This blog printed on 100% recycled electrons.
Here's the Madville Times public service of the weekend: all four school board candidate profiles online!
You've already read my answers; Jay Niedert's appeared alongside mine in print on pages 1 and 3 of Monday's (March 24) Madison Daily Leader; Tammy Jo Zingmark and Paul Weist had their say on page 12 of Thursday's MDL. I have reproduced their words exactly as printed; the only changes I made were in paragraph breaks and in maintaining the links I added for my online responses. Candidates, if you'd like any links added, let me know, and I'll happily update!
I'm about to comment on some of the responses, so quick! Before I corrupt your thoughts, go read what the candidates have to say....
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...welcome back! O.K., a few little things that popped to mind as I read the responses:
--I was surprised to find that, while I'm the youngest candidate, I've lived in Lake County the longest of the four. (Take that for what it's worth: you could say I've been here so long I'm one of the old guard committed to doing things the way they've always been done and never rocking the boat.... ;-) )
--The candidates stand 3-1 against the trimester system. The lone trimester defender, Zingmark, confesses to not knowing much about trimesters but says the folks she talks to say the trimester schedule is great. Zingmark evidently isn't reading your comments, readers. A small minority have weighed in here in favor of trimesters, but the overall sentiment from my readers is that most folks would say "Good riddance" to trimesters.
--Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like all four of us are on the same page on a new gym facility: a new gym would be nice, but money's tight, and it will take more than just the school district to make it happen. We all seem to believe that a real community events center requires a broader community effort.
--On preschool, we again seem to stand 3-1, with Niedert and Weist joining me in saying the state shouldn't require preschool. Zingmark's only reservation about state-mandated preschool appears to be funding.
--Weist strikes a chord with my old anarchist heart, saying that "It would be my greatest desire to remove the need for disciplinary policies, but then that would not be reality." Ah, if only! I think there might be some philosophy in that response that deserves more than the 100-word limit Chuck Clement imposed on us.
--On AIM High, Niedert provides a useful number: he says the State Department of Labor funding we're losing in 2009 is just 20% of our alternative school budget, and that money was being used for a staff position that is no longer there. We thus may not have a funding problem. Let's hope that's the case!
Your own comments and questions are welcome! Fire away in the comments section here, and bring your questions to the candidates' forum on April 3 (that's Thursday, 7 p.m., MHS lunchroom).
Hide Fido (by Andy Horowitz)
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I coined Noem as the ‘Palin of South Dakota’ when she ran for the state
house, seems I nailed it; America: meet your new Secretary of Homeland
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2 hours ago
Cory, After reading all of these responses it seems that all of the candidates are pretty much the same. How are you -different- from any of the other people running?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Matt: Practically speaking, there isn't much difference. We're all parents and taxpayers, and we're all interested in doing education right.
ReplyDeleteI can point to a couple differences; I'll let you decide if they're all that significant:
Difference #1: Experience.
I have spent my entire adult life working in education in some form or another. As I said, all four of us are committed to education, but I've spent the most time in classrooms seeing what students and teachers need to get things done. That practical experience could be useful on the board.
Difference #2: I'm the only candidate with a blog.
Ha -- big deal, right? Well, actually, maybe. I'd like to think my blog shows I'm committed to doing at least a little research to figure what the best policies will be. It also shows I'm willing to communicate -- I'll take clear positions and tell why I hold them. And research and communication both include listening to other people, and the blog shows I do that, too. That doesn't mean I agree with everybody else, but I'll give everybody else their say, especially as we work together as neighbors to figure out what's best for our schools.
And don't think the blog disappears if I get elected. If elected, I might create a separate blog for board-specific issues, but the conversation will stay open.
Maybe there are some other differences. Readers, what do you think? Jay, Tammy Jo, Paul, if you're reading, what differences do you see?
Won't it be hard to blog about school board stuff, especially after an executive session? How can a person keep from crossing the line, or how do you keep from blasting your other board members if they disagree with you on a decision and you're the minority voter? It seems like it would be hard to hold back. Please explain how it can work.
ReplyDeleteIt goes without saying that executive session stuff stays in executive session, absolutely.
