MVBT School Board Questionnaires -- Tyler Newton

Name: Tyler Newton

 

Length of time in district: My family and I have lived in the MVBT district for the past 9 years. 

 

Connections to the district: My wife, Tabitha, owns and runs her own hair salon in Mountain View as well as substitute teaches within the district. My children, Wyatt (17) and Tillie (10) currently attend MVBT and will graduate from Liberty High School. 

 

Brief personal bio: From August of 2009 through January 2014, I worked as a Special Education aide at Willow Springs Middle School then completed my student teaching in a fourth-grade classroom at Willow Springs Elementary. From July of 2014 until August of 2022, I was employed by the MVBT district as the ninth and tenth grade special education teacher. During that time, I also was assistant baseball coach for one season and head golf coach for six seasons, with the latter winning a district championship last spring.  I loved my time working there because of the students, colleagues and administrators that I was fortunate enough to work with daily but had to make a tough decision for the betterment of my family last summer. I was given an opportunity outside of education and completely out of my comfort zone, but with lots of thoughts and prayer I made the decision to leave Liberty High School and start my own business, Newt Logistics. I leased on with Honeycutt Transport and haul timber products all throughout The Ozarks. 

 

Why are you running for school board? I knew in my heart I still wanted to be a part of the education process and when the board positions opened up, I knew this would be a perfect avenue to still do so. The students at MVBT are the reason why I chose to run for school board. I feel that education as a whole is at a turning point, and I want to be a part of the group that helps move us in a direction for the betterment of our students and district.

 

What do you believe is the role of a school board member in the Mountain View/Birch Tree district? I feel that the main role of a board member is to establish goals and standards for the school and its constituents to meet and uphold, doing so in a way that community members and stakeholders have 100% transparency with the board's activities. 

 

Are you familiar with Missouri's Sunshine Law? Yes

 

Do you have an existing relationship with any members of the school board or administration? With administration, yes, because of working with many of them over the past eight years. More acquaintances with existing board members.  

 

How well do you think the district keeps the community and parents informed with the work of the school board? My first few years, I felt there was definitely a disconnect but it has steadily improved since then with the addition of using social media to keep everyone up to date. 

 

What is your opinion of the district's academic performance? What can be done to achieve accreditation? Like most schools in the post covid world, MVBT has struggled with gaps that were created from canceling school but has shown improvements across many age levels during this last school year, which is promising. I personally feel that accreditation is an overrated process.

 

Do you believe the district prepares graduating seniors for college? For careers that do not require a college degree?  Yes, I feel that Liberty High School is doing a better job of preparing students for post-graduation life than it has in the past, whether that be attending college or going straight into the workforce.

 

What is your plan to evaluate the effectiveness or success of the four-day school week? The only thing that can really be done is to assess student and teacher performance as well as attitude at the end of the school year. It will be interesting to see if it benefits or hinders students. Only time will tell.

 

What is your opinion of the district's employee pay scale? It's a hard subject to discuss because salary is not why one goes into the education field, but something needs to change. MVBT has one of the lowest average teacher salaries in the state of Missouri, and Missouri is one of the lowest ranked states in the country in teacher pay. 

 

On athletics, do you feel all sports programs are valued equally in the district? Would you be in favor of plans to add or subtract any programs? I would like to say that all programs are valued equally but they're not. When a sport brings funds into the school, they tend to be more valued.