A report from the 4th District School Board Forum
Posted on September 12, 2008 by Shennen | 1 Comment
It was a warm reception at St. Luke Lutheran Church on Chippenham last Wednesday, and an even warmer room for the 4th district school board forum, but about sixty or so residents turned out at the meeting and were very pleased to listen to the candidates discuss their perspectives on four questions written by parents of students living in the district and currently attending Richmond Public Schools.
Here is some transcription of what was said:
After welcoming everyone to the forum, council woman Kathy Graziano very wisely said, “The heart of the community is schools.” Following in suit Bill Pantele, who is endorsed by Mrs. Graziano, stated, “No city can be greater than the quality of its public schools.”
He also pointed out that “the last two chairs of the school board came from this district.” Adding, “We each have a stake in public schools whether or not you have a child or are working or retired.”
Kathy Graziano explained, “The questions were developed by a group of citizens who have children in the system.”
Peter Blake, the president of the South Hampton civic association, was the moderator.
Question#1 Children have different needs. How would you, as a policy maker, balance the diverse socio-economic needs of our students, so that our schools are more attractive to a wider range of students and parents?
Bert Berlin:
“Every child is different.The biggest issue is that many middle class parents don’t send their children to Richmond Public Schools. We need to work on getting the people in the neighborhood to come into the neighborhood school. We must also increase funding in the school budget for IB programs.” He also encouraged people to support the Patrick Henry Initiative.
Adria G. Scott said she has personal experience in the schools system as she has four children with diverse needs – she added that she “removed one from the school system”
She stated that the school system is “going to have to increase resources and options”
She also believes we have to increase financing of schools but also look at the audit prepared by the city auditor. She believes “We have come from crisis into performance.”
She also stated she has “15 years experience working with nonprofit organizations.”
Jonathan Mallard:
“I do not believe we need more money – 20 million a year is wasted.”
He asked “How do you cut down on teacher and principal turnover?”
He also claimed there was a “20% turnover in principals” and talked about the fact that turnover costs the schools money. He also said he is “concerned about violence against staff and students and how to improve safety.”
John Lloyd:
“We need to look at parent’s attitude toward the school system. Parents want to know that when their kids leave for school that they will be safe.”
He supports International Baccalaureate programs, but also said we “need a strong voc-tech program to help get our students get employed and keep them off the streets.”
He also said, “We need to make sure that kindergartners are tested for learning disabilities.” Finally, “The important question is whether the accommodations are there to meet their needs.”
Question #2:
In the context of the school system, how do you define successful communications, and how would you implement it?
Adria G. Scott:
“Communication is key. We need to figure out how to get information to parents and students but also from the board to principals. We need to take advantage of technology – use blogs, further develop the RPS website, and create a ‘kid council’ - schools are doing a great job of getting information to the parents – parents are not always going to do the things they need to do to get that information.”
Jonathan Mallard believes that the board needs to have local town meetings to discuss policy on communication.
John Lloyd said, “It is my responsibility to be available to parents.” He emphasized that it is the sole duty of the superintendent to talk to school staff.
Bert Berlin said “The school board doesn’t even do communicating among itself – there is too much animosity. We have a television station, and a web site that is pretty deficient – I can never find what I am looking for.” He added, “There are some schools with excellent communication.”
Question #3
The daily administrative operation of our schools is also important. What will you do to enhance our administrative system so that the basic needs of our schools are met, ranging from toilet paper in the restrooms to copiers in the office for teacher use?
Jonathan Mallard said we should “Hire a superintendent who holds administration accountable and focus on writing an effective budget.”
John Lloyd believes we “need to move administrative staff from downtown into the schools.”
Bert Berlin said “it is the board’s responsibility to hire someone who is adequate for the position.”
We sincerely apologize for not having Adria G. Scott’s response.
Question #4
What do you see as your role in making sure that our principals are prepared for the schools to which they are assigned, and that they are selected to meet the particular needs of the school to which they are assigned?
John Lloyd:
“The elected school board member should be involved in the selection process of the superintendent.” He also stated, “The superintendent should come in with a strong fiscal management background.”
Bert Berlin:
“We need someone who is a leader – someone who understands organization – The school board is going to have a staff audit – we need someone who has a vision and a commitment to accountability” He believes that it is unfortunate that “if you want to make big bucks in our school system you have to become an administrator – we have people that start out wanting to be administrators.”
Adria G. Scott:
Focusing on appointment of the superintendent said that the superintendent would be “Ideally someone who is forward thinking creative who uses best practices, can think globally and has a background in urban management systems – I doubt we’ll get that – one of the hallmarks of a good CEO is to surround yourself with good people - it’s very similar to hospital administration.”
Jonathan Mallard referred to the great city schools report: “a key recommendation is to structure principals’ contracts so that they are responsible for what happens in their schools.” As to the superintendent he believed that person should “have some knowledge of similar situations.”
Tags: Adria G. Scott > Kathy Graziano > school board candidates > school board forum
Comments
One Response to “A report from the 4th District School Board Forum”
Leave a Reply
February 19th, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
Hi people… :)