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Candidate seeking votes

Dear Editor,

For those of you who may not know me, I am Ashley West, I am a candidate for Buckeye Local School Board. I am very soon to be 35 years old. I am the mother of 2 amazing boys, and the luckiest wife in the world. I attended Buckeye Local my entire school career until I graduated in 2005.

After high school I attended college for 3 years for education before realizing that I needed something a bit more flexible, knowing I wanted to work part time while raising children. I chose to attend cosmetology school and have been employed at Frederick’s Day Spa and Salon for the past 11 years. I am a Senior Director Stylist, and help educate our new employees on how to grow their business.

I raise my two sons with my husband, Ryan, who is also a Buckeye Local graduate, Class of ’95, along with all of our parents, siblings, grandparents (each to their respectful titles) and many other friends and family members. My love and pride for our school district and our community are sincere and strong.

I have been a co-chair and presenter of The Russ Moran & Lori Whitaker Memorial Scholarship for the past 5 years. We fundraise and volunteer all of our own time to keep this alive so that we can directly impact one senior every year in memory of our dear friend.

All of us have so many memories of what Buckeye Local was and still is for us. All of the people who influenced us and helped form us into who we are today. Whether it be the bus driver who made sure we arrived safely to and from school everyday, the cooks who fed us like we were their own, the custodians, aids and administrative assistants that enabled everyone to make it through their days, or the educators who imparted their knowledge onto so many, some even multiple generations.

Our district is one worth improving upon and investing in. I possess the moral strength necessary to make the hard decisions that will better serve our district.

Our students education should always be at the forefront of everything. Our employees are vital to our success and our children are worthy of a high quality educational experience. We need to support and provide anything we can to our employees so that they can focus all of their energy on doing what they need to do.

We need to hold people accountable for their actions or decisions. Situations need to be handled quickly and effectively so that the focus can maintain on providing a high quality education.

We need to ensure that we hold onto our highly qualified teachers and not lose them to neighboring districts, especially not without trying to figure out why or attempting to fix any issues.

I will work with the rest of the Board to present a smart and much needed levy and consider all options on what the future looks like for our district.

If elected I will maintain contact with building principals, teachers, OAPSE members and the community. I will be present, visible and available to hear any concerns or to celebrate any victories. I will bring information back to the rest of the board to make sure we are all in touch and on the same page, working together to fix any problems.

I hope to see more board members making this same decision, communication needs to happen. As an elected member it is our job to communicate with those who voted us into these positions.

I hope to see our district as a more unified front, all working together for the greatest good.

If we focus on providing the best education that we can, support our staff adequately, communicate effectively, and be open, honest and receptive, we could instill the trust and inspire families to bring their kids back to our district.

I will represent the community and work hard to help all of our students achieve their full potential.

I want your vote in November so that I can fight for our kids, our teachers, our staff and our district. I will make decisions with integrity and always have the best interests of our students in mind.

Thank you for reading!

Ashley West

Rayland

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