R-IV School Board: Courtney Tieman

Background: Courtney Tieman is from the Wentzville area and graduated high school in 1996. She earned bachelors degrees in sociology and environmental studies from the University of Missouri.

After earning her degrees, Tieman spent 26 months in the Peace Corps serving in Zambia. There, she focused on health education, specifically educating people about malaria, HIV and AIDS. Upon returning to the United States, she attended Indiana University and received a master's degree in public affairs with an emphasis on environmental policy and natural resource management. Tieman now works as an environmental specialist for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Why Tieman is running for this position: “I think education is really important. I wanted to get involved before my kids were in the district and try to make things better,” Tieman said.

Having been a substitute teacher for the district, Tieman has seen and heard of various issues occurring within the district.  

“I want the district to be more financially responsible and accountable to taxpayers. It’s a good district, but I want to make it even better,” she said.

Key issues to work on: Tieman wants to focus on improving financial responsibility and discipline. She would also like to expand the curriculum to include additional elements, such as incorporating foreign language prior to high school.

Regarding Proposition 3: Tieman acknowledged the district is faced with huge growth and doesn't have the money to build more schools.

"I’m not against the proposition, per se, but I would like to get in there and actually see how the finances are," she said. "I’ve read the budget, but I’d like to learn more about it and see if there are other things we could do instead of just asking people for more money. I would like to see if there are other avenues we could take before we raise taxes again. People are out of work, houses are being foreclosed on, and I just think it’s a really bad time to ask people for more money. We have four years before a new high school is absolutely necessary, and I would just like to see if things could be moved around.”

What will your job be as a school board member?: “A big part is just listening to what people think is important. Hearing both sides of issues that are brought to us and being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money is an important quality. We need to focus on making the schools better for the children that are there,” she said.

Contact: tieman.courtney@gmail.com

Tieman's FaceBook page dedicated to the election can be found here.