In part of the 2022 Election coverage, the Express is featuring Meet the Candidate articles to share information about the candidates with the community. Each week it will feature two candidates.
Trustee Area Two candidate Robert Warren put to words the aspirations he brings to the Winters Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees, saying, “the children of our community are important,” and that, “their education is really important.”
“They only get one shot at an education,” Warren said, “and we need to give them their best opportunities to be successful in life.”
Warren said he served for 10 years on the Winters JUSD Board of Trustees, with “five being board president and five as board clerk,” before resigning in 2020. He is running to sit amongst the Board members again.
When describing qualities he saw as potentially useful for a Board of Trustee member, Warren noted, “I don’t have any kids in the district … I’m not there to champion for my kids, or have special interests,” allowing him to represent all the students of the school district.
Warren further expounded on himself that, “I’m pretty honest and open, and transparent — everyone knows what I’m thinking and how I’m thinking,” and that he, “researches everything,” before he comes to a conclusion.
For Winters JUSD priorities, Warren argued the two most important issues are staff retention and improving grade level proficiency.
“Winters is hard to recruit people to,” Warren said, and that “right now, we need to figure out why we’re losing top quality staff,” and to do what they can to keep the employees they have.
Warren also emphasized the importance of making sure students are measuring up with academic standards.
“We need to be grade level proficient,” Warren said, adding that, “kids need a good foundation…we need to get back to working on being grade level proficient at an early age.”
When asked about family engagement in schools, Warren said of his previous time on the Board that, “family engagement was really important to me.” He hopes to find ways to keep parents engaged with their students’ education, because, “parents that are engaged…their kids are going to do good.”
This importance also extends to special education, about which Warren said, “I believe special education is part of the education process, all students should be educated at whatever means they need,” relating his own experience as a parent of a child with anxiety.
