Colfax-Mingo School Board Election Candidates 2023

Name: Kendra Perry

Age: 39

Occupation: Insurance Agent at Shomo-Madsen-Stayner Insurance

1. Please introduce yourself and explain why you are running for school board.

My name is Kendra Perry. I have lived in Mingo for the last 16 years with my husband, Bob. We have 3 kids in the Colfax-Mingo district, Elijah, Evelyn, and Esmeralda in 6th and 4th grade, and Kindergarten. I grew up in Colfax and attended Colfax-Mingo myself, graduating in 2002. My husband, brother and sister-in-law, and I also have 2 businesses in Mingo - Mingo Products Inc and the new Station St. Cycle Shop. I have also worked as an insurance agent in Mingo (Halfhill Insurance) and Colfax for the last 11 years.

Over the years I have been involved in development in Mingo through Mingo Parks and Rec and Mingo Hometown Pride. My husband has also served on the city council in Mingo for a number of years. While growing up in Colfax and still to this day, my family have been part of the Colfax (and Mingo) Fire Dept. and Howard St. Christian Church. So, as you can see, I am very vested in these communities and want to see them prosper and serve their people well. I have strong values to be in service to the community and a passion for doing what is right.I loved my experience at Colfax-Mingo schools and I hope I can assist in making that true for the kids and families that are experiencing it now and in the future.

2. What’s the best quality of C-M schools? What can the district improve on?

One of the great things about our district is the ability for kids to make it any experience they want! No one is going to be left out of any activity they want to try and there’s the ability to be involved in the arts, athletics, and different academics and clubs all at the same time.

We can always work on better communication – with the district families and staff, as well as the community as a whole. I’m happy to see so much positive feedback and enthusiasm for our school with all the excitement of our new facilities and the highlights of those. We’ve had some difficult years where it seems the negative experiences have been highlighted while positive experiences weren’t shared. We’ve really improved at bringing to light what’s going right and part of that is through better communication avenues. That’s something we can continue to improve on while also working on addressing concerns.

3. What challenges do you see in public schools and how do you propose to address them?

We have relied on the schools to be a lot of things and then we also aren’t given the funds to support that. So, that’s definitely a huge challenge. How can we be supportive of the school, our families, and our community, all at the same time, while also making sure we are meeting the main objective of teaching kids? For example, when we have so many more kids with behavior and mental health issues, how to address that so we can move them through that and into thriving?

I don’t pretend to have any silver bullet ideas on how to fix that quickly, but I do think a comprehensive approach is needed where it’s not solely on the school to solve. That’s where we look to partner with others that are trained properly to assist and get creative partnering with our community. We need to make sure families have the things and resources they need as a baseline and we need the support (financial) from the state to be able to fill these gaps and pay for those professionals where needed. It was so nice that we were able to hire additional counselors with COVID money, but that money is gone now and the mental health concerns are still there.

4. Where would you like to see C-M grow?

I’d really like to see us grow in student numbers to start! Our budget and income from the state is dependent on that. Without increases in #s we are limited in what we can do. Once we get there, I would really like to get a middle school building back in Mingo. Both our current buildings are nearly full and looking at bringing a middle school back was part of our long term planning when we started with the new facilities first. The district owns a nice piece of ground where the middle school used to be and the jr. high gym still is. It is ready to build on as soon as we are ready to support it!

5. What is a parent’s role in the educational system?

I think the parent’s role is to be a partner with their kids, teachers, and the district to assure the kids are making progress in their learning and have the tools they need to succeed.

6. What other school issues are you most passionate about?

Social emotional learning. A big part of being a person is learning how to manage your emotions and everything going on around you. This has also been shown to help kids succeed academically when they know how to manage their stress. These skills also help us all understand and treat each other better and are transferable to any path that is chosen after graduation. We have some great staff members that are working on making this learning a cohesive part of teaching at CM.