Interview by Fred Hernandez

Born in the town of Wakita and raised in Enid, a town in North Central Oklahoma, Jennifer attended Chisholm High School (the farm school located outside of town) and Wichita State University. She got her work ethic from her parents. Her father was a corporate pilot and her step-mom was a D.A. Always a worker, even in her school days, she sometimes held three jobs. She has lots of experience in a multitude of disciplines from the service industry to management. After college she worked for a commercial flooring contractor where she estimated and project managed flooring projects for schools, hospitals and commercial buildings. In 2008, she began her real estate career. Jennifer’s love for teaching began when she was recruited by a large brokerage firm (450 agents) to be the Director of Education for their real estate school, where she taught, wrote curriculum, and had a dozen instructors reporting to her.
Six years ago, the Kriegh family moved to Custer County. Today, Jennifer is the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the county and concurrently assists the Manager of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM). In addition, she already is connected to the school district as the Chairperson of the School/District Accountability Committee. This a statutory committee that is made up of parents, community members, staff and the principal. This group reviews and provides recommendations about spending, curriculum, school performance, turn around plans, and school principal evaluation. Jennifer also brings a unique perspective to the position of school board member not only as a parent of children who attended the school but also in that at one time she was a full time employee of the school helping out in the IT Department as well as a substitute teacher; and coach of the middle school boys and girls basketball teams.
During the interview with the Sentinel, Jennifer revealed some of her core beliefs when it comes to the education of children. First and foremost children should experience consequences for non-performance and be awarded for excellence. In her opinion the school was doing relatively well pre-covid but suffered much during the lockdowns. The standards degraded due to the way it was handled. When the curriculum were not designed to be in an online format and teachers have to completely redo their lesson plans and goals with little to no time, this causes challenges for the students. In addition, kids learn from each other and without this interaction, learning is stifled. This lack of social interaction causes, in some cases, depression, agitation and other traits from being unable to be with others of the same age. New challenges were created that need to be focused on to bring the school district back to the higher standards it once enjoyed. As far as curriculum is concerned, Jennifer does not believe the school should allow teaching an “agenda”. To protect our children, we must have the same rules, guidelines, and expectations for all. In today’s world, there are so many different social accommodations that activists want to make normal; however, this is at the detriment of the majority. She would argue that there are many options for parents if they believe the curriculum is not in the best interest of their child, but do not insist on changing the whole school just for a few. The school needs to treat everyone equally. Bottom line is to teach facts. The goal should be to achieve excellence in reading, writing and math. Music, sports, and other extracurricular activities are also important. These provide our children another way to prepare for the world they will find when they graduate. This could be understanding time management, learning how to be a part of a team, or simply to be a carrot rather than the stick to encourage hard work in their other studies. We wish Jennifer the best of everything as she campaigns for Custer County School Board. Interview by Fred Hernandez
Born in the town of Wakita and raised in Enid, a town in North Central Oklahoma, Jennifer attended Chisholm High School (the farm school located outside of town) and Wichita State University. She got her work ethic from her parents. Her father was a corporate pilot and her step-mom was a D.A. Always a worker, even in her school days, she sometimes held three jobs. She has lots of experience in a multitude of disciplines from the service industry to management. After college she worked for a commercial flooring contractor where she estimated and project managed flooring projects for schools, hospitals and commercial buildings. In 2008, she began her real estate career. Jennifer’s love for teaching began when she was recruited by a large brokerage firm (450 agents) to be the Director of Education for their real estate school, where she taught, wrote curriculum, and had a dozen instructors reporting to her.
Six years ago, the Kriegh family moved to Custer County. Today, Jennifer is the Public Information Officer (PIO) for the county and concurrently assists the Manager
of the Office of Emergency
Management (OEM). In addition, she already is connected to the school district as the Chairperson of the School/District Accountability Committee. This a statutory committee that is made up of parents, community members, staff and the principal. This group reviews and provides recommendations about spending, curriculum, school performance, turn around plans, and school principal evaluation. Jennifer also brings a unique perspective to the position of school board member not only as a parent of children who attended the school but also in that at one time she was a full time employee of the school helping out in the IT Department as well as a substitute teacher; and coach of the middle school boys and girls basketball teams.
During the interview with the Sentinel, Jennifer revealed some of her core beliefs when it comes to the education of children. First and foremost children should experience consequences for non-performance and be awarded for excellence. In her opinion the school was doing relatively well pre-covid but suffered much during the lockdowns. The standards degraded due to the way it was handled. When the curriculum were not designed to be in an online format and teachers have to completely redo their lesson plans and goals with little to no time, this causes challenges for the students. In addition, kids learn from each other and without this interaction, learning is stifled. This lack of social interaction causes, in some cases, depression, agitation and other traits from being unable to be with others of the same age. New challenges were created that need to be focused on to bring the school district back to the higher standards it once enjoyed. As far as curriculum is concerned, Jennifer does not believe the school should allow teaching an “agenda”. To protect our children, we must have the same rules, guidelines, and expectations for all. In today’s world, there are so many different social accommodations that activists want to make normal; however, this is at the detriment of the majority. She would argue that there are many options for parents if they believe the curriculum is not in the best interest of their child, but do not insist on changing the whole school just for a few. The school needs to treat everyone equally. Bottom line is to teach facts. The goal should be to achieve excellence in reading, writing and math. Music, sports, and other extracurricular activities are also important. These provide our children another way to prepare for the world they will find when they graduate. This could be understanding time management, learning how to be a part of a team, or simply to be a carrot rather than the stick to encourage hard work in their other studies. We wish Jennifer the best of everything as she campaigns for Custer County School Board.