Jenny Risner claimed to be a very hands-on superintendent and is ready to be transparent and deal with problems like attendance in the Ames school district.

Risner is currently the Superintendent of Ocean Beach School District in Ocean Beach, Washington. She has had experience in elementary school teaching, middle school teaching and being a high school principal.

She has a Bachelor’s in elementary education and English and a Master’s in educational administration.

Risner put a lot of focus on being honest and transparent with the Ames community when it came to the schools data challenges and what they may need to improve.

She said she believed that being transparent was the best way to become more successful as a school district.

Being honest about the achievement gap within the Ames schools will make everyone aware of it and will get staff members to take action.

Risner discussed how she wanted to be known by the teachers and the students in the community. She doesn’t want to look at what the teachers are doing rather than the programs the school is offering and the students engagement within these programs.

Risner also talked about how she would address attendance issues within the district. She doesn’t believe that taking the students to court would solve the problem of truancy. She wants to build a truancy board made of staff members and bring the students and their family in when attendance is looking bad.

“I’d bring the student and family in and take a proactive approach, discuss the students barriers and help problem solve with that family,” Risner said.

She said she’s seen examples where it’s not always the students not wanting to come to school and sometimes it is a family matter where the student may not have much of a choice. Taking a student to court over something they can’t control only puts another burden on their family.

Risner also mentioned how she likes to keep a student representative to be the voice of the students within the district. The student representative is involved with the board but is only allowed to share students opinions, not to vote or make any concrete decisions.