On this opening day for candidate filing, Dr. Kira Werstein is pleased to announce her candidacy for Ames Community School District Board of Directors election on November 2, 2021.
“I decided to run for school board because I want to improve the quality of education for children in our community,” says Dr. Werstein, a mother of three ACSD students and an associate teaching professor at Iowa State University.
Dr. Werstein and her husband, Nathan, have been in Ames for more than 12 years and when building their homemade a purposeful decision to make sure their address was within the ACSD boundaries so their three children would go to Ames schools. But mounting concerns the Wersteins shared with other parents regarding the decline of grades and academic emphasis is one of the motivations Dr. Werstein decided to run.
“We’ve lost our focus in public education. We need to spend less time proselytizing politics and more time on academics; reading, writing, math and science,” says Dr. Werstein. She continues, “As a public school district, we should stop aiming to divide our students and instead point to what brings us together – our shared common goals, extending compassion to all people and respect for our common humanity.”
Coming from a family of educators, her passion for excellence in education started developing at a young age. Because of her history, she is especially committed to promoting a climate where teachers can thrive.
“Our district has had a lot of turnover in recent years. I want to improve support for and retention of high-quality teachers and staff. I want to help provide them a more healthy and stable teaching and learning environment,” Dr. Werstein said.
Werstein teaches in the Kinesiology department at ISU and says her experience in higher education has prepared her well to serve on the ACSD Board. “My work has taught me how to effectively contribute to high-level, evidence-based planning for quality education in the [Ames Community School] District,” said Dr. Werstein.
More information about Dr. Werstein’s campaign can be found on her Facebook page at Kira for Ames.
