Casper, Wyo. — As the Aug. 18 primary election approaches, Tom Kelly is running for Wyoming superintendent of public instruction. He recently answered questions on his candidacy.
Challenges Facing Constituents
Kelly identified two crucial challenges facing his constituents: complacency and recruiting excellent educators. He noted that Wyoming ranks as one of the best states for public education, but still has room for improvement, with roughly one in three Wyoming 8th-grade students scoring below basic in reading and math.
Kelly also emphasized the need to recruit and retain excellent educators, especially when salaries don’t allow teachers to live in the neighborhoods where they work.
Addressing Challenges
If elected, Kelly plans to address these challenges by working with local districts to determine which state policies are making their lives more difficult and assisting to revise those policies accordingly. He believes that educators make the difference with students, not elected officials.
Kelly’s top priority would be to review, revise, and reduce state mandates and regulations on local districts to allow more academic freedom for and innovation from professional educators. Fewer mandates would lessen pressure on districts to keep large administrative staffs and allow more resources to flow into the classroom.
Qualifications
Kelly holds an MA in education and a PhD in political science. He works as the Department Chair for Political Science, Public Administration, and Public Policy at American Military University. Kelly also serves on the Wyoming legislature’s Education and School Finance Recalibration committees.
Prior to his university career, Kelly was a public school teacher and para specializing in social studies and special education. His experience working with teens with severe behavioral and emotional disabilities and his years nursing his daughter through leukemia taught him how to stay focused on the mission at hand without getting derailed by personal attacks or putting his wishes first.
Original reporting: Oil City News (Casper WY) — read the source article.
