SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWERS

We asked each of the four candidates for the Board of Education to answer the following questions.

Donna Smith, Maureen Jones, and Elizabeth Baker all responded, while Godwin Molokwu did not.

Their answers are below in alphabetical order, unedited.


Elizabeth Baker

1.    How do you plan to find a new superintendent given the strict superintendent salary cap?
First, we need to describe the superintendent we need, and that’s someone who is the “total package.”  Our superintendent must be an educational leader who is committed to rigor and opportunity for all students.  To achieve our goals, the successful candidate must bring strong management and communication skills to implement the District’s educational vision, someone who can build on the district’s many strengths while addressing the shortcomings identified by parents in recent public discussions.  We need a strong communicator who makes partnership with parents a top priority, and requires district staff to do the same.  But no single individual knows everything.  Nor can he or she do it alone.  So we need to find someone who has many of the strengths we’re looking for, as well as a consciousness of his or her shortcomings and an ability to leverage others’ strengths to meet our district’s needs.

The process to select the new superintendent is already underway, and the next Board will make the hiring decision.  Presumably, all the applicants are well aware of the salary cap and what their pay would be upon acceptance.  The district offers many opportunities and challenges that will attract candidates who want to gain unique and strong professional experience running a school district and who want to be associated with our many great programs and aspirations.  That being said, the process of finding the ‘right’ candidate, with the background and energy we need, may take more time than we would like due to the restrictive salary environment created by the salary cap.

2.    What is your top priority for the school district?
A true partnership between the schools, parents, and teachers is my top priority because it will address so many of the challenges that children and families face, and it is a key component to ensuring that every student thrives.  Much of the anxiety that parents feel about their school and their children’s experience stems from the inconsistencies from classroom to classroom, unclear management structures, an inability to access services, and breakdowns in communication.  Communication needs to be both meaningful and mutual.  Educational leaders in all our schools and the district should be routinely asking parents “How are we doing?” and learning from the answers.  Moreover, in the middle and high schools, we need to weave communication between parents and teachers back into the fabric of life in our schools.  Power School is a helpful tool, but not a substitute for communication.

3.    Why do you want to be on the school board?
I walked each of my children to school on the first day of kindergarten filled with the hope and promise that every parent feels for their child, and the trust that my child was entering a stimulating, caring environment where she could grow and become a lover of learning.  My children have had some great experiences and excellent teachers who truly understood them, both nurturing and challenging them.  Like many parents, I have also seen obstacles that stand in the way of great teaching and the vibrant learning environment that we want for children in our district, including communication breakdowns, low expectations, budget pressures, and the huge amount of work it takes, at all levels, to roll out new initiatives.  I want to be part of the continuing process of ensuring every child is valued and engaged, and that we have real communities of learners and opportunity in our schools.  We have good schools and lots of talent but fewer resources than we’d like.  It is critical that we are intentional, coordinated and focused in both our policy-making and the implementation of our goals.  I want to help meet these challenges, as we look for and maximize every opportunity to make our schools great and maintain that sense of hope and promise that we have for our children.

4.    What is your greatest asset for the district?
My professional experience has taught me to ask hard questions but, at the same time, look for areas of common ground and bring everyone to a workable solution.  You have to give people space to speak about the issues, consider information, and take in various points of view.  We need that space and that input to make good decisions for all the children of our district.  There are many stakeholders in the process of educating our children, including teachers, parents, administrators, and taxpayers.  I’m used to dealing with competing perspectives, listening and learning from different stakeholders, and arriving at solutions that create effective outcomes to which all parties feel they have contributed.

5.    Was the school district reaction to the Tuscan security breach overdone?

Even though the intruder turned out to be a reporter, the Tuscan security incident was alarming to both parents and staff at the school.  Everyone agrees that a safe and healthy school environment is a prerequisite for great teaching and student learning.  So I think we should view the incident and the ensuing discussion as an opportunity for our district to take stock of what we are doing and develop educationally-appropriate preventive measures to safeguard the well-being of both students and staff.  
The Tuscan incident also underscored the need for our district, despite our budget constraints and the myriad demands we face, to always seek out and apply best practices.  As we grappled with what had happened, many parents understood the need for our schools to take short term action to ensure safety while we assessed our infrastructure and operations to develop a better preventive plan.  For this reason, parents could accept, in the short term, the restrictions regarding visits to our schools.  However, these rules have not been applied with consistency, and some basic procedures that were in place last year – and which were not controversial – may not be in place this year.

