Please email me at [email protected] your concerns as I want to represent you. Biography
I was born & raised in India. Growing up, I always looked up to the US and the values it represented. I’m a fourth generation educator, a tenured professor of finance in the Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University. I strongly believe that a good education is vital to transforming lives, building
a just society and a strong nation. Both my parents were teachers (my dad was a professor of history in a Jesuit college in India and my mom was a high school Zoology teacher). Growing up in an educational household, the importance of a solid education for success has led to my professional success. Both my siblings (elder brother and younger sister) are engineering graduates with graduate degrees in the US. Education
- undergraduate degree BS in Chemistry (St. Joseph's College, Trichy, India),
- graduate degrees MS in Computer Science (Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand),
- MS and Ph.D. in Finance (Florida International University, Miami, FL). I'm a naturalized US citizen. I am truly grateful for the opportunities this great nation has afforded me. I specifically chose a career in academia over working in Wall Street. Please see my profile at
www.linkedin.com/in/arvi1
https://www.salisbury.edu/faculty-and-staff/lxarvi
Both my children attend public schools (daughter is at Bennett Middle and son is at Salisbury Middle). Involvement in public schools & education
Vice President, PTA Salisbury Middle School 2022 - present
Volunteer, Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore, 2012 - present (taught entrepreneurship, business, financial
literacy to middle and elementary school children)
Volunteer, ProjectREAD, a city of Salisbury initiative on developing adult literacy, trained the trainers on financial
literacy, 2015 - present
Member & volunteer, PTA in North Salisbury 2018 - 2020
Volunteer, St. Francis De Sales Catholic School 2018 - 2019
Volunteer, Wicomico Day School, 2010 - 2018
Board member, Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore - Wicomico county 2022 - present
Founding Board member, Wicomico Day School Foundation 2015-2018
Great education is the fundamental driver for economic development. Good schools attract families that build a strong community. Competent students are attractive to employers. Employers recruit and invest in communities with great schools. More tax generated gets invested in education. It’s positive feedback loop of getting education right. Here are my top 3 priorities
Hard infrastructure:
- ensuring all students have access to safe, modern schools.
- will advocate for accelerating capital improvement investments in our schools.
- every $1 invested in education has a multi fold return for the community and state.
- no student has to attend a physically obsolete, deteriorating school without adequate heating or cooling.
- there must be no disparity where the school is located or the demography to determine if it will and when it will be renovated.
- good environment that is conducive to learning is critical and we owe it to our students and educators. Soft infrastructure:
- safe working environment for teachers for all types of harassment
- implement restorative justice discipline process for students so teachers can focus on teaching
- provide enhanced training teachers so they can continuously learn, adopt effective teaching techniques and raise the bar for the students.
- reducing unnecessary bureaucratic workloads so teachers can focus on what they do best. protect teachers by developing processes to deal with disruptive students
- increase compensation to hire and retain the best
- hiring more behavioral specialists, social workers, increased mental health & wellness counseling given the significant increase in mental health issues caused by the pandemic
- increased programming for students to reduce COVID induced learning losses and bridge the achievement gap
- means longer school days, extra instructional days in summer, etc. Providing funding to realize this is critical
Elevating literacy:
- raise the bar so all children can read, do math at their grade level, increase special education programming & access
- every student graduating from WCPS must be taught some element of financial literacy in every grade. This is an indispensable skill that is much required to be successful in today’s world.
- increased support and opportunities for STEM, CTE for all to create globally competitive students who are college & workforce ready.
- Let’s focus on the actual need that students
- ability to read, write coherently and communicate effectively
- solid math skills
- early pathway to identify trade related skills. I trust I can earn your vote as a candidate and hope you’ll spread the word about me to your neighbors and friends in district 3. Reasons for running as a BoE candidate
I've been closely involved as a volunteer and in PTA in the past at NSS and in their current schools.
1) I have serious concerns with the safety of children, teachers (fights in schools), discipline issues, support teachers so they can do their job well.
2) Children need role models. Increase hiring minority teachers and create a sustainable process to ensure the teachers reflect the demography of students.
3) The board must support, empower the teachers, principals so that they can discipline students and take corrective action. Legal liability and other concerns limit what teachers can do. This shouldn't be the case.
4) Increase the pay for instructional assistants to help teachers. Teachers wear multiple hats as a teacher, parent, counselor, psychologist, peace mediator, etc. This shouldn't be the case. Having a support system to help teachers so they can do their jobs best is crucial to avoid burnout and to retain teachers.
5) More programming to ensure the pandemic induced learning losses are made up with extra instructional time (extended days or special summer schools, etc). Investing to ensure the learning losses are bridged and the achievement gaps are reduced is vital so students can be successful
6) Focus on building more opportunities for talented students. Currently there are only 50 lottery drawn spots in NexGen, depriving many deserving students.
7) Incorporate financial literacy in every grade level in the school system. Financial literacy is an indispensable life skill necessary in today's economy. Set the bar high and expect all students to do better, provide necessary training. The current trend seems to be lowering the requirements so that everyone passes without the requisite skills. This disproportionately affects minority students as they graduate high school without the necessary skills and are unprepared for college. They end up dropping out without a degree, accruing student loans and without a well paying career.
9) Schools must focus on building skills, making students globally competitive and not being bogged down in unnecessary culture wars.
10) It is vitally important that we get K-12 education right to solve most of the social problems and make the US competitive.
11) Accountability for the tax dollars spent. Invest in teachers, pay them more to retain, reduce attrition and make teaching an attractive career option for those who are dedicated to this profession.
12) Board exists to help empower the students, teachers, staff to do their best. Ensuring that they are supported is crucial to elevating our public education. Entrepreneurship
Besides teaching I have continuously been engaged in entrepreneurial ventures throughout my adult life. I’m a real estate investor / entrepreneur as well. I have expertise in finance, fundraising and collaborating with businesses. I’m part of the team that is building the Ross in downtown Salisbury. https://www.mentiscapitalpartners.com/about
It's the single largest investment in the city core in many decades and will transform downtown. I strongly believe in this community and investing in it. I want our kids to come back and live. Hence, I’m motivated to run for school board. Having worked with WCBOE as a Junior Achievement volunteer teaching business, entrepreneurship and career choices, it is my fervent belief that exposing students to entrepreneurship consistently across multiple grades will help them become productive citizens. I chose to live here by accepting the job offer from SU in 2008. Both my children were born in Salisbury and I have established strong roots in the community through my volunteer work (YMCA, WDS, NSS, BMS, SMS, St. Francis De Sales church and school, serve as a board member in Junior Achievement Wicomico county and founding board member of WDS foundation). Given my educational background, my professional expertise, financial acumen, ability to work with a diverse workforce, empathy and willingness to help will make me a good candidate for board of education. I will be happy to listen to your concerns, suggestions on how to improve our public schools and do everything in my power to help our students and teachers. I trust I can count on your support and spread the word to your friends and families. I pledge to run a honest, ethical campaign that prioritizes the welfare of students.
