Challengers: Elena Brenner, Sean Brian Connally, Nichelle DeWitt, Mark Heck, Britney Mumford
Why do you want to serve on the school board, and what qualifications do you bring to the role?
I am a product of the Delaware public school system and a firm believer in public education. As a lawyer, and as someone who has served on numerous commissions and charitable boards and, more specifically, as someone who has served 15 years on the Board, I have much knowledge and experience in many of the issues associated with running a school district, including personnel, real estate, construction law, litigation, budgeting, finance, and a host of other issues with which the board must grapple on a daily basis.
What specific changes would you want to bring to how the school board currently operates?
Unlike other boards in the State, our board operates on a collegial, respectful basis, and, while we may not always agree on everything, we have never devolved into snarkiness, disrespectful social media posts, insults, and the like.
I think one of the many reasons that Appoquinimink is so successful is because the Board members are all respectful of one another and have always treated each other (as well as our parents, students, teachers, and staff) with respect and dignity.
What specific action is required to address student achievement gaps and support underserved populations (students with disabilities, English language learners, and those from low-income families)?
More than anything, schools need to focus on grades K-3 to ensure and emphasize reading skills. If a student falls behind in reading in early elementary school, they will be behind the rest of the educational career (or, as some say “first you learn to read, then you read to learn”). We have been emphasizing this for the last few years, and will continue to increase our emphasis on this. To the extent students are struggling (in whichever grade), our goal is to identify them and provide them with the supports necessary to increase their reading proficiency.
What specific changes should be made at schools to make the classroom a safer and more effective environment for maximizing learning and instruction (teaching)?
Generally speaking, in Appoquinimink, I think our schools are fairly safe. We have constables in all our schools. Just this past year, we created a parent/visitor code of conduct in reaction to a raft of incidents involving parents and visitors behaving inappropriately (and in some cases disgracefully), and we will, in appropriate circumstances, ban violators from school property and events. With respect to students, we have fairly strong policies in place (subject to applicable state law limitations). Schools must always be safe and our students, teachers, and staff must always feel safe.
Many educators say that not all parents are engaged enough with their children's education. How can the school board create policies that help forge a closer relationship and involvement among parents, their children and educators?
As a school board, we have started having more “open houses” and “ask the board a question” events. We are also scheduling “parent academy” events to address certain topics, such as smart phones, social media, etc.
To increase parent involvement with parent/teacher conferences and the like, we have also offered virtual attendance to parents with that need.
Finally, we do broadcast all our school board meetings on YouTube and recordings of past meetings are available online to review.
We continue to look for ways to increase parent involvement and engagement, and welcome further thoughts and suggestions.
How do you plan to address chronic absenteeism and student retention, especially in early grades and high school?
In Appoquinimink, student retention is strong and not a major issue, but we do work hard to keep our students in school. Our graduation rate is also very strong. As to chronic absenteeism, this was a larger issue coming out of Covid, as many parents kept their younger students out of school (at first) and older (high school) students thought they need not attend as much. We have gotten our absenteeism rates back to near pre-Covid levels with a combination of diligence and stepped-up enforcement of our district policies. We continue to work on this, but we are seeing results.
School districts oversee multi-million dollar budgets, supported by taxpayers. What steps will you propose to ensure that the money is being spent wisely and efficiently on student instruction?
Our district, Appoquinimink, has the second highest number of students, but the lowest tax base (and lowest operating tax rate) of the 5 major school districts in New Castle County. As a result, we are constantly monitoring our spending to ensure as much money is getting to the classroom as possible. Appo was the first Delaware district to create a “financial advisory committee” to review our finances and spending and to report monthly to the Board, and the Delaware legislature liked the idea so much, that it now requires such a committee for all school districts.
What is your stance on standardized testing, and how would you ensure that assessments support student learning rather than drive instruction (“teach to the test”)?
Some standardized testing will always be needed, and standardized testing has always been a part of the education process, but, like anything else, it is not a panacea, and it should not be the “be all and end all” of determining educational efficiency or success. Too much testing can be just as problematic as no testing at all, and the testing that is done needs to be designed to inform teachers (and parents) where a student needs additional support/instruction and where they are already doing well. Finding the right balance in testing is a continuing debate and challenge.
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