Babinsack, Kristie

Masters of Education, Slippery Rock University-2015, Bachelors of Science in Education, Slippery Rock University-1994, Mars High School Graduate-1990

Kristie Babinsack-Highlands School Board Director-Region 3 Background: 50 years old Married to John Babinsack for 17 years Mother of 5 boys (ages range from 24-13 and 2 stepchildren (29 and 24) Graduated from Mars Area High School in 1990 Graduated from Slippery Rock University with Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 1994 Graduated from Slippery Rock University with Masters of Education, (Elementary Math and Science) in 2015 Substitute taught in over 10 different school districts, including Highlands Worked at Mars Home for Youth, working with troubled youth, was promoted to Director of Foster Care Began career at Coventry Healthcare, which became Aetna Healthcare, which is now CVS Healthcare. Been there for 22 years. Kristie is a Senior Analyst for the Network Relations Department. Kristie was elected to the Highlands School Board in 2019 and will be completing 4 years at the end of 2023.

Accomplishments/Initiatives: • Helped bring the district through the first World Pandemic. Navigating Masking, virtual learning, and the health and safety of students, staff, and community. • Voted all 4 years to not raise taxes. She was the ONLY board member this year to vote “NO” to not raise taxes. Although she recognizes that raising taxes is inevitable, she did not feel the timing was appropriate coming out of a 3-year pandemic and also after voting to give raises, bonuses, and hiring of many new staff, administrative positions and teaching positions. If the district could find the money for those things, she felt the district could find the money to NOT raise the taxes and burden the taxpayers as well. • Has secured the beginning of an anti-bullying initiative that will begin in the fall. A national speaker will come in and do a powerful assembly to kick it off and she will continue to work with admin to bring in programs, teacher professional development trainings, student opportunities, etc. to help the district overcome this epidemic. • Working with State Representative Mandy Steele’s staff to attempt to secure grant funding to offset the pool renovations, bring in more maker spacer opportunities, help to create a new fitness room and equipment, and continue to enhance the anti-bullying program mentioned above. • Will make Truancy a priority and help to not only reduce the rate, but also work on root-cause solutions to help get kids to school and provide resources needed that are roadblocks for them today. (Transportation, health, food, shelter, mental health needs, etc.) • Work on generating money from back-taxes owed. Developing ideas on how to sell-off vacant lots so that they can then be bought again to bring in taxable income for the district. • Part of the Pathways to Career Workforce group initiative to change the curriculum to help students develop skills early on so they can choose which path they want to take after graduation (college, trade, military, or workforce) and have the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in whichever avenue they choose. • Working to bridge the gap between the community and the district by keeping the communication open and showing transparency. Kristie does her best to respond to community concerns via emails that she receives and spends time talking to her constituents in the public. She has meaningful, honest, open conversations with her constituents, and she does not “sugar coat” anything. However, if there are things that she simply cannot diverge to the public, she will tell them that. She expects the community to understand that they have voted for the people they feel best can represent them and they need to trust them to make the best decisions for the district. The community does not have all the information that the board has. Therefore, the community must understand that it is the board’s job to take the facts, carefully review ALL the information, and then vote accordingly. Kristie does thorough research. She does not vote lightly. She always votes with the students, staff, and district’s best intentions at the forefront of every decision. • Kristie wants to focus on teacher morale and general happiness. A lot of changes have taken place due to Covid-19 and teachers and staff have left the teaching profession for personal reasons, due to health, due to mental stability, due to stress, due to many things. Some want to blame our administration. Some blame the board. Some blame the kids. Kristie wants to focus on this issue. Highlands is a good district with a LOT of great teachers! Highlands does have some issues that need to be addressed, but so do other districts. The difference is all in how we deal with it. Kristie intends to really focus on what the TRUE underlying problems are and how the board can help to fix them. • There appears to be a great divide between our African American students and our Caucasian students. We need to work better to not create discriminatory diversion among our students. This begins with parents at home and works its way up through the staff, teacher, admin and each adult that interacts with our students. Students learn by example. If adults are discriminating against students, kids will think it is ok too. We need change! Students do not feel safe at school! This adds to the Truancy. This causes the Bullying problem. This is creating the teacher morale. All of the things Kristie wants to focus on are tied together by this one issue. WE MUST DO BETTER! It starts here and it starts NOW! As you can see, this is a HEFTY list to accomplish and all of it likely will not get completed in 4 short years, however, goals must be set in order to achieve them. There are so many more too. But, these are the top goals that are the most important to Kristie and the primary reasons that she set out to run back in 2019. As you make your choice for School Board Director, ask yourself if you want someone who is going to work for this district and set the pace for others to follow or do you just want a “body” to fill the seat? Do you want someone who you see out there at many events cheering for not just their own kids, but everyone’s kids, someone who advocates for the “underdog” and stands up for what they believe in even when it isn’t the popular choice, who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, who will listen instead of talk, who will reach out and offer you her hand when you need help and fight to make this district BETTER than when they started? If you do, then Kristie Babinsack is the obvious choice for Region 3! Babinsack will ALWAYS have your back!!