Todd Reynolds (Other)

1045 Marie Ln
Cheyenne, Wyoming 82009-3861
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I was born and raised in the Central Triad. I went to Davis, Hobbs, McCormick, and Central, and my first teaching position was at Central. My mother is a Central graduate, and my girls attend Central Triad schools.

I am now an educator in my 25th year of teaching. I have taught high school English and 5th grade. I have coached elementary literacy, and taught Freshman composition. I am now an assistant professor of Secondary English Education at UW, where I have taught secondary English and elementary literacy methods and Young Adult literature.

I am also an educational researcher, with articles published in Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and more, and I have presented nationally and internationally at literacy conferences. My specific focus is on disciplinary literacy and whole-class discussion (dialogic teaching).

I grew up in a teacher home, with both of my parents teaching in LCSD1. I spent my first two years teaching in LCSD1. And, for the last 10 years, I have been supervising secondary English student teachers in LCSD1 schools. Education is my chosen profession, and literacy and English education are my fields. I am looking to bring this experience and expertise to the LCSD1 Board of Trustees.

I have a BA in English with a certification in elementary education. I earned an MA in English with a focus on composition theory and rhetoric. I earned an Ed.S. in educational leadership, along with a license to be a K-12 principal. Finally, and most recently, I earned a Ph.D. in Literacy Education from UW, writing my dissertation on whole-class discussion in high school English classrooms.

My community involvement has been centered around my daughters, largely taking them to and from their various activities in town. In my profession, I serve my college on a variety of committees. In town, though, I support my daughters in what they do.

I am running for the LCSD1 Board of Trustees to serve and give back to the community and to the district that has given me so much. As a student, I spent my K-12 schooling in the Central triad, and the teachers I had were amazing! All the way through, I had teachers who guided me, who taught me, who pushed me to be more.

I am where I am today in my profession because of the outstanding teachers I had in LCSD1 every single year of my education. I want to give back to this district to make sure that the 14,000 students currently in LCSD1 have the same kind of fantastic education I had. I know we have great teachers in LCSD1 now. This would be my chance to provide the systems and structures so that those teachers can continue to succeed.

But, it is not just my education that mattered in LCSD1. I also had outstanding opportunities outside of the classroom. For me, it was with music, specifically choir in elementary and junior high, and band from 5th grade through high school. Those experiences taught me about discipline, quality, artistic expression, beauty – and they kept me coming to school. For other students, it could be other areas, from FFA to FBLA to JROTC to athletics to visual arts to career and technical education and more. My experiences helped me become who I am today. I want to serve on the Board to make sure that all 14,000 students in LCSD1 have the opportunities that they need, that they desire, to keep them coming back to school every day.

1) I want to help refocus the Board on the education of all 14,000 students, and to leave behind the partisan politics that have caused the current Board to lose its focus and move away from the work of the Board. The job of the Board is specifically addressed in Wyoming State Statute, and I want to be part of a Board that remembers the State Statutes, and lives up to the mission of the Board: to provide a high quality education for ALL students.
2) My field is literacy education, and I want to work within Board policy to help our students continue to grow in literacy. This means working with the curriculum coordinators, listening to the teachers from kindergarten through high school, and making sure that we, as a district, are providing the resources, funding, and freedom necessary to do whatever it takes to meet all students at their individual needs.
3) Arts education and post-secondary readiness. Too often, schools gets too focused on literacy and math, and maybe science and social studies. But there is so much more that our district is providing to create a high quality education for ALL students. That includes performing and visual arts, athletics, career and technical education, and so much more. None of these areas is merely additional or extra – they are all vital to a quality district. I will work to make sure that we continue to provide a well-rounded education for all students in LCSD1.