ReplyDeleteAs for disagreement, well, I'm not interested in "blasting" anybody. (And as our candidate responses above indicate, it seems it's kind of hard to find really strong disagreement among us on the isues brought up so far!) But there's nothing wrong with an open discussion of different points of view as we work on policies. That open discussion will be open to you as well, so you can comment and help inform my discussion with other board members and my votes.
Check out the board code of ethics. It says (among other things), "Once a decision has been reached by the majority of the board assembled at the meeting, I will support it graciously." Once the board has decided, it has decided, and we carry out our policies and move on. I'm used to that: it's kind of like debate contests, where I coach students to argue passionately in the round, and then once it's over, shake hands, accept the judge's ruling, and move on.
The key is to remember that disagreement isn't personal; it's how we compare different views and figure out the best way to proceed. And once we vote, it's time to stop debating and carry out the policy.
The Daily Leader says you were fired in 2001. They archive the stories. Those meetings were executive sessions. You talked about the reasons and the incidents and gave interviews to the paper and maybe the radio. If they were executive session, how were you able to tell your story so often in the paper.
ReplyDeleteGood question! Check with a lawyer to be sure, but here's how I understand it: The comments in the paper came before the board met. I think I only told my story in the paper once (though you've browsed the archives more often than I, so feel free to update me). As far as I can remember, I've actually never talked to the press about what happened in executive session. And now, since the matter went to court, the transcript of the board hearing, including the executive session, is public record. You can probably go to the courthouse and request to read the transcript yourself.
ReplyDeleteOh, and if you'd like to see what a school board member's blog can look like, see what Watertown School Board Member Fred Deutsch is writing.
ReplyDeleteHow do you feel about administration compensation compared to teacher compensation?
ReplyDeleteAre there any areas you would see cutting the budget or moving things around (paying more in one area and less for another?)
Since you feel so strongly that teachers should be paid more, is there anything you would do to get that pay increased?
How do you feel about the combination of the middle school and high school music positions? Was that a good decision?
As a school board member, would you try to change the laptop program in any way?
What are your thoughts on homeschooled students being allowed to participate in extra-curricular programs?
What do you "see that teachers and students need to get things done"? Are there changes you think should be considered?
Thanks for your response.
DRK
Nothing like easy questions on a Sunday morning... ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the questions, DRK. This could get long, so bear with me:
admin pay vs teacher pay:
Administrators everywhere get paid more than teachers. If we decided to cut our admin pay to teacher levels, we'd face the same competitive disadvantage in hiring admins that we currently face in hiring teachers. But I've noted before an interesting experiment at a new NYC school where the teachers will be paid much more than the principal.
If it's easy for folks to pick on teachers, it's even easier to pick on administrators for making lots of money (for one thing, there's fewer of them). But in any organization I can think of, the executives get paid more than the regular employees. The folks at the top in any field do get paid more to make decisions and take heat that no one else has to.
I'd like to say we could solve any budget crunch by cutting admin pay, and if things got really tight, I'd consider that along with pretty much any other idea folks suggested. But consider: we could cut our administrators' pay by $20K a head (that's a 33% pay cut for Bud Postma), and that would get us $120K. We could do a lot with $120K, but that's still just 2% of our total budget, less than this year's opt-out amount. Plus, we'd have a heck of a hard time keeping people in those jobs (anyone care to volunteer to do Bud Postma's job for free? not likely!)
"Are there any areas you would see cutting the budget or moving things around?: I do want to look at the computer tech budget. I'd like to see what we're spending on computers, software, and support personnel and talk to the students, teachers, and other staff about what we're getting for our money. A tech-savvy student once suggested we could save money and promote better tech education by moving from expensive proprietary software to open-source software. For instance, OpenOffice is a totally free software package that does pretty much everything kids would use Microsoft Office for. Now another friend suggested that such a move would be impractical -- but I wouldn't mind hearing some more opinions as to the budgetary and educational value of moving to open source software.
Otherwise, I know the board has done a lot of hard work to tighten the budget, so I'm under no illusions that we can march in and find all sorts of mad money in the budget. There are no easy cuts or changes to make in the budget. (If being on the board were easy, we'd have had a lot more people running for it in recent years!)
