Jackie Koerner

Jackie Koerner said she has been thinking about running for the BOE for a while now, but chose to run this year because she feels like students’ needs aren’t being met. 

The Gifted Education and disability services in RSD aren’t tailored to their students in a way that allows them to thrive, Koerner said, and it had been the source of frustration for some students.

Koerner also is concerned about minorities in education, as she said RSD is doing a good job of meeting the needs of the average-achieving, white, middle-class students, but many students in the school district don’t fit that mold. 

“We have a real situation where some students don’t see themselves in their education program, they genuinely don’t see themselves,” Koerner said.

With a background in research, Koerner said she would like to see more investigation and assessment into what people are saying in order to address concerns the community has and to better education for minority students.

If she were to be elected to the BOE, Koerner said she would be able to vote in a way that supports these concerns. She is specifically passionate about supporting the recent student-led mental health initiative in RSD.

Koerner said she would like to work together with students and parents to address their concerns for issues like these to solve the problem and interact with others in the community beyond just allowing them to speak.

“I want to fully be transparent about it. I don’t want to have this sort of barrier,” Koerner said. “The one thing that I think I can control is the narrative around how we interact with our community. 

What she wants you to know:

“I’m just so excited to work with the students because you all are so much smarter than I was at your age, and so much braver in doing all these different things,” Koerner said. “I’m just so excited to hear from the students, especially the upper level students who are doing such good research that we weren’t even doing in high school when I was in high school.”