Terrie Desloge

Candidate Terrie Desloge was motivated to run for the BOE because she said now with the ongoing pandemic, there is a bigger initiative to work on the educational, emotional and social needs of the students.

“I think that we can’t just go back to school and act like nothing happened,” Desloge said. “I feel like there are effects, socially, emotionally and academically, [with] all the remote learning and the isolation, and I want to be a part of making sure that there is a restoration of that for every student.”

Desloge, who is a MHS parent of children with different needs, said she wants to advocate for all learners, whether they do require special education or don’t. She said she would like to reduce restrictions on learning and open up the educational experience using multi-sensory approaches.

Like Koerner, Desloge was also inspired by the recent mental health initiative proposed by students at a BOE meeting earlier this year. She said she seeks to put programs in place to better the mental health of students.

“I will be one of seven, and so what I can do is to try to start collaborating with the board, educating the board and connecting them with the community to try to adopt and evaluate policies that are going to help make mental health more of a priority in our district,” Desloge said.

Desloge said suicide prevention should start as soon as middle school, and assemblies should be held to address the mental health issues students face. She said she would like to see mental health classes offered for credit that teach students how to deal with their problems and stress or teach communication and social skills.

“We need to have more public announcements and even skits [or] sporting events that bring this awareness that we have a problem in our district,” Desloge said.

What she wants you to know:

“I also have been in the community working for kids that need extra help, and I’ve taught life skills to disadvantaged and even to incarcerated women,” Desloge said. “Rockwood is already premier, but I believe that we can make it even better, and I really feel that I can bring something different to the board because I have a specialty in sensory learning.”