"Since you feel so strongly that teachers should be paid more, is there anything you would do to get that pay increased?": I'm actually going to start my answer by passing the buck: the board is limited in what it can do to raise teacher pay by the stinginess of the state. About half of our budget is state funding. The state has increased its overall budget by 4.7% a year this decade; since 2000, Madison has actually decreased its general fund spending; per student general fund expenditures have only increased 2.7% a year. The state's got money; it's not sharing. The school board will be hard-pressed to make a significant increase in teacher pay happen without getting Pierre to start treating K-12 education as an investment rather than an expense.
I know, you'd probably rather hear about some practical things we can do. But politics is a reality on this issue, and I think our board and administrators will need to continue to be active and vocal in lobbying Pierre to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide everyone a good education, even if that means we get nasty letters from the Governor.
O.K., enough politics; what can we do locally? Well, first, keep your fingers crossed that our housing market weather the current storm better than the rest of the country. With ag land values and houses at Lake Madison going up, maybe we'll see more money coming into our coffers without increasing tax rates. Of course, that doesn't help farmers if their income doesn't keep up with land values inflated by other factors.
Would Madison voters swallow a local tax increase just to cover raises for teachers? Well, last year, voters rejected taking on an extra $391K of annual debt burden to pay for a new gym. If we asked for the same amount to cover teacher pay, that would get just about $4000 raises for each teacher. I don't have the Madison average handy, but SD's average pay is $35K. If we raised our statewide average pay to $39K, we'd still be $10K behind Minnesota (and that's one of our big competitors for workforce).
"How do you feel about the combination of the middle school and high school music positions? Was that a good decision?" Bad decision. Bring that position back.
"As a school board member, would you try to change the laptop program in any way?" We should look hard at buying cheaper laptops next time. The Tablet PCs are nice, but are they worth $400 or more extra over the price of a regular laptop? Teachers, students, what do you think?
I'm also curious to see some evidence on the educational results we get from laptops in the classroom. Are kids learning more? Are more going to college? Are they getting better jobs? It will take a long time to get some of those answers, but we need those answer to inform future policy.
"What are your thoughts on homeschooled students being allowed to participate in extra-curricular programs?": Let 'em in! Their folks pay as much property tax as I do.
"What do you 'see that teachers and students need to get things done'?":
Students first: They need options, particularly in high school, so they can start making choices and get ready for whatever they have planned next. That's one reason I dislike the trimester system: it limits their options for music, distance classes, and DSU classes.
Students need fair treatment. Kids will accept even hard rules (zeroes for plagiarism, getting kicked off the team for the season for breaking training rules) if they know those rules will be applied fairly.
Teachers need to know they have the support of their administration to do the jobs they are experts at. As Ken Greeno, my principal at Montrose, regularly told me, "As long as you obey the laws of God and man, I'll support you." He left the curriculum and classroom decisions to me, trusting in my professional judgment to do the right thing. Given that kind of trust, I felt an awesome responsibility to live up to that trust. He didn't micromanage, and I worked hard not to let him (or the kids) down. That's not a policy so much as a management philosophy that should define the atmosphere of a school. Even though I am a teacher, if you elect me to the board, you won't find me walking into Doc Miller's or Tom Osterberg's or Al Bierschbach's classroom telling them how to do their jobs. They're the experts, and I'll at least give them the respect, if not the wages, they deserve.
Teachers also need time to teach. In-services and meetings can be useful, but the less paperwork and committeework we pile on teachers, the more time they'll have to work with kids.
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I can probably come up with more on each of those questions, but that's a lot already. DRK, let me know if I answered your questions sufficiently.
I really appreciate anyone that throws their hat in the ring to run for school board. From what I read here you sound very committed, but I have some reservations.
ReplyDelete1. You are the only one of the candidates to state your political affiliation. Serving on a school board is non-partisan. Much of what you write sounds very partisan.
2. You’re a trained debater. That means you’re trained in the art of persuasion. I’m concerned that your voice will over-whelm the others on the board – that the voice of the full board will eventually become solely your voice.
3. You’ve written on your site that “we teachers need to stick together.” That concerns me. I don’t make much money. Can you balance the needs of the taxpayer with the needs of education? Or are you going to simply be a voice for the teacher’s union? If you’re going to stick together with the teachers, who will stick together for the tax payers?
4. If school districts were meant to be run by teachers, we’d have no need for community involvement in public school boards. I’m partial to having soccer moms and dads or community business people participating on school boards. I think school boards were designed for lay people.
