Know your School Board candidates

Arlene Silveira

Running for: Seat 1 (incumbent)

Background: Board of Education member since 2006

What’s the single biggest challenge facing the district today?

“There is a two-part challenge in the financial challenge and the rapidly growing needs of the district.  We need to find a different way to fund public education without budget cuts every year.  Students have increasing needs for those in the high and low learning categories and we need to make decisions on how to support the entire educational spectrum.  With the financial challenge comes the need to enhance learning environments through maintenance and technological needs that will allow students to compete in the 21^st century and assist their learning.”  

What’s your plan to narrow the achievement gap?

“As a Board member I do not have an individual plan but I see the responsibility to look at plans and ideas that come from the community, and then make the best decision on which parts of the plans to support.  We need to make it a priority to understand what is working and not working, what parts of the plan address which students, and have a timeline for implementation within the budget.  The Board will select the plans that best address the needs of the kids based on this information.” 

Do you support Superintendent Nerad’s plan to close the achievement gap?

“It isn’t so much a plan currently as it is a document of ideas that come from the community, which was the intent.  The feedback highlights the most important issues that the community sees as a priority.  Once he takes into account the feedback he will come back to us with a more detailed plan.  There are lots of things that I like but I’m not sure what will come out of it yet, however, the feedback from the community has been great.”

What makes you uniquely qualified for the position?

“My experience as a board member and parent of a child of color who graduated from Madison schools allows me to understand what the school system can and cannot do for a child firsthand.  My work at Promega Corporation requires daily skills that are helpful as a board member in communicating and negotiating in the role of a board member.  I have made change in the schools and that differentiates me.

Nichelle Nichols

Running for: Seat 1

Background:  Vice President of Education and Learning at Urban League of Greater Madison

What’s the single biggest challenge facing the district today?

“The biggest challenge our district faces is change management.  We need to start doing things differently and embracing change that we can apply throughout the whole educational system.”

What’s your plan to narrow the achievement gap?

“Before we add new programs we need to have a strong foundation.  I want to come in and make sure that we have a core curriculum and instruction plan especially in reading and math for grades K-12.  Kids can not come into high school with a fifth grade reading level anymore and we need to make sure that by the time they arrive in high school they are beyond the basic and proficient levels in subjects.”

Do