Further, it is still unclear to parents what steps our district has taken to ensure that we are following the best preventive practices, and doing so consistently from one school to another.  While we cannot publicly discuss the details of our schools’ security plans, our district should be able to share with parents, teachers, and members of the community what we are doing to identify best practices and make sure we are taking reasonable, preventive steps to ensure safety in all our schools.

6.    What do you think of the Columbia teacher’s arrest on under-aged sex charges and could it have been prevented?  If so, how?
The safety and wellbeing of our students must be the top priority for our District.  In addition to the prosecutorial investigation, our district clearly needs to complete its own internal investigation to learn whether and how this situation could have been prevented and/or detected more readily, and look at the best practices of other school districts for preventing and detecting abuse.
As a parent, I am also very concerned about reports that many students seemed to know about the situation and yet it took a considerable amount of time before adults learned of it.  Clearly we need to reinforce with our children the importance of coming forward to report improper or abusive conduct and seek help, whether for themselves or their fellow students.  But we must also empower them to do so.  While we may not know, or be able to discuss, the details of the ongoing investigations, opening up these channels of communication and empowering our students is something we need to start doing now.

7.    What is your view of tenure that makes it difficult to fire bad teachers and how would you change it?
Managing and developing staff is one of the superintendent’s major responsibilities, and I would like this to be emphasized in the superintendent selection process.  The district needs to provide more consistent teaching practice from school to school and classroom to classroom. While we talk a great deal about differentiated instruction, we need to equip our teachers to provide that instruction.  The fairly new revisions to the tenure law seem to provide both a more deliberate practice for making tenure decisions regarding new teachers, as well as a clear standard and fair process for removing ineffective teachers, whether they have tenure or not.  I would like to see our district do more to define and implement best practices developing new teachers and incorporating professional development into the daily life of our schools.

Maureen Jones

1. How do you plan to find a new superintendent given the strict superintendent salary cap?

The state-imposed salary cap will sunset during the next superintendent’s contract and my understanding is that many legislators are opposed to its renewal – we are not the only district who lost a Superintendent to a New York district which could offer more money. So anyone we hire has the prospect of a higher salary over the long term. Besides, money is not the only thing that a good educator looks for when deciding where to work.  The kind of Superintendent we want will be attracted to a district like ours because of its combination of accomplishments and challenges.

Hiring the right person will be a challenge but I’m convinced that we can if we take the time we need – possibly going a second round if we’re not excited about anyone in the first pool of candidates. I am particularly concerned that we might fall for someone who promises the moon in a convincing way. I’m more interested in hearing from – and hiring – someone with sober judgment, who will tell the Board the truth and even say “no” when we ask for too much in too short a timeframe

2. What is your top priority for the school district?

We need to challenge all students in every classroom, every day.   Where our district needs to improve to realize this goal is by investing in capacity building for our staff and developing teacher leadership in our schools, by reviewing the educational effectiveness of our district’s special services, and by ensuring that all adults display the consistent expectation that students can and will rise to the occasion and become successful learners. 

We need to ensure that there are adequate resources in inclusion classrooms, proactive outreach to parents, a more streamlined process for evaluation and classification, as well as clarity for regular education teachers on the content of each student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP).

Most important of all, however, is professional development. We need more of the sort of professional development that happens every day, as part of the regular school day because it’s part of the culture of the school. We need to create structures that recognize our best teachers as teacher leaders and leverage their experience for less experienced members of the staff.

We need to be careful that the new evaluation and accountability measures mandated for principals and program leaders to use, doesn’t chill their ability to act as trusted instructional leaders for the same teachers they evaluate.

