Kathleen cannino
for
ST. Tammany Parish school board,
district 2
My name is Kathleen Cannino, I am running for St. Tammany Parish School Board, District 2.
I am a wife to a wonderful husband and mother of two amazing children. I live in Covington and have grown up in St. Tammany parish and attended our public schools. I graduated from Fontainebleau High School in Mandeville. I received my B.A. in psychology from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond.
Currently, I advocate pro bono for children with disabilities within our parish and Louisiana. Through my advocacy and my son’s personal experience, I have encountered the frustrating situations parents, teachers, and taxpayer’s encounter. I am running for school board because we need CHANGE.
My top areas of focus:
Giving a voice to the parents and teachers, making sure they are heard
Teachers
Transparency
Fiscal transparency, topic clarity
Special Education
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Accountability
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As a parent of a child with a disability, I have experienced the difficult and broken special education system. In 2018, my son and his classmates were abused by staff at a local elementary school. The whole situation was handled poorly and years later, we are still waiting for accountability. It was after my son’s experience that I began advocating for other families and children. In order to prevent another family from experiencing what my family went through, I devoted my efforts into passing legislation that allowed families to request cameras be installed in their child’s special education classroom.
I began working with legislators and advocates to pass a law allowing cameras in special education classrooms, which passed and became Act 456 in 2021. This year, I was able to work with legislators on the funding for the cameras and $8 million dollars was allocated to the state budget for the cameras. The $8 million is enough to cover the cost of cameras for every self-contained special education classroom in Louisiana. My goal for the cameras is to give a voice to the children who cannot speak for themselves as well as protect teachers. I have spoken with educators and school staff about their working conditions.Issues I want to address:
Educators are often overwhelmed with paperwork and testing requirements.
Teachers, therapists, paras, bus drivers are not provided with the necessary support, resources, or training.
Many teachers fear speaking up for themselves or for their students, so they often go unheard. When they do speak up, change is slow or nonexistent.
Bullying and bad behavior are often not addressed and there is a culture of silence in schools.
It should not be this way. School staff, students, families, and all our taxpayers deserve to be heard. Our leaders should be transparent and accountable. We must work together to ensure our schools have the support they need to be successful. Given the opportunity, I will work hard to make a difference for all of our children.
Contribute
If you would like to contribute to my campaign, please use the link below. Thank you for your support!