Jon Kochavi for Ridley School Board

Well folks, we came up just a bit short yesterday. That’s the tough news. But there are great takeaways from our race this year. We outperformed everyone’s expectations – by a lot. We got significantly closer to winning than any challengers in recent memory – certainly any in the past 20+ years that I’ve lived in Ridley. Any we generated the kinds of conversations about the school district that so many of us have been wanting for so long.

Thank you all for your support. Thank you for your openness with me in sharing your concerns about the district and your dreams for your kids and our community. I felt so honored to speak with so many passionate parents, students, and citizens of our district. Hearing what I’ve heard, I have so much confidence that we in Ridley have the capacity and the drive to create the schools that our children need and deserve. And I’m going to continue to do my part in helping this happen.

When was the last time you came to a Ridley School Board meeting? If your answer is “never,” you’re not alone. The meetings have traditionally not been a place for discussion and dialogue, but rather pro forma unanimous votes on items with little or no explanation of what they mean or how they will affect schools and taxpayers. I want to work to change that. Meetings should be an opportunity for the 9 School Board directors to discuss—agree and disagree on—issues that impact our kids and our community. With independent voices on the Board, we can put our collective heads together and create something better than anything that we could create alone. But this means creating a culture of dialogue in these meetings.