Mansur currently serves as vice chair of the KCPS Board of Education. She is the communications and health policy director for REACH, a Merriam-based health care nonprofit. Her three kids graduated from KCPS. She will not be on the ballot because no one filed to run against her.
Why run for school board again?
When my children went through the school system, it was not always easy but it, but it was a very powerful and gratifying experience. Kansas City Public Schools’ performance is one of the biggest remaining issues in this city that hasn’t been grappled with, and we didn’t want to be those people who sat on the sidelines who had a million opinions about the school district but didn’t want to get into the game themselves to make it better.
How do you think the current administration has done?
Everywhere I go, I hear positive comments about Superintendent Mark Bedell and the team that he has put together. I think people recognize that although it has taken some time, the work is yielding results. We’re following a strategic plan that the community developed. We’re tieing our budget priorities to that strategic plan and making it evident how we spend our money.
What should KCPS do to support the growing Latino population and other English language learners?
We serve more English language learners within our district than any other school district in the state of Missouri. This is a point of pride for me because you know, it’s difficult and it’s expensive, but we are truly an open door for families, wherever they come from.
Do you support the proposed pre-K sales tax?
I don’t support the mayor’s pre-K sales tax. I do support early childhood education. But we serve some of the lowest income, most under-resourced families in this city. It’s not a burden for me to pay a little extra sales tax on the goods and services I need to maintain my household but to ask our families to pay that on milk and bread? I think the mayor would like to suggest we should ignore the means and look at the ends, but I think, in this case, the means is really the big problem.