3. Why do you want to be on the school board?

I want to serve for several reasons: Number one, I want to be a voice on the Board for all those families who are less able to advocate for themselves – families for whom English is a second language, families of children  with special needs, families who may be struggling to make ends meet.  The district needs to become more effective at engaging with these families, making our district easier to navigate; being helpful in whatever way is necessary to make them feel a full part of the school community.

Number two, I want to serve because I’ve seen – in one district after another – how hard it is to get this right and because at the same time I know that we as a community can get it right -- but only if we’re willing to listen to one another, to learn from one another and support one another in a joint effort to sustain our great school system. I want to make that dialogue happen.

Third, and most importantly, I am committed to transforming the way we support and train teachers. Good teaching is the foundation for everything that we do.

4. What is your greatest asset for the district?

A lifelong interest in helping children with special needs led me to become a speech language pathologist and now it’s motivated me to run for the school board.  I want to make sure that every child is challenged and nurtured every day no matter their starting point or their abilities.

I’ve worked in many districts and observed several approaches to making schools successful. I know how hard it is for teachers to handle classrooms of children with disparate needs even as they’re asked to master new curriculum and instructional approaches. But I also know that teachers can do it when school districts are well organized and have strong instructional leadership. As a Board member, it will not be my role to get into the nuts and bolts of how our educators do their jobs. But it is the Board’s responsibility to see that the schools are well run.

Drawing on my experience, I want to bring a sense of reality to the Board’s discussion of how schools work, how long it takes to improve them and the most sensible ways to measure school effectiveness.  As a speech language pathologist I know that listening, observing and placing one’s self in the other person’s shoes is the way to connect.  I believe the Board needs to do this better; to understand how its goals and decisions impact children, their parents, and staff members trying to get the job done in the classroom. I hope to help the Board fully consider all these perspectives as part of its decision-making process.

5. Was the school district reaction to the Tuscan security breach overdone?

I’m not sure I understand this question – are you asking whether parents and staff overreacted or the district administration did too much in response. I think the answer to both is “no”. Parents worry about safety and, unfortunately, there have been too many attacks in schools around the country for anyone to say it won’t happen here, however slight the chance may be.

Our first and top priority for our children should always be safety.  We can’t make our schools perfectly safe but we should make them reasonably safe. That means that we have to have plans, policies and procedures defined, and we have to make sure they are followed all the time. What happened at Tuscan – while it turned out not to be a real threat – is a good example of what Elizabeth and I mean when we say that there is sometimes a gap between the goals and policies in Central Office and the day-to-day life of our schools.

Did the school district move fast enough to implement new plans, procedures and facilities to meet our safety and security needs? Probably not, but the problem is not necessarily a lack of effort or a lack of intention. In my view, the district is always trying to do too much at once and that results in a lot of things not getting done well or in a timely fashion. That’s why I’ve repeatedly said that a key strength of whoever we hire as a Superintendent must be the ability to say “no” when the Board asks for too much, too quickly.

6. What do you think of the Columbia teachers arrest on under-aged sex charges and could it have been prevented?  If so, how?

We are all appalled that this happened and wonder why it went on for so long before being uncovered. We need to make our middle and high schools more personalized, so that students will feel safe confiding in other adults at the school when one of the adults starts exhibiting problematic behavior. And we need proactive efforts to talk to students about all the challenges they might face on the path to adulthood and the best ways to respond to them.



7.  What is your view of tenure that makes it difficult to fire bad teachers and how
would you change it?

In the old system, it was in fact possible to dismiss ineffective teachers but the process took too long and cost way too much. The new law strikes the right balance between a district’s needs and a teacher’s right to due process when accused of underperformance. The new law also provides for a tenure renewal process that is more problematic. In and of itself, requiring that teachers have to periodically re-certify is not that threatening to most teachers. The thing that I’m concerned about is the impact that the new teacher evaluation process is going to have. Using test scores as part of a teacher’s overall evaluation makes no sense – there are too many external factors that go into children’s performance on standardized tests beyond the classroom teacher.

Donna Smith
1. How do you plan to find a new superintendent given the strict superintendent salary cap?

