Higher Expectations for Academic Achievement
A local business owner and the only SPS parent on the board.
About Kelly
A Leader for SPS
Kelly is deeply connected to Springfield Public Schools having grown up in Springfield and attended Cherokee and Kickapoo where he graduated in 2003 and was a member of the Chiefs basketball state championship team.
He and his wife Tasha are SPS parents and have also each served as substitute teachers in the district.
Kelly is a local business owner as a real estate investor and developer. For 15 years he’s made a career out of bringing outside investment into the Springfield area to foster growth and new spaces. He’s an employer and has developed expertise in real estate, construction, financial oversight, property management, and project development.
This is the third year that Kelly has served on the SPS Board of Education. He’s also served on the Ozarks Regional YMCA board of directors, and has been heavily involved in coaching youth sports. The Byrne family attends Life.Church.
Our Guiding Principles
- SPS can do better at Academic Excellence
- The two quickest fixes for improving Academic Excellence are strong and consistent discipline policies and removing the use of cell phones from our schools.
- Parents are the most important factor in academic achievement
- Teachers are the greatest resource to the district and learning happens best when delivered from teachers and students are held to high standards
- SPS must remain diligent in fiscal responsibility with all tax payer dollars it is entrusted with especially as we enter a time with 4 straight budgeted years of deficit spending
- Students’ identities should be in that of “lifelong learners”
- Technology is an important tool in life and we must teach our students, when age appropriate, how to use technology. It cannot replace what is best provided by teachers.
- Teach students how to think, not what to think. We must build future problem solvers.
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Demanding Higher Standards
Kelly is seeking his 2nd term on the board. For 3 years he’s fought for improving accountability and educational outcomes and for keeping politics out of our classrooms. As only one member of a 7 member board he’s had success bringing a business leader’s perspective to the board room and guiding discussions toward student outcomes.
A track record of leading for Academic Success.
- Helped bring Phonics back to our elementary classrooms
- Reduced screen dependence with new procedures around Chromebook access and curriculum delivery method- “… I want to commit to not being one-to-one (one device for every student) in these early ages, being so dependent on technology, when the cost of it is so high.”
- Consistently pushed for stronger and more consistent discipline policies
- Pushed for a board policy that would not allow the use of cell phones during the school day
- Consistent advocate for politics and social engineering out of our classrooms– “SPS should remove itself from any potential social or political indoctrination. It is not our job to take a stance on students’ sexual attractions or identities. That is between them and their parents or guardians. Our job is education.”
- Consistently voted for teacher raises while ALSO advocating for more responsible spending that would allow for the revenue necessary to do so
- Pushed for reduced teacher to student ratios
- Successfully got the board to hire its first Owner’s Representative for bond projects that created a more fiscally responsible process in designing and bidding new schools
- Successfully pushed for better communication at the classroom level between teachers and families that resulted in a unified communication platform
- Successfully advocated for a comprehensive technology plan that would communicate guarantees from the district to the parents and teachers regarding the district’s philosophies around the proper use of technology in our classrooms – “This is something that is so important in education and has value but also potentially has pitfalls. Having a plan that shows stakeholders in the district, teachers in the district what we believe and what our goals and intents for appropriate use of technology in many different ways is responsible.”
- Consistent advocate for transparency– “What this is proposing is further putting our business in the dark. What I heard was we can ask questions by email, we can have small meetings, we can meet individually, great. We can do all those things. We only have one opportunity to… speak publicly in front of the community.”
- Successfully passed a new district strategic plan that put the focus on academic achievement Our District / Strategic Plan
- Successfully pushed for healthier student meal options that resulted in new menu options with less added sugar- “I wasn’t trying to get every kid to eat carrots and hard-boiled eggs every meal… it’s just can we do better, can we reduce the sugar content and we showed that we can within the constraints of what we have… I don’t think we need a mandate from the federal government to do that.”
- Led the revision of the district’s legislative platform with unanimous approval to focus on issues that will improve SPS academic achievement
- Successfully brought textbooks back to many SPS classrooms resulting in less screen time
- Advocated for annualized pay for hourly workers
- Advocated for a 2 tier school start time system
- Pushed for removing safe space stickers from classrooms- “SPS should remove itself from any potential social or political indoctrination. It is not our job to take a stance on students’ sexual attractions or identities. That is between them and their parents or guardians. Our job is education… I don’t believe it is appropriate for district employees or district facilities to display Pride flags, or Safe Space stickers or any similar virtue-signaling items. Students should not be urged or signaled to that certain adults or rooms are safe to have private conversations about matters of a sexual nature.”