Baxter School Board Election Candidates 2023

Name: Christina Roby

Age: Over 18

Occupation: Mom, wife, homeschool teacher and business owner

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

My name is Christina Roby. I am a mom to three kids, a wife to Jerry, a co-owner of The Hideout in Baxter and am a homeschool teacher to our youngest two. I am running for school board because I want the best education possible for all the young people in our district. I want to make sure the teachers are able to provide that education without being weighted down by all the standards and expectations from Washington D.C. I want to make sure that the school is spending tax payer dollars responsibly and aren’t burdening the tax payers with higher taxes every year.

2. What’s the best quality of Baxter schools? What can the district improve on?

The best quality is the uniqueness of a kindergarten to twelve grade education in one building. We have teachers that have taught and lived in the area for a number of years; they are passionate about the kids and care about them greatly.

I feel the district can improve on telling Washington D.C. “no” on all their ideas. The town and area of Baxter knows what’s best for their school and the students, not a bunch of unelected bureaucrats sitting in D.C. The district can improve on how they spend the tax payers dollars.

Times are tough financially and tax payers are continually burdened with higher costs. It’s time to find creative solutions to problems and not just throw more money at trying to solve them.

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

The biggest challenge is the unions, lobbyists and special interest groups telling every public school what they need to teach and how they need to teach it. Whatever happened to focusing on the basic and most important aspects of education: reading, writing and arithmetic? So many good teachers are overwhelmed with all the metrics that the federal and state government expects them to cram into teaching along with what the students really need to learn. Teachers aren’t able to promote the classroom discipline they use to and instead, in many instances, the inmates run the asylum. Public schools have lost sight of what is really important; teaching kids how to love learning, how to think logically for themselves and how to pursue their passions to become a contributing member of society.

I propose to address them by asking questions. I want to know if the requirements and expectations are really necessary, if they help the students with their education, if they help the teachers with teaching and if they are a responsible use of the tax payers’ dollars.

4. Where would you like to see Baxter grow?

I would like to see Baxter grow in its support of the music and art departments. The school has amazing support for its athletic department, while the music/art area faces continual budget cuts. Two years ago, Baxter was blessed with the opportunity to have the Wartburg symphony perform at the school. This should have been an event that packed the gymnasium, however, the school paid little attention to promoting it.

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

Education begins at home. A parent provides care and support to their infant/child as they grow and develop. A parent is the one who first teaches the child to walk, talk, feed themselves, dress themselves, use the bathroom, etc. A school does not own the child; they are only providing a service to the child and their parents/guardians. A parent’s role is to be involved in every aspect of their child’s education.

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

I feel I address the issues I am most passionate about in the previous questions. The bottom line is I believe we have lost sight of what’s really important in education and are not truly preparing the students like we could. I wonder if children of the past received a better education in a simple, one-room school house than children today receive in multi-million dollar structures.