,” Life said.

She added that she is pleased she and her husband chose to keep their children in the Oskaloosa School System.

“I spent many hours in her classes as well as my son’s classes, and I am glad that we remained in the Oskaloosa School District as I think that the opportunities that they have had outweighed the concern of a larger school,” Life said.

School discipline has come up in a number of discussion between the school board and in a number of public settings, including the Oskaloosa News School Board Candidate’s Forum. Life said that she believes the district has made a number of important changes over the past year. She cited her work experience in seeing these changes.

“Due to my employment at the Mahaska Emergency Department, I have had direct contact with some of the students who have had behavior problems. I have noted a dramatic decrease in the numbers of children whom I have had contact with over the past year,” Life said.

She also said that changes the district has made regarding where students with behavior issues go has made improvements.

“I know that there have been changes in physical space where behavior modification can implemented as well as the program in the Middle school and this has translated into much better means of dealing with the student behavior and have to think that this is the reason that I have seen the decrease in the number of children that I have seen,” Life added.

Another issue that has dogged the board since 2013 is student achievement, moreover the issue of two differing philosophies on student achievement. Test scores have been discussed at numerous different board meetings and while some board members have embraced those scores and said they show the need for improvement in the district, others have said that while the number may be concerning, they are not the only way to measure student achievement. Life said standardized tests should not be the only way used to measure student achievement.

“There are many methods of measuring this and one test that is not an adequate measure. This may be used as one marker, but I think that you need to look at multiple metrics for a student’s achievement,” she said.

She also talked about the public perception of the board, namely whether the board has taken a few black eyes in recent months. Life said she as a parent does not believe the public image of the school board has been tarnished.

“I am not sure that the public image of the school board has been tarnished. As a parent, I see that the board members have all worked hard to try to solve difficult problems,” she said.

Life added that if she is elected, she will work with all board members to work on sensitive topics.

“If elected, I would strive to continue to work diligently to give every child the opportunity to obtain the education needed to advance them in their further education or careers,” she said.

Open enrollment numbers have also been debated for the better part of a year, with some saying the numbers show a clear disgust with the district. Others have said that the numbers simply show students choosing to leave the district and that nothing bad should be read into those numbers. Life said she does not believe the majority of student who are open enrolled out are leaving for negative reasons.

“I believe that there was a survey that was done this past school year to determine what factors prompted parents to open enroll their children. The results were multifactorial including size of our schools, opportunity for the children to play sports in a smaller school, parental employment in the town that they were open enrolling in, and after school care in the area that could be provided by family members. Some of these factors we cannot change,” Life said.

She added that the board should promote its “positive assets” as a way to attract new students to the district and as a version of good PR for the district.

“We have opportunities that many surrounding schools do now have. We offer classes such as orchestra, many dual credit courses, robotics, bowling, just to name a few. I think that we need to continue to make sure parents and students are aware of these opportunities when they decide were to attend,” Life said.

Life said that she believes voters should choose her over the incumbent, Carl Drost, because she will work well with others to improve educational opportunities for all students.

“I work well with others and want to see our school system be one that is one that is able to offer each child the opportunity to achieve the best education possible and to make sure that they are college or career ready,” Life said.

Kym Life is challenging incumbent Carl Drost for the At-Large seat on the School Board. School Board Elections will be held on September 12. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots can be cast until 5 p.m. on September 11 in the Mahaska County Auditor’s Office. On election day, voters can vote at one of two vote centers, whichever is most convenient. Voter centers will be located at the ISU Extension Office on North I Street or at the Assembly of God Church on Highway 23 South.