Frequently Asked Questions - 2022
Post date: May 07, 2022
As I've been meeting with people during my 2022 re-election campaign, I've been hearing a few recurring questions.
Here are the top eight:
Q. Our schools are already great. What do you want to change?
A. The three places where I see room for growth are in (1) bringing high academic achievement to a broader, more diverse, range of students; (2) better supporting the mental health, and social / emotional well-being of our students and faculty; (3) ensuring that our students graduate with the critical thinking and problem solving skills that will support them in being successful not just today, but in the world that will exist when they graduate.
Q. What do you want to do in the next 5-year plan for the district?
A. We should start by reviewing the previous (2017-22) Strategic Coherence Plan (SCP) relative to our Profile of a Graduate, and see where it has [or has not] been effective, and where changes may be warranted. Current and updated pedagogical standards and best practices should inform the new plan. For instance, I am interested in how increasing the amount of project based learning, and project based assessment, can improve educational outcomes. Obviously, any update to the SCP should take our Equity Stakeholder Recommendations into account.
Q. What will you do about the athletic facilities in Croton-Harmon?
A. One of the ways that we support student health and well-being, and healthy lifestyle habits, is by supporting a broad athletics program. We must continue to invest in the employment of high quality coaches. I support the installation of a turf field, and other physical improvements to our athletic facilities (e.g. permanent lights to allow more night-time games).
Q. What will you do to support the mental health of our kids?
A. We must continue to strengthen social and emotional learning, so that students have the skills and habits of mind that enable them to handle the stressful moments that all of us encounter. Mindfulness is an important component of this effort, as are the restorative practices that have been included in the recently updated Code of Conduct, and curricula that support kids in developing resilience. I will support investment in expanding and enhancing our corps of guidance staff, counselors, and school psychologists, to ensure that every student has support available when needed. Finally, I will ensure that teachers are trained in how to notice potential social / emotional / mental health issues early and how to intervene or refer students for help when appropriate.
Q. What about the arts, music, drama, etc.?
A. Creativity is an important part of being successful in the world! For instance, it’s been shown that music and arts kids tend to score better in math, science, and English; and skills that are learned in creative classes like art often transfer to other creative endeavors like writing and engineering. Performance is a great way to learn teamwork, to gain self-confidence, and build empathy for the experience of others. We should continue to invest in these programs, and where possible, expand and enhance them to include more genres. I would also love to see more experimental and creative drama and music - with students going beyond the scripts and scores that already exist, and presenting their own creative works on stage.
Q. What is your opinion on standardized tests?
A. On the one hand, it is important to have effective tools and metrics that allow schools to determine the effectiveness of their educational program. Unfortunately, though, many standardized tests are not well written; they often add to student stress more significantly than their usefulness warrants; they take away from instructional time; and in some cases, they are biased against students with different cultural backgrounds, or with different learning styles. Many just test the student’s ability to take tests. It is because of this that many universities are removing SAT and ACT tests from their admission requirements. While some standardized tests, for better or for worse, are likely to remain important for some time to come (e.g. AP tests), I think that we should find ways to reduce the total amount of time spent in classical standardized testing, and focus on more pedagogically modern assessment techniques like portfolio-based assessment, project-based assessment, and other more flexible and adaptive assessment techniques. Interesting references on this topic include Alfie Kohn's The Case against Standardized Testing, and FairTest.org.
Q. What is your opinion on expanding district funding for Universal Pre-K (UPK) for more kids?
A. I see the provision of UPK services to all kids as a moral imperative, and I would love to be able to fund enough UPK seats so that every child in the district would be able to receive free pre-K instruction. Unfortunately, it is not so simple:
In New York, the average cost of the program is approximately $6,100 per UPK student.
The UPK grant funding provided to school districts rarely covers the full demand. This year Croton received funding for just 36 UPK seats.
The tax levy cap means that school districts cannot just increase taxes to cover the cost of additional UPK seats.
There is a limit to how much additional taxation our local community, and especially our seniors, can bear.
Given facts (1) through (4) above, the only way that the district could fund UPK for more students right now would be to cut funding for K-12 instruction.
What is really needed now is a concerted advocacy effort to demand additional New York state and federal funding for UPK that extends to all students, so that we can expand this vitally important program without having to sacrifice important parts of our existing K-12 program.
Q. Do you have a conflict of interest?
A. My spouse is a teacher at CHHS, and yes, I am involved in Destination Imagination — but these are neither insurmountable, nor problematic, conflicts of interest.
I have always carefully abstained from any vote and recused myself from discussions where there was a possible conflict of interest, or even where there could be the appearance of conflict. I will continue follow this practice should I be re-elected. Those who are interested in my record in this regard can review the board meeting minutes, which clearly indicate the cases in which I abstain from voting.
That being said, it should be noted that every board member, and every candidate for school board, inherently has some form of conflict of interest. By law, all are residents of the school district and thus pay school taxes. Most have children in the schools who are affected by board decisions. Most own property in the district — and school quality affects property values. All have a stake in the future of our community — which will be driven by the successes of the students in our schools today. Elected officials of all stripes have to deal with issues like these. They are inherent in the prospect which is participatory democracy. For that matter, I would assert that it is these sort of conflicts of interest which make our system possible. We all have skin in the the game. We all have a stake in the future of education in our community. And we all want to see our students succeed.
You can read more about this topic here: On conflict-of-interest...