Holly M. Terrill, candidate for 259 school board District 6 in Wichita, KS
Note: Anyone who lives in the Wichita school district can vote in this race.
Name: Holly M. Terrill
Age: 39
Occupation: Director of Member Support Services, leading the contact center and interactive services teams at Meritrust Credit Union
Previous government service: N/A
Have you run for office before? (Please list any previous offices sought)
This is my first attempt seeking an elected position.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it?
I am a proponent for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives that support individuals with disabilities, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community. This drive to stand up for people whose voices and needs are often ignored is what led me to run for office. I would like to focus on providing resources and education to teachers, paras, and administrators to ensure they understand the different needs of students to create a welcoming, affirming, and equitable approach to education. In addition, I’d like to provide educational and mental wellness resources to students to ensure they know that they have value. Sometimes the most important thing an adult can do is to affirm that a child is exactly where they need to be regardless of where we believe they should be.
The board’s actions have been dominated this past year and a half by the response to the COVID-19 issue and the policies surrounding it. Please outline what you feel needs to be done to protect our children at this point, and specifically address whether you think a mask mandate for staff and/or students is necessary now. Why or why not?
I believe it’s important to trust the science surrounding the COVID-19 virus. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends universal indoor masking for all students, staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. According to the CDC, vaccination is the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing regular testing and access to vaccinations can help schools continue to maintain in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
The district has invested millions of dollars during the pandemic to create the capability of equipping students for remote learning. Now, the state Legislature has prohibited school districts from offering that option to parents on an ongoing basis. Do you agree or disagree with that decision by the Legislature? Why or why not and what, if anything, do you intend to do about it?
Students benefit from in-person learning but there should be an option to utilize remote learning in situations such as quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure or when schools have to close unexpectedly, like they did recently when the city water main ruptured. Remote learning isn’t ideal, but to remove the option for learning when students are unable to be in class sets students up to fall further behind. There have been several schools outside our school district that were forced to close because of the high numbers of students and staff out due to infection/exposure and these students were not getting access to an education of any kind. We do not want this to happen to our students in USD 259. Unfortunately, the best thing we can do is to petition our legislature to reconsider their stance on providing remote learning opportunities when it’s necessary.
Campaign website:
Facebook page and/or Twitter handle:
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Holly-Terrill-for-School-Board-101164175534602 Twitter handle: @holly_terrill