Meet the school board candidates: Kyleen Carroll

As recently as 2006, there was so little interest — or confidence — in the Kansas City, Missouri, School Board that not one person challenged the incumbents and the election was canceled. This year, the race is packed with candidates vying for at-large and sub-district seats. From now until the election on April 6th, we’re profiling each of the candidates, starting from the top of the ballot.

​Kyleen Carroll grew up in California, but she’s seen the inside of Kansas City’s classrooms. A new graduate from the University of Arizona, she started teaching seventh grade social studies at the Kansas City Middle School for the Arts in 2007. Her enthusiasm, she says, was met immediately with resistance.

“Here I was a young professional, who, for all intents and purposes was willing to give up all my time to do what needed to get done, and they weren’t supporting that,” she says of the school district. “When I was knocking on doors trying to make sure I could provide for my students, I had people knocking down my door saying, ‘You shouldn’t expect that. We already have an agenda. We do things a certain way.’ Logic doesn’t exist in this school district. Common sense is not part of the process.”

Making ends meet for the students was tough, she says. She didn’t get a pacing guide to keep her kids on track. When she asked for the mandated curriculum materials, she says, she got a box of raggedy books, pages ripped out, pieces missing. “It was the same textbook I used in the classroom in Arizona, when I taught sixth graders,” she says.

Because curriculum resources were lacking, she says, she tried to get creative. She understood when officials told her there was a strict vetting process for outside speakers. She didn’t get why she had to stick to an approved list of possible visitors.

“I was basically impressed with the level of professionals we have working for the school district, but what I was unimpressed with was our inability to tap in to our resources and utilize them effectively,” she says.

That’s why she’s running for school board.