Goshen School Board candidate Joe Connell releases details of his campaign’s community survey

This year is an important School Board election for the Goshen Community. We have three of our seven seats open for election, and we have Dr. Kurtis Kotes joining us as our next Superintendent of Schools.

As one of the new candidates for School Board, I value hearing from you, our community. Through my candidate page, https://www.facebook.com/JoeForGoshenSchoolBoard, I have posted a community survey to hear from the community about our concerns, experiences, questions and praises for our district and to inform my campaign.

As I’ve received some great stories about our Goshen Schools, I write to share a few examples:

A 6th grade teacher wrote and hand-delivered a letter including her personal phone number to my depressed teen having major issues with remote learning.

An educator advocated for Special Education Services and shared their own personal story about their own child.

My 4th grade teacher met my child at Craigville Park to provide a welcoming packet in this year of remote learning.

Goshen wins more Scholastic Art Awards in our region (three counties) at the middle school level than all other districts in our region combined.

Goshen’s Science Olympiad is an actual STEAM program that’s been helping students get into colleges and careers in the sciences for 30+ years before STEAM became a buzz word every school wanted to promote.

Our teachers go above and beyond as these examples indicate. Our teachers listen, make our children feel valued, believe in them, sacrifice their time and make a positive difference in our community. As one parent said, and I agree, “I am proud to live in the Goshen School district because I think our schools in general are very strong.”

I also asked our community what we want to see/hear/experience from the Goshen School Board? Here’s what they shared:

Better communication (This was shared many times.).

We need fresh ideas. Encourage new programs and enhance curriculum. We need a board that will ask what we can do better.

I’d love it if they were more involved and aware of what’s happening in each building.

I want to thank the Goshen community for what you have shared, and I invite more of Goshen to share our voices. I am listening, and I’m ready to raise our voices as a School Board member. We have great people in our district, and together we can raise our student’s voices through community and communication.

In that spirit, my son Aidan said that I should also “ask the kids!”

I couldn’t agree more, so now you’ll find a survey on my Facebook page for the students - our kids - or you can complete it here: https://forms.gle/9cmTeUWdwgPCkGzAA

Let’s go Goshen.

Joe Connell

Candidate for Goshen School Board