Jamie Lynn Bish, 40, of Linn, said she is seeking election to the Linn R-2 School Board on April 5 because she wants to be more involved with the discussions taking place that shape the district’s future.

“It didn’t truthfully occur to me to run until a friend suggested to me that I should,” Bish said. “We have had lots of discussions on what has been occurring at Linn R-2 and one of the debates I am most curious about has to do with the future of football at Linn. Last year, my son had an opportunity to play for the Owensville football team. He was positive he was going to hate it but had been convinced by his baseball coach and his friend to give it a try. By the end of the season, I watched my son grow with confidence. All who know him noticed something good changed with him and I completely accredited it to him playing football. He’s already doing weight-lifting for next year and he’s in it for the long run. As a parent, I want this opportunity to build confidence to be available for all kids. Therefore, to ensure continuity of the program, I knew I needed to get more involved.”

The second reason she’s running is that she likes to be involved with her children’s school, to help out and make a difference. As a parent at St. George, Bish has served on the school board and was the president for two years. She also has been co-chair for the Taste of Italy fundraiser going on four years and coached volleyball and archery. “Being involved is how I know I can make a difference,” she added.

Bish said she is always impressed with the Linn R-2’s ability to demonstrate school spirit. “There are always updates on Facebook, activities being held, school shirts being worn, signs off the highway, or even the recognition of the kindergartners who come for the start of the new year,” she added. “The community, children, and parents are proud to be a Wildcat. School spirit has proven that overall, kids perform better academically, are more engaged socially, and emotionally, kids are happier.”

This leads Bish to what she considers the next strength that should be recognized which is the school’s education system. “Did you know that Linn R-2 is ranked in the top 30 percent of all 555 Missouri public schools based on combined math and English proficiency test scores?” Bish asked, citing https://www.publicschoolreview.com/missouri/osage-county-r-ii-school-district/2919080-school-district. “With test scores being in the top 30%, the school is given a ranking of 8/10. If you compare other schools in our district, Chamois ranked 3/10, and Fatima has a mark of 5/10. As you can see, their rankings are both lower than Linn R-2. On top of this, the school has a high graduation rate that places the district in the top five percent. Clearly, the school is doing something right, and this should be advertised and celebrated more.”

Bish noted the first improvement to focus on needs to be teacher retention. “It has been brought to my attention that teacher turnover is very high,” she said. “Retention of employees is a struggle at every place of employment. As we all know, the time invested in training new employees can be very costly. Unfortunately, in a school system, teacher turnover has a bigger impact than just the cost on the district; it can impact students negatively as well. If elected to the school board, I would work to discover why the district has turnover, look to other districts with lower turnover rates to see what they are doing to keep their teachers, and work to find ways to better support our teachers.”

She said another improvement that is needed is building trust between the school board and community members in supporting the transparency of agendas and school goals. 

“As for building trust between the school board and the community members, all I can say is that I promise to support the vision and mission of Linn R-2 and do what is in the best interest of the students,” Bish said. “I would encourage people to share their thoughts and concerns because, in the end, we all just want what we consider to be in the best interest of the school and its students. I will keep an open mind on all items. I will ask questions when I feel details are missing. If elected, I will work hard to build the trust that is needed between the school board and the community.”

A graduate of Jefferson City High School, Bish went on to earn a Bachelors from Columbia College in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management. For the past six years, she works for the Department of Health and Senior Services as the Data and Technology Manager for WIC and Nutrition Services. During COVID, Bish led the state in the implementation of updating WIC participants from receiving checks to receiving all their benefits on an EBT card. 

“This involved reading and reviewing contracts, conducting testing of our computer system, providing training to all local agency WIC staff, troubleshooting, and working closely with contractors, and federal government staff,” said Bish. “Other aspects of my position include finding areas of enhancement to assist coworkers with improving their workflows and tasks in relation to technology. The other part of my job is related to data that involves all confidential information related to our WIC participants and redemptions made by all our approved WIC retailers.”

She was previously employed as a clinic supervisor at Capital Region Medical Center for more than eight years, when she worked closely with insurance plans, balancing budgets, planning for future expenses, determining areas of improvement in staff and clinic structure, set goals that supported the hospital’s missions and followed guidelines in doing audits based on the Joint Commission rules.

Bish also was part of a Leadership, Training, and Development team that held quarterly meetings for all supervisors and managers of the hospital. This team would work with the leadership to write up strategic goals, discuss human resource management, practice emergency management implementation, and provide beneficial training to support leadership in their roles. “I’ve been in a leadership role for 15 years, and have worked with many different backgrounds of people with different education levels and different life experiences,” Bish said. “All of that has taught me excellent customer service, how to truly listen to a conversation, and how to build relationships.”

Many years ago, Bish worked for Fatima as a substitute teacher and later became a paraprofessional aide for special education. “Although I only did this for a little over one year, the memories it created from working with all ages of kids have stuck with me and supported me in my roles now as a coach for sports,” she added. 

Bish believes her fresh approach to the school board will be helpful. “Truthfully, there’s a lot I don’t know as to what is going on with Linn R-2 but I feel this provides me the opportunity to come in non-biased,” she said. “In everything I do, I want to do my very best. I’ve always strived for success and want to do a job well. I will do no less in this position, and look forward to calling myself a Wildcat next year.” 

Jamie and her husband of 15 years, Gabe, have three children, Jake (14), Jordyn (11), and Jocelyn (8). They have lived on the Bish family farm since 2004. This is a 100-year-old family farm, currently owned by David and Joan Bish. Jamie and Gabe built the house in which they live in 2010 but previously lived next door in Grandma Mary Bish’s farmhouse.