| Maya Cole, Seat 5 1) Wis. Stat. sec. 121.02(1)(k) requires school districts to develop a written, sequential curriculum plan in at least three academic areas, specifying objectives, course content and resources and including a program evaluation method. The role of the board, as I see it, is to develop a plan and then evaluate the district's performance using the curriculum chosen. The board should have long-term goals of increasing student achievement and getting kids on track for successful lives after high school. Our schools should be fostering critical thinking skills, public engagement, and teamwork. The board must communicate how the district develops curriculum, implements it and then evaluates the programs. I think this comes down to electing board members with the time and energy to evaluate every academic program in collaboration with the community. 2) Minority achievement and graduation rates in the district continue to lag behind the student population as a whole. I'm not satisfied with incremental improvements and would like to see our district move forward. I think we can do this by recruiting more accredited teaching staff of color in the classrooms, offering coursework in each high school in various ethnic studies for credit, i.e. Social Studies or English, and by sponsoring parent- and/or student-run organizations where our communities of color can inform and support themselves. I am most concerned about the dropout rate of African-American students and other students of color. The high cost to society for kids who don't graduate can be seen in our appalling incarceration rates in this state. Low-income parents, historically, are disengaged from schools. We need to build relationships that overcome layers of suspicion, cynicism and despair accumulated over decades of disconnect between schools and communities. A step in the right direction would be to work closely with groups working on student achievement and adult empowerment to give parents more access, representation and power. 3) It is important to remember that these are cuts that have been suggested by the superintendent, but not yet finalized. There are many factors that influence the budget that have not been decided such as the final state budget which will determine the amount of increased funding we may or may not get from the state. Our district may get a small increase for Special Ed programs. Unfortunately, the state budget will not be determined until June, and the teacher contracts will not be finalized until late April. I would consider this explanation from someone who has followed the district's budget process for many years. She says, "If the administration feels all staffing is cut to the bone, maybe the school board needs to begin working on multi-year strategies." I'm concerned about relying on the state or referenda to pull us through, and this effort might make the needs/issues more transparent to the public. Perhaps the School Board and its personnel committees would spend more time during the year talking about staffing strategies. This seems to me to be especially important to continue to do in these extremely tight financial times. 4) I would take a multifaceted approach. We need to educate the public on how schools are funded. I am currently serving on the League of Women Voters of Dane County Education committee which is in the planning stages of educating League members as well as planning an educational event to inform the public about school funding. I also think it is important to build coalitions outside of the metropolitan area of Madison. As a school board member, I pledge to get further training in school board governance strategies and school finance from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. I will also commit to assisting in building coalitions outside of Madison with parent and teacher organizations as well as other school districts. 5) The administration, with direction from the current board, is in the process of evaluating the codes of conduct for our district. I would like to see a workshop or roundtable discussion with other professionals and community members who interact with our kids in the district and have a working knowledge of the impact of these codes on families and kids. We should be consulting withschool psychologists, social workers, youth service coordinators, community center directors, and law enforcement specialists to educate the board on the impact of restructuring the codes of conduct. Each school should have an internal discipline plan that is developed in consultation with parents, students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Schools and parents must work in concert to set and enforce expectations for student behavior in the schools. I support programs that assist in changing disruptive behaviors, keep students on track academically, and are used as alternatives to suspension as long as the safety of other kids or staff is not in question. 6) We need to look at what the existing charter schools do well for families, kids and teachers. Then the board can move forward and begin to write policy that can bring innovation to a larger scale. I did not study the Studio School proposal in detail, but I found their ideas innovative and exciting for those involved. One of our long-term goals is to find ways to bring families back to the schools. One way to do this is to provide diverse learning opportunities, which in the long term may bring new resources and revenues into the district. Overall, I think it is imperative that the school board take a close look at the growing statewide trend of developing charter schools. Charter schools can provide an alternative learning environment, flexibility for teachers and students, innovative ideas to the school district. These are still public schools, with teachers who are part of the union under the oversight of the school board. A long-term benefit for our district is that charter schools can bring more students into our district, which in turn will bring in more revenue, as the state allocates money to districts on a