Brandell Braatz, 41, wants to replicate the thing that makes Holley School so special to her and other Holley families.
She describes Holley as an inclusive community school where an emphasis on close relationships makes the school feel like an extended family.
Braatz is facing incumbent Chanz Keeney for School Board position one, Holley, in the May 19 election.
Braatz is running to offer people another choice, she said. “I want to see more unity in the district.”
That means more teamwork and promoting more community involvement, she said. She volunteers at least 10 hours a week at Holley and, while testing was going on for the last month, 20 hours a week, she said.
“It’s really easy to sit in the background and complain about everything,” she said. If the district could get more people involved, eventually it would reach a point where those involved and informed would outweigh those complaining.
“I don’t have anything against complaining,” she said. “I have a problem with complaining and not doing anything about it.”
Prior to coming to Sweet Home, her children were homeschooled or attended private Christian schools. From her family’s perspective, the public schools weren’t good enough for her children.
“It was that they lacked that community feel,” she said.
Then she found Holley, she said.
“The reason I chose Holley was because Holley had that inclusive feel. I know from talking to parents at Holley, they drive their children because they want that family feel.”
The teachers stand beside the parents and community to look out for the students, she said. Holley School has an outstanding volunteer group and PTC.
It’s about relationships, she said. Holley is open to and works closely with community volunteers. It’s the relationships we have with them that makes it work. I don’t see any reason that can’t be applied to a higher, district level. It’s a truly loving relationship, not just to students, but parents as well. It’s like an extended family.”
Braatz serves on the District 55 Budget Committee, which last week approved a budget for the 2009-10 school year, which included in the neighborhood of $1 million in cuts.
“I think they cut as much as they could,” Braatz said. “I was concerned they didn’t leave much of the carryover.”
When she received her copy of the budget, she started talking to teachers, students and parents about what was important to them, she said.
They all came up with ideas, and that’s where the ideas need to come from, she said. The district can find out what parents and the community are willing to pick up when the district cuts a program.
One high school girl suggested cutting the math lab and using volunteer and student tutors instead of staff, Braatz said.
The most important thing to keep in mind while cutting the budget is education, which includes the social well-being of the students also, she said.
When district officials presented the budget, Braatz said, she was the only one to raise questions about what kind of sports would be cut.
“There’s going to have be cuts in every area in order to survive the economy,” she said.
Some people got defensive, but asking questions of those involved in every affected area is important, she said. “We should go in to each area and ask people where can we really squeak by.”
As it stands now, based on an e-mail she received, sports is taking a 10-percent cut, like other programs, she said.
Braatz added that when her opponent Chanz Keeney brought up elementary school sports, she wrote a letter saying she would be a volunteer in the program. The big issue has been money, and with current budget reductions it’s not likely to happen, she said.
Braatz is a single parent, she said. She has been a struggling single parent, and she has been a successful businesswoman, owning and operating the Rivers Inlet Resort in British Columbia, Canada, a well-known fishing destination.
That background gives her a broad perspective when making decisions, she said.
“I hear students, teachers and parents. I feel it’s really important for us to be involved. It takes a tribe, or a community, to raise a child.”
If that happens, all of the district’s students can be successful, she said.
A widow, Braatz has two children, Alexis, 11, and Brianna, 9. She is temporarily retired after selling her business and working as a homemaker, dedicating her life to her children, school and family.