Sherry Carr
Sherry Carr
Seattle School District
Director District 2
2007 SEATTLE SCHOOL DISTRICT CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Building public awareness: What priority do you assign to the Seattle School District's efforts to educate community residents about the importance of historic preservation?
High Priority
Statement: It is important to educate community residents about the importance of historic preservation. I see a role for the Seattle Public Schools to build awareness with their students in order for them to gain an appreciation of the richness of the history of our city. Given very limited financial resources, I see the role of building public awareness within the broader community as very limited.
2. Preserving designated City landmarks: What priority do you give to sustaining the Seattle School District's designated landmarks and saving other landmark-eligible historic places as properties that enable residents to see history and learn from it?
High Priority
Statement: Seattle Public Schools have been an important part of the history of our city. It is important to sustain the Seattle School District’s designated landmarks while still ensuring the buildings provide effective, high quality learning environments for our students. I would also encourage saving non-Seattle Public Schools landmark-eligible historic places as properties that enable students to see history and learn from such historical local sites.
3. Influencing public policy: What priority do you place on the Seattle School District's work to foster preservation-friendly policies and funding?
High Priority
Statement: I feel that it is important to foster preservation-friendly policies in order to preserve the rich history of our Seattle Public Schools. In the very resource constrained environment in which we currently operate our public schools, priority for use of funds would be in the classroom to ensure that our students achieve academically, and I would prioritize academics over preservation efforts for operational funds. In terms of capital funding, I would place a high value on preserving the historical architecture of remodeled buildings, but again, I would look to focus of the capital dollars on features that provide a safe, high quality learning environment for our students.
