Mary Buchanan

Criminal Justice / Public Safety I believe that a safe and secure learning environment is an essential foundation of educational success, mental fortitude, and a robust society. Students and staff should not be subjected to a life of fear of their peers, or from external threats. We must implement proven and effective safety procedures wherever possible. Education Updated and complete curriculum should be readily available, and parents must be the first to be included in conversations involving our children’s behavior, learning experience, and well being. Loving and fit parents have been wrongly treated as our children’s enemy, and our authority undermined. It’s time to take that back. Criminal Justice / Public Safety Children must, equally, be protected at all costs, from adults within the school system that intend to sexually assault, groom, or otherwise expose them to age inappropriate content, and those terms must be defined. A district which truly cares about the mental health of its students is not a district that would push families away from such a realm of care. Safe adults do not keep secrets. Civil Rights Children with disabilities should not be treated like second class citizens, or an educational afterthought. Parents of disabled students already face so many emotional, unthinkable, and, often, invisible battles to advocate for their children, everywhere they go. For many families to whom I’ve spoken, and with which I’ve closely worked, the topic of schooling is the greatest battle of them all.