Despite the salary cap, the district already has received quite a few applications.  In view of that, I am certain that we can find a superintendent who meets the criteria set by the Board.  The more difficult question is how to retain the superintendent for any length of time, if the salary cap continues.  I am hopeful that the state legislature will refuse to extend the cap when it comes up for consideration.

A number of people at the search fora have asked for a superintendent who is a visionary and I agree but in the sense of being able to view all of our district’s challenges and address them creatively and strategically.  We have a number of new initiatives and programs being implemented in the district and a history of just plunging ahead without appropriate evaluation.  We are in the process of implementing IB at the middle schools, the Common Core, PARCC assessments, and TeachNJ procedures, all while facing a looming deficit.  This ‘visionary’ therefore needs to have a number of strengths that can help meet these challenges, not the least of which is how to manage the budget. 
I think the superintendent also should have a good understanding of the teaching profession and be able to provide the appropriate support for teachers during these challenging times.  There has been a lot of turnover in the district, including the Maplewood Middle School principal, superintendent of curriculum, Jefferson School principal, IB coordinator, and a new principal and assistant principal at the high school, so a strong skilled manager is definitely needed.
We will be asking quite a lot of the new superintendent and we should take our time conducting the search, so as to bring in the right person.

2. What is your top priority for the school district? 

At practically every superintendent search forum we heard the same comment from parents, that their children are not being sufficiently challenged.  If elected, I will insist on challenging classes for all students.  We must prioritize solid professional development in differentiated instruction for elementary and middle school teachers, so that the needs of all types of learners can be met.  We want to make sure that we are providing appropriate support for students with special needs in our district.  I also want to ensure that at the high school, access to AP and honors classes is expanded and that the process and requirements for entering those classes is more transparent.  Students who are eligible to be placed in honors or AP classes should not be prevented from doing so because of scheduling problems, lack of course offerings, or inadequate support from the Guidance Department, which should be encouraging students to register for classes that are appropriately challenging. 

3. Why do you want to be on the school board?

I have wanted to run for the BOE for a long time, but did not believe I could devote a sufficient amount of time and attention to a position on the board until now.  I care very much for our community and our schools and believe that I can make a real contribution to the district by serving on the Board of Ed.  I can be a consensus builder, something that I think is sorely needed, and help the Board and the district move forward, meeting the many challenges we are facing at this time.


4. What is your greatest asset for the district?

I think my greatest asset is my experience in the district.  I know our schools inside and out as I have put my 3 boys through our K-12 schools.  During that time I have held leadership roles in the PTA, HSA and the PTA Presidents Council.  I participated in district search committees for administrative personnel and on the Strategic Planning committee as well as the Task Force for Equity and Excellence.  I also have advocated for students and parents, spearheading two different parent groups that challenged the district to maintain challenging coursework at the middle schools. My leadership and experience in the district will allow me to hit the ground running if I am elected to the Board. 

5.    Was the school district reaction to the Tuscan security breach overdone?

If you mean that installing additional cameras and other security measures was overdone, no, I do not believe so.  The safety and security of our students must be of paramount concern and any improvements to our systems that can be made should be made.  The false alarm at Marshall School, which revealed inadequacies in security training and communication both within district and outside the district, demonstrates the fact that we must remain vigilant in ensuring that our policies and procedures are the best that they can be for our district.

6.    What do you think of the Columbia teachers arrest on under-aged sex charges and could it have been prevented? If so, how?

Since I have no direct knowledge of the case, I cannot answer whether this situation could have been prevented. 

7.    What is your view of tenure that makes it difficult to fire bad teachers and how would you change it?

Actually, the state legislature has already made significant changes to tenure law with the enactment of TeachNJ.  The law now provides for a 4-year probationary period before a teacher or administrator can obtain tenure.  Teaching staff must now be evaluated and if found not to be performing satisfactorily, must work on an improvement plan.  Tenure revocation procedures have also been greatly simplified.  As a district, we must make sure that we implement the procedures correctly and consistently, so that any actions taken are upheld on appeal.

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