Keck, Andrea

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
School Board
District:
Scottsdale Unified School District
Phone:
(480) 620-8157
Age:
64
Occupation:
Founder, DreamRoads, LLC
Education:
BS from Indiana University School of Business; MBA from University of Chicago
Biographical Info:

* Born and raised in northern Kentucky. Both of my parents were teachers, so I’m clearly an advocate for teachers!

* Initially a banker, then Director of Marketing for the company that invented the Telestrator technology prior to its initial public offering.
* Spent the bulk of my corporate career managing $100MIL-$300 MIL businesses for Kraft Foods and The NutraSweet Company, including Parkay
Margarine, Lender’s Bagels, and Celestial Seasonings Tea.

30 years in education sector
* Educational entrepreneur: wrote curriculum for, taught, and provided personal coaching for 1000+ students
* Gifted and Special Ed experience
* Skilled at establishing community partnerships to support schools
* 8 years at the Pappas Schools whose entire enrollment consisted of homeless children.
* Mentor to countless at-risk, Hispanic, and African-American youth
* 7 years on Board of BoysHopeGirlsHope of Arizona providing educational opportunities for at-risk youth
* Member of Arizona Business and Education Coalition. A statewide collaboration between business and education leaders with the goal of
creating a superior public education system in Arizona.

* Founding member of core leadership team that successfully prevented commercial development in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale
(Prop 420)

* Parent for 37 years and grandparent for 24 years. Will provide a voice for the 85% of Scottsdale households who do not have K-12 children, yet are
the primary funders of our schools.
* Have lived in Scottsdale for 25 years.

Statement:

I have one and only one objective—to see every young person maximize their potential and graduate from high school with the academic and life skills needed to succeed in their next chapter.

I am disturbed by the poor academic results within SUSD:
* PRE-Covid, only 46% of SUSD high school students were proficient or better in English, Math, and Science
* 55% in our best high school; 19% in our poorest-performing high school
* SUSD now ranks 6th out of 10 Phoenix-area districts in 10th grade math
* 40% of our 3rd-8th graders are not at grade-level in English or Math
Improving academics will be my number one priority.

Time spent on race, gender, sexuality, social justice, equity, etc. is negatively impacting academic results—the number one responsibility of our schools. There have been gender, sexual, political, and racial events, surveys, assignments, and personnel incidents within SUSD. These kinds of things have to stop! No divisive, identity-based curricula; sexual or political indoctrination. Schools assist, but cannot supersede, parents in raising children.

We must prioritize spending on teaching core subjects. Reduce overhead and waste. Spend tax dollars wisely to produce a good return on your investment

I am the best educated and most experienced candidate in the SUSD race. I am uniquely qualified for the Governing Board because I have both significant business experience managing large-scale enterprises as well as nearly 30 years of substantive experience in the educational sector.

Survey

Response Legend

  • SSupports
  • OOpposes
  • *Comment
  • −Declined to respond
  • †Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Requiring school officials, including teachers, to inform parents about their child’s social, mental, emotional, or physical health S
2. Allowing parents to opt their children out of activities or lessons they find offensive to their personal, moral, or religious beliefs S* With some limitation on the number of requests per school year
3. Increasing state and local taxes to provide more funding for schools and school facility projects S* Only for direct-to-student academic expenses. SUSD must improve academic results before increasing funding for administrators, facilities, and any non-academic expenses.
4. Requiring signed permission from a parent before a student may participate in any sexuality related instruction, activities, or clubs. S
5. Allowing all parents to use tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts to enable children to attend any public, charter, private, homeschool, or online academy S
6. Requiring full-day kindergarten for all students O* Provide only for students who need it; not all students need this.
7. Mandating sex education classes for 5th-12th grade students S* Must be age-appropriate, and limited in scope and frequency. Don’t need in every grade.
8. Allocating teacher pay raises based upon merit rather than providing uniform salary schedule increases based upon years of teaching or additional credentialing (e.g. masters degrees) S
9. Implementing policies to allow students and faculty to use the restroom, locker room, and shower room that aligns with their gender identity O* Provide “gender neutral” option (for example, a gender-neutral bathroom) for any student who desires such privacy benefits, for whatever reasons. Usage should not be stigmatized.
10. Teaching what is known as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI); social, emotional learning (SEL); or critical race theory (CRT) in public schools. O* I oppose the current iterations of these programs. I would selectively support returning to the original intentions of them, which included many positive elements.
11. Increasing academic (curriculum) transparency by requiring each public school to post online for parents and the public a list of all instructional materials being used in the classroom. S