Paul Bankes announces his candidacy for LCSD1 School Board

CHEYENNE — Paul Bankes, a lifelong educator who considers himself a solutions-minded person, has launched his campaign for a seat on the Laramie County School District 1 Board of Trustees.

Bankes has taught in Texas and Colorado, and for a time served on the board of trustees of the Thompson School District in Loveland, Colorado. Although he has not taught in Wyoming, he is a graduate of Sheridan High School and his wife was born and raised in Cheyenne.

Bank has lived in Cheyenne for the past three years.

“I felt like we would always be connected to Wyoming. We started here and even though we didn’t physically live here, we always came here,” Bankes said. “… Even though it maybe took longer than we would have liked, we knew that as soon as things started to take shape, (it would be) our path to come back to Wyoming.”

Bankes has extensive experience in schools, having worked as a teacher and administrator at different points in his career. He told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle that he has seen many of the factors that make a district successful and those that contribute to its struggles.

“When I was at Thompson, we were worried about Cheyenne because our good teachers were being taken away,” Bankes joked. “People wanted to come to Cheyenne, they wanted to work here… Now that’s changing, and once that changes, it’s going to be hard to get it back.”

If elected, Bankes said he wants to better support teachers. He told WTE that in his experience, throwing money at a problem doesn’t make it go away; you have to look at the system and how the problems originated in the first place. This is a philosophy he’d like to bring to the board.

He has experience as a certified financial planner in Cheyenne and holds the view that while budgets are difficult, money often won’t fix a systemic problem.

“Yes, it is useful to have money, but if we think that money is going to solve the problem, it won’t,” Bankes said. “There are underlying causes that explain our problems.”

Bankes used special education programs as an example, telling WTE that if teachers are not provided with adequate training, hiring new teachers will not solve the problem.

High-performing districts support employees and support high-quality teaching. While some of this exists in LCSD1, it can be better supported, Bankes said.

“I’m very concerned about some of the things that are going on,” Bankes said. “I don’t think we’re spending our time on the priority areas. We need to help our kids and help our families. This is my opportunity to step up and try to help our community.”

Bankes said she wants to prioritize improving culture at LCSD1, and that changing culture starts with the Board of Directors and works its way down.

In her experience, Bankes said removing books from libraries or spending too much time debating what staff can and cannot tell parents does not create a strong district.

“I think they are distractions and we need to go back to what we know: early childhood education,” Bankes said.

If elected, Bankes also wants to focus on improving early childhood education, early literacy, special education services, competitive wages, building restoration and new construction.

He is also heavily focused on investing in well-researched solutions to problems facing the district, such as outdated buildings, teacher retention, workplace culture, employee support and quality of instruction.

“Show me a well thought out solution, a research-based solution, that we think will work, and then we can find the money for it,” Bankes said. “But don’t come to me asking for the money first, just to keep doing the same things we’re doing, which may or may not work.”

Bankes considers himself an active member of the community, as he is actively involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Cheyenne and a local Lions club. He told WTE that his background in education, from preschool to college teaching, is a unique strength that gives him a lot of perspective to share with the community.

“There are things that we know can help our children have a quality educational experience,” Bankes said. “Let’s focus on those.”

{span}Bankes is one of seven candidates running for three open seats on the LCSD1 Board of Trustees. Serving on the Board of Trustees is a nonpartisan, unpaid position with a four-year term. Registered voters in LCSD1 can vote for the Board of Trustees on the Nov. 5 general election ballot. {/span}