Brett Becker, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian church, is running for one of the three available school board seats.

Becker has lived in Ames for three years, and currently works with the Collegiate Presbyterian Church. Becker said one of his main focuses for running for school board is to protect and foster equality and equity in Ames.

“I have a passion for education; for broad based, complete and full education that’s equitable for all students,” Becker said.

With both of Becker’s parents having been teachers and the one-year anniversary of his mother’s death, Becker said that he is also running in honor of her. 

“As I thought about the school board this year, I’m kind of dedicating this run to my mom,” Becker said.

Becker said that it is important for school board members to understand the distinction between equality and equity, having said that both are needed for Ames schools.

“Equality is everybody getting the same thing, but that doesn’t necessarily lead to equity. Equity meaning: every student needs to receive what they need to succeed,” said Becker.

Becker also said that the equity audit from the Ames community school district’s website highlights some problems that need to be addressed.

“Students with disabilities, English language learners, Black and brown students received detention at three times the level that they should be based on their proportions of their numbers in schools,” Becker said. “We need to see if there are any implicit biases happening, some institutional racism perhaps; these are big issues, and the equity audit has revealed some of these, and they have to be addressed.”