School Board Candidate Profile: Brooke Pestel

Could you please give a bit of background about yourself?

Hello, my name is Brooke Pestel and I have lived in Three Forks since I was born. I was raised here and attended Three Forks Schools from elementary through high school. I attended MSU-Bozeman and received a bachelor's degree in accounting and a minor in English. I have worked in public accounting for over 20 years, focusing on both personal and business taxes.

Why did you choose to run and what qualities would you personally bring to the board?

I recently have had the opportunity to be a substitute teacher here at Three Forks Schools and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I made new friends and learned a lot about our students. I met some amazing children, parents, and teachers. I believe there is much that can be done to support our students. I am committed to make that happen as I support transparency, objectivity, independence, asking questions, holding people accountable all while using respectful communication in the process. As a board member I would continue to always ask the hard questions that have the best interests of the parents and students at heart.

Having a financial background is important and gives me the foundation to understanding district finances. This is something that I can bring to the table. I would like to allow parents to be a bigger part of the team and have a stronger voice in their child's education. I would like to implement transparency as the administration having full engagement with the community about what takes place in our schools. When a parent or taxpayer asks questions, I would like to answer their questions and address their concerns with a plan of action of how we can remediate the problem. I would be working for our tax dollars to be spent in the most rewarding way for our students. I would like to emphasize emotionally supporting our students as they pursue their academics in a culture of respecting themselves and others, and learning to socially interact. A school's main role is to support our students and guide them to academic success with the tools and skills necessary to navigate a rewarding career path; interacting with each other respectfully and with integrity as part of that process. Questioning and reflection are vital tools for developing the critical thinking skills that will help our students succeed. These can only be exercised fully in a culture of mutual respect and integrity.

Three Forks is my community, and this is where I feel I can have an impact. Helping people motivates me. Kids, adults, friends or whoever. I love to visit with people, and I love to help them in any way I possibly can. I have 4 children in this district and I would thoroughly enjoy having a direct impact on their and all of their fellow classmates' educations. I want to help, serve, and support our district. The board sets the vision and goals for our district, and I would love to be a part of that. I believe I can help make a difference in the overall quality of education that our school is providing for our students.

What are the biggest challenges for the district?

I think that one of the biggest challenges for the district is communicating with the community as a whole in order to inform and engage them on current issues. Working with community members and board members I am sure that we would be able to brainstorm some ideas that would help us solve this issue.

What do you think the district is doing well?

There are so many diverse programs that our district is providing in order to encourage our students to participate. It is all in their best interest and in the hopes of educating them, keeping them busy, motivating them and helping them learn to work together with their peers, as well as adults. I believe the district is doing a good job in helping our students to find success in both relationships and in academics.

I would do my best to serve our community as a Three Forks school board member. Our children are our greatest asset, and I am committed to helping all students succeed in our school district.