We want to warmly welcome Alex Christy to the West Chester Area School District school board! Last month, Alex was voted onto the WCASD board to fill the vacancy left by Kate Shaw. Alex will serve out the remainder of this term until December 2023.
We look forward to seeing how Alex will be a steward for all WCASD stakeholders, including educators and students, with his background in Special Olympics and substitute teaching in the district while earning his master's degree.
Congratulations, Director Christy!
See below for a quick Q&A to learn more about Alex as he serves on our board.
Tell us what you love most about living in West Chester.
I really enjoy the community and the people who are invested in making where we live better. I love being able to walk outside and catch up with my neighbors and laugh with their kids. Or to walk a few blocks to grab food and drinks with friends. I feel lucky to have roots in a place that has so much to do and offer and be involved with.
Why do/did you want to serve on the school board? Why now?
Public education is essential in making our community and Commonwealth a place where all can succeed. There are sustained, well funded efforts to fully privatize it. These attempts are serious and dangerous. I owe a lot of who I am to growing up in public schools here in the district. Often, I think we are given chances to either run away from fires or towards them. Knowing how important public education is and how critical it is to invest in our students now more than ever, I saw no other option but to run towards it.
What top three priorities will you have as a school board director?
Closing the achievement gap, increasing teacher support, and growing community collaboration.
How will you connect with the families in your region to understand their hopes and worries within the WCASD?
I think it is important to meet people where they are and listen. We are fortunate that the interest and involvement in our school district is higher than ever, and that means those hopes and worries are more prevalent in conversation than ever too. I cannot pretend to know what it is like to be a student whose first language is not English or a parent that has to navigate life with their child who has an intellectual disability. But I can listen. I can take those hopes and worries and make sure that decisions that myself, the eight other board members, and the district are making lift up and address those issues as best as possible.
If you could share a piece of advice with school-aged Alex, what would it be?
There are pressures to be this or that, to get into this college, or land that promotion. And I am not saying goals and ambition are bad. They are not. I think what I wish I knew when I was younger was that it is ok to fail. That it is ok to try something and then decide to try something else. Comparison, as it is said, is the thief of joy. My journey is my journey.
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