Questions for 2019 BOE Candidates from Madison Partnership for Advanced Learning
David Blaska, Seat 4
1. Every MMSD plan (AL, ELL, Special Ed, BEP) seems to have specific challenges with
implementation at the school level. What will you as a board member do to better understand these issues and get the information you need to assess these situations? How will you ensure that issues with implementation and unmet student needs get addressed?
The Behavior Education plan is both cause and symptom. I would scrap it. It is the result of an Obama-era mandate that pushed schools to avoid disciplining students who needed to be disciplined. It made avoiding politically incorrect numbers more important than maintaining school safety. That mandate was overturned by the White House Commission on School Safety. I would return control of the classroom to teachers and control of the school to principals.
As for the others, I would need more information. I am a quick learner.
2. In a February Madison365 article, Superintendent Jen Cheatham wrote:
“A superintendent, no matter how determined or talented or passionate simply cannot succeed without a Board that clears the path for success.” How do you interpret this statement from a board member’s perspective?
High-sounding rhetoric, for certain. Two weeks before the April 2 Spring Election, before the prestigious Downtown Madison Rotary, Superintendent Cheatham related growing up in Chicago. Her father “came from nothing.” Young Jennifer took her first teaching job sight unseen, driving across country to the East Bay of California. Later, she won a spot in Harvard’s graduate program under the tutelage of an African-American mentor who told her that white female teachers were “a dime a dozen.” Young Jen internalized that message: she told the Rotarians that she owned her success to “white privilege.”
What a terrible message to send to people! It remove agency. It divides us into victims and predators.
3. In 2018-19, 5,661 MMSD students (21% of all students) were identified as advanced
learners in one of the five domains: specific academic areas, general intellectual, visual/performing arts, leadership or creativity. This included 8,503 AL designations as some students are identified in multiple areas. Disparities by race, income and language have improved slightly but still need significant work. Providing consistent and systematic advanced instruction (beyond math) to advanced learners continues to be a challenge at most schools. Please explain your thoughts on how schools can address both the critical work of helping students reach proficiency while allowing students to move beyond that level when they are ready.
More schools specifically geared toward advanced learners.
4. How can MMSD effectively measure success for its advanced learners?
My ears are wide open.
5. The current 2019-20 proposed budget includes Strategic Equity Projects. One proposal
addresses a recommendation made by the Advanced Learning Advisory Committee through the Office of Civil Rights resolution process to address racial disparities in access to and preparation for advanced coursework. This recommendation includes increasing the Advanced Learning staff to 1.0 FTE (from current 0.5 FTE levels) for every K-8 school in order to provide a talent development program for underrepresented students and a systematic structure for advanced learning in every school. If elected, will you support funding this recommendation?
Depends on the dollars. However, I am weary of legislating education by race rather than more predictive demographics, such as poverty, etc.
6. How can MMSD increase genuine engagement by stakeholders (students, families, staff and community members) in processes both at the district and school levels?
You tell me. Seems to me parents and taxpayers have some obligation to be informed. But I will say this, we must stop protestors from turning our school board meetings into a mosh pit. After one typically raucous meeting this summer, Police Chief Mike Koval characterized that the disruption as “A choreographed and orchestrated show of force … daunting … meant to intimidate. … You are literally leaving the hallway in fear.”
David Blaska, Seat 4
1. Every MMSD plan (AL, ELL, Special Ed, BEP) seems to have specific challenges with
implementation at the school level. What will you as a board member do to better understand these issues and get the information you need to assess these situations? How will you ensure that issues with implementation and unmet student needs get addressed?
The Behavior Education plan is both cause and symptom. I would scrap it. It is the result of an Obama-era mandate that pushed schools to avoid disciplining students who needed to be disciplined. It made avoiding politically incorrect numbers more important than maintaining school safety. That mandate was overturned by the White House Commission on School Safety. I would return control of the classroom to teachers and control of the school to principals.
As for the others, I would need more information. I am a quick learner.
2. In a February Madison365 article, Superintendent Jen Cheatham wrote:
“A superintendent, no matter how determined or talented or passionate simply cannot succeed without a Board that clears the path for success.” How do you interpret this statement from a board member’s perspective?
High-sounding rhetoric, for certain. Two weeks before the April 2 Spring Election, before the prestigious Downtown Madison Rotary, Superintendent Cheatham related growing up in Chicago. Her father “came from nothing.” Young Jennifer took her first teaching job sight unseen, driving across country to the East Bay of California. Later, she won a spot in Harvard’s graduate program under the tutelage of an African-American mentor who told her that white female teachers were “a dime a dozen.” Young Jen internalized that message: she told the Rotarians that she owned her success to “white privilege.”
What a terrible message to send to people! It remove agency. It divides us into victims and predators.
3. In 2018-19, 5,661 MMSD students (21% of all students) were identified as advanced
learners in one of the five domains: specific academic areas, general intellectual, visual/performing arts, leadership or creativity. This included 8,503 AL designations as some students are identified in multiple areas. Disparities by race, income and language have improved slightly but still need significant work. Providing consistent and systematic advanced instruction (beyond math) to advanced learners continues to be a challenge at most schools. Please explain your thoughts on how schools can address both the critical work of helping students reach proficiency while allowing students to move beyond that level when they are ready.
More schools specifically geared toward advanced learners.
4. How can MMSD effectively measure success for its advanced learners?
My ears are wide open.
5. The current 2019-20 proposed budget includes Strategic Equity Projects. One proposal
addresses a recommendation made by the Advanced Learning Advisory Committee through the Office of Civil Rights resolution process to address racial disparities in access to and preparation for advanced coursework. This recommendation includes increasing the Advanced Learning staff to 1.0 FTE (from current 0.5 FTE levels) for every K-8 school in order to provide a talent development program for underrepresented students and a systematic structure for advanced learning in every school. If elected, will you support funding this recommendation?
Depends on the dollars. However, I am weary of legislating education by race rather than more predictive demographics, such as poverty, etc.
6. How can MMSD increase genuine engagement by stakeholders (students, families, staff and community members) in processes both at the district and school levels?
You tell me. Seems to me parents and taxpayers have some obligation to be informed. But I will say this, we must stop protestors from turning our school board meetings into a mosh pit. After one typically raucous meeting this summer, Police Chief Mike Koval characterized that the disruption as “A choreographed and orchestrated show of force … daunting … meant to intimidate. … You are literally leaving the hallway in fear.”