And I appreciate folks who take the time to ask questions like yours... and who'll stick around for answers! I know, I sound like a debater, but you asked, so I'll answer:
ReplyDelete1. Political affiliation: Sure, my blog and other public statements make my politics pretty clear. But you'll note I'm not trying to bring partisan politics onto the board. The board isn't the place for that; the board is the place for making education work for everybody. I'm not asking you to vote for me because of what party I belong to; I'm asking you to vote for me because I'll work for good public education, as I always have.
2. "Trained debater"? Boy, if debate experience disqualifies one for public service, do you want to tell all the kids at Madison and around the state to quit participating in debate? Or, alternatively, are you suggesting that no student who has participated in debate should run for public office? Do you want to tell Ken Meyer (MHS Bulldog debater, 1981-1985) to resign from the states' attorney job, since he might unduly sway the county commission to favor his office?
When I coach and judge debate, I emphasize to kids that the point of training in public speaking is not simply to win arguments. It's to learn how to communicate civilly, fearlessly, and honestly; to back up with you say with logic and research; and (most importantly) to listen thoughtfully to what everyone else has to say. Those skills all ought to be pre-requisities for citizenship, not to mention public service.
Anon, you express the fear that "the voice of the full board will eventually become solely your voice." I would encourage you to express this fear to any current board member... but be prepared to be met with hearty laughter.
The board is seven people, seven neighbors, working together to make the school work. No one board member can take over... especially not me.
3. Teachers do need to stick together. But also note, I've never been a member of the teacher's union -- it cost too much to join.
Also note that I'm a taxpayer just like most other voters. I don't know what you make or pay, Anon, but my family household income in 2007 was $37,287. (That's $2000 less than the state and county median household incomes... from 2004). Our annual property tax is now about $1700. (There's something else you know about me that you don't know about the other candidates.) I'd rather not pay more.
If you look through the blog, you'll see I've argued very publicly against raising taxes unnecessarily. And this may not count for much, but on the Lake Herman Sanitary District, I've advocated a 60% reduction in taxes. Believe me, if I can save money, I will.
If we can keep getting good education on the cheap, well, then we're awfully lucky. But if we start having trouble recruiting quality teachers, we may have to face some ugly economic realities.
4. I'll disagree. Sure, board policy precludes school employees from serving on the board, and for good reason. But why exclude anyone with experience in education from serving on the board that makes important education policy decisions?
I'll disagree. Sure, board policy precludes school employees from serving on the board, and for good reason. But why exclude anyone with experience in education from serving on the board that makes important education policy decisions?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: For the same reason we don't elect someone "actively" serving in the military to serve as the president of the US ie commander-in-chief. Lay people are best suited to weigh, discern and represent the public values of the community. Electing an educator to govern an educational system opens the door for potential bias. Nothing against you personally. You would have my support if you ran for a different office. But not the school.
I appreciate your respectful disagreement, Anon. I'll keep trying, though: to pursue the military analogy, I'm as far removed from the classroom now (resigned from Montrose May 29, 2007) as Eisenhower was removed from the military when he ran for President (resigned May 31, 1952). And given my doctoral studies and research assistantship at DSU, I probably won't be teaching in a K-12 classroom for another 2-3 years.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Tammy Jo Zingmark and Paul Weist have both worked as substitute teachers at Madison. Weist is on this year's sub list. Does that mean you will only be voting for Mr. Niedert?
Your position on allowing home-schooled and I assume Christian-schooled students to participate in extra-curicullars such as music, sports, debate is based on the fact their parents pay property taxes. That doesn't help the schools. When parents open enroll, home school or send their kids to Christian schools, the district gets nothing. The State keeps the money other than open-enrolling, which the money follows the student to another district. Care to reevaluate?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think Jen Richards would be offended by your concrete opinion to change her highly successful music program. Her numbers are really growing because she is challenging students and very engaging. Maybe you were thinking of Band when you answered the earlier questions.
It comes down to tolerance and cooperation. Any board member or committee member needs to be tolerant and cooperate and support decisions.
Music: you're right -- I was thinking of the middle school band position. We should bring that back. I know Jenn Richards is doing good work with the chorus -- I'd be happy to hear from her what she thinks we need in our music ed.
