January 15, 2022

I am excited to announce my candidacy for LSR7 School Board. I am not running against the other candidates.

Instead, if you choose to select me as your candidate, it is because I will represent the values that most closely represent your own. I have never sought political office before, but in light of the current events of our nation, I felt compelled to provide a voice for parents who feel silenced. I don’t have all of the answers for all of the issues that may come before me, but I do want to clearly outline what values I will specifically represent.

• In-person education should be pursued above virtual
• Masking and vaccination decisions should be made by parents or guardians
• Objectivity in all subjects, from math to social studies, should be pursued in the absence of the possible subjective input from educators.
• Curriculum should be pursued that aligns to objectivity and not the subjectivity of the author
• Value interpretations are the responsibility of parents or guardians and not educators
• Students are individuals and should never be placed into groups of alignment or opposition to one another
• As individuals students should treat each other with dignity and respect
• A school is entrusted with a student to provide for the students education. Their custodianship ends when the student leaves the school
• Parents should be provided with full transparency with what is being taught to their children

I am a married father of 8 children with my wife Tonya. They range in age from ages 4 to 27. I grew up in Johnson County, Kansas, attending Shawnee Mission South High School and Johnson County Community College. Since 2002, I work in Kansas City, currently as a Senior Software Engineering Manager and Agile Coach, for the last 19 years. I have been a resident of the Lee’s Summit School District for the last 6 years, and a Missouri citizen since 2001. My children have been home educated for 16 of the last 17 years, attending various coops and academies for home schooled children. As a home educator, I am familiar with role of an educator and student. This familiarity, along with my professional experience in driving efficiencies and outcomes is what I hope to bring when facing decisions before the board, educational experience and values.

I am often asked why I would serve on the board as a homeschool parent. I learned many things during our one year of public schooling in Lee’s Summit that I would want to address, including how to provide a good classroom environment for non-neurotypical children. Broadly, the children in our district are the next generation. I want to see that they are afforded the best learning environment possible to have the greatest opportunity at prosperity within a nation that still values God, freedom, individualism, and family.

You may contact me at scottobrien4lsr7schoolboard@gmail.com.