per pupil basis. ****** Marjorie Passman, Seat 5 1) School board members are, for the most part, not educators. So it is neither appropriate nor even possible for them to choose the school curriculum. But they do have some oversight responsibility in these choices. For example, the school board should make sure that all state and federal mandates are satisfied. It should also be convinced that the curriculum meets or exceeds state educational guidelines and that it is sufficiently robust to challenge students at all achievement levels. It is also appropriate for the school board to serve as a bridge between the school system and members of the community regarding curriculum, safety, and other important concerns. In addition, the school board should encourage both innovation, when necessary, and the maintenance of those programs that have proven to be successful. The board's role is to ensure that we meet the needs of all our students, and it should provide appropriate support to the teachers and administrators so that they can do the jobs that they were hired to do, namely to teach students. 2) To quote the NY Times: "Under (the Madison Schools System), the share of third graders reading at the top two levels, proficient and advanced, had risen to 82% -- by 2,004, from 59% six years earlier, even as an influx of students in poverty, to 42% from 31% of Madison's enrollment, could have driven down test scores. The share of Madison's black students reading at the top levels had doubled to 64% in 2004 from 31% six years earlier." There still must be more effort put into raising all children to grade level status. For this reason we must provide quality early education (4K) because the sooner we prepare our students for the school environment the sooner they will be able to attain grade-level expectations in our K-12 classrooms. The successful Schools of Hope program must expand to deal with the increased numbers of children that can be helped. We must also continue to support small class size, staff development for training teachers on the most effective practices, retaining our social workers, psychologists and nurses, tutoring programs, Reading Recovery and the restoration of Home/School coordinators. 3) Madison schools face many fiscal problems. First, there are federal and state mandates that come to us without adequate funding. Second, we have increased numbers of challenging students with less money to support them. Third, our schools just cost more to run; our utility and our transportation bills increase each year, as do the price of books, paper and many other items the district must purchase. I have many questions about each of the proposed cuts and I will analyze each to see how it affects individual classrooms, because that is my bottom line. If the instructional programs of our classrooms are compromised, then our schools will fail. Therefore anything that protects the classroom and the teacher/student conduit of knowledge I will protect. This includes the support staff, social workers, psychologists and nurses, that are essential to the well being of our children. 4) First of all, our priority must focus on the revocation of both the Revenue Caps and the QEO which are destroying our ability to provide quality education for our students. This will mean community wide unity with intense lobbying efforts at the state level. If we are successful, we must then come up with an alternate means of financing our schools. Our citizens have spoken and they have stated, in no uncertain terms, that increased property taxes are no longer a viable method of financing. On the state level we must have a definitive source of income earmarked exclusively for schools. On the federal level we must demand that the mandates dictated to the states by Congress be more fully funded. For example, it is estimated that the No Child Left Behind legislation, alone, will cost the 12,000 school districts across our country $13 billion dollars. This is appalling. 5) The safety and security of our students is of primary importance. If our children do not feel safe, no learning can take place. At present, the district has instituted an "Above the Line, Below the Line" disciplinary plan for the K-8 grades. However, I believe that with increased urbanization, the school district must have a uniform K-12 behavior code, one that all students learn in kindergarten and one that is consistently, fairly and strictly enforced through graduation. My personal belief, coming from 28 years of classroom experience, is that expulsion should be the penalty of last resort, but if it effectuates a decline in student or staff stress, as well an increase in school safety, then it is certainly a necessity. I prefer in-school suspensions where students can keep up with their studies. Both suspended and expelled students must be given the opportunity to continue their education and, at the same time, be counseled as to behavioral expectations. The type of school violence that makes the front pages of national newspapers will not be stopped by disciplinary codes alone. That violence is usually associated with harassment or bullying, and we must have preventive measures in place to eliminate this behavior. As a teacher, I taught a successful anti-harassment program in an all-school effort to minimize aggressive behavior. There are many programs like this going on in the district now, and preventative measures are always the best. 6) Our schools must continually seek new curriculum, new ideas and concepts that will help us teach our students. I would like to see more school choice within the district and alternative school models. We need flexible, innovative programs but the issues of finances are so overriding at this point that we will not have enough money for existing programs. I wish I could but I can't justify new spending. As a former teacher and a supporter of all programs that educate our students in new and dynamic ways, this has to be the saddest part on my candidacy. |
| Decision 2007: MMSD CANDIDATES Cont'd |
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