ReplyDeleteHome school: true, we don't get state aid for home school kids, but the school still gets a cut of their tax money in the local share (if I'm mistaken about that, I welcome clarification). Home school kids should be able to participate because their parents pay taxes and because they are part of the community.
Tolerance and cooperation -- good characteristics for any board member. Tolerance for different opinions, cooperation in sharing ideas and involving as many people as possible in the conversation -- you bet!
Cory, you are right. The schools get the local effort share (local property tax) even from home schooled students or those attending St. Thomas or the Christian school. The only part they don't get is the sum the state pays to make up difference to meet the per student set amount. I don't know how much that is though.
ReplyDeleteNonnie
I asked my relative who is in MHS about the the computers, and he said the kids mainly use them for email and games. If this is right, this is the first place to start saving money by getting rid of them. Maybe someone should do a survey and see how the kids use them and how much they use them for actual school work. Have a computer lab to learn to use computers; most kids already are adept at this anyway. And use pencil and paper for note-taking. It's not that I'm anti-technology, but it just seems that if the students aren't actually making use of this huge investment, maybe it's time to use the money for something else that would yield a better return on the investment education-wise.
ReplyDeleteNonnie
Right on taxes, Nonnie! When there's an opt-out, home-schooling parents don't get to opt-out of the opt-out; they pay right along with the rest of us, and their opt-out money goes straight to the school. That money by itself is enough to cover extracurricular costs for their kids to have football pads or a debate briefcase.
ReplyDeleteI think state aid is about half of our budget.
Computers: You're right again, Nonnie: we do need to take a close look at everything we do to make sure we're getting the best use out of our money. We're a year into the laptop program; we're committed to two more with the leases. We should look now and at the end of the lease to see if it's worth re-upping that program. Get teacher, parent, and student opinion, but also take a hard look at academic performance. Any such research also needs to include talking to the kids who graduate this year and take their new laptop skills to college/work. Do the laptops give them an advantage?
If the kids at the MS are using computers for email and games, it's not time to get rid of the computers, it's time to get rid of the school board! They are the one's that create the mission and the goals. They are the ones that hold the administrators accountable to ensuring the goals are met. What are the goals for the ocmputers? Computer's are just a tool -- it's what you "do with them" that's revolutionizing education. Do you want our kids to learn geography by coloring maps? Or by using Google Earth? Do you want our kids to learn science from a text book that's dated five years by the time we first buy it? Or do you want them learning up-to-the-minute knowledge in wiki's and education blogs?
ReplyDeleteEmail and games? That's an atrocity! What say you, Mr. CAH?
Uh oh -- I feel a long answer coming on! Here's a short answer: I'm not looking to get rid of computers. I do, however, want to see that we're getting results. If the few hundred thousand dollars we're spending on the laptops isn't giving kids better educational options and outcomes, I can think of a lot of uses for such money (hiring three more teachers, perhaps?) that could.
ReplyDelete---Now, the long answer!---
I have a strange ambivalence about computers. On the one hand, I agree that you can do spectacular things with a computer. Google Earth, blogs, wikis, podcasts, YouTube... there's so much kids and adults can learn from and do with the Internet! I know whereof I speak: here I sit at Lake Herman, having this conversation by computer, not to mention doing an entire doctoral program almost entirely online.
At the same time, I have my throwback moments where I remind myself that Socrates didn't even need pencil and paper to educate the youth of Athens and change the world. Even I in my classes at DSU have times where having the computer on does more harm than good. Sometimes I just have to close the screen and listen to my prof.
Our tools are what we make of them. For some teachers and some classes, the computer is the right tool. But to say every teacher and every lesson has to integrate computers causes problems. Sure, if I were teaching geography, I'd have the kids using Google Earth like crazy and blogging about it (assuming the K-12 filter let us do so). But I'll bet there are other teachers who could help just as much learning happen by having kids color in paper maps.
Computers are great tools. So are markerboards. So are books. The board should make a variety of tools available, but it's the teacher's right/responsibility to decide which tools to use, and how.
Would I ever throw out all of the computers? Not likely. If we threw out everything that kids use to sometimes goof around, well, the school would be pretty bare. But given how much is spent on computers, we do have to pay extra attention to the results we are getting from them. Tell me more stories, folks. Teachers, students, tell me how you're using the laptops. Tell me if they're worth the effort, the training, and the money.