The pandemic posed significant and lingering challenges to education outcomes, and both literacy and math skills have suffered. Micah was a leading voice in implementing plans to mitigate learning loss, especially among our most vulnerable students. 

Tackling the literacy crisis is a conscientious effort and board members need to make sure that children aren’t passed forward to the next grade without them having completed the curriculum. To that end, we have made significant investments in the district’s literacy programs. Altogether, Natomas Unified has invested nearly $20 million on proven programs that focus on improving student learning, including a writing initiative and intervention programs that help us quickly assess and assist students falling behind, literacy training for educators, arts and music resources, and the LEAP Academy that provides afterschool and intersession enrichment programs. 

The health and wellbeing of our parents, teachers, and students is Micah’s number one concern.  

We must do all we can to support our students and ensure parents and teachers have access to resources and tools necessary to provide a safe and secure environment conducive to learning. 

Micah worked with the Board to make this a top priority. He led action to update the Natomas Unified School District safety plan and to enact safety and security policies. Micah helped implement initiatives that improve soft skills for students, teachers, and administrators and that identify students in distress and nip problems in the bud.

He wholeheartedly supports practices that ensure school resource officers are beneficially incorporated into the school community and provide safety without a culture of oppression.  

The board also approved a plan to hire more social workers to provide social-emotional support for our students and is investing in technological resources.  

We can’t expect to attract quality teachers to our district if we aren’t willing to acknowledge the work teachers do in and out of the classroom. And we can’t truly receive teacher input if we aren’t meeting with teacher leaders. To that end, Micah has been a responsive board member and has met with teacher leaders to discuss tough issues. 

As an elected board member, Micah led reviews of district finances and found ways to cut wasteful spending and reduce administrative overhead. Under his leadership, the district will continue to identify waste and invest the savings in the classroom, keep class sizes low and provide more transportation options for working parents.   

It’s essential that the district inspires a culture of professionalism around the teaching force that allows NUSD to compete with other school districts. Micah supports policies that allow teachers enough release time to collaborate with other educators so that they can model high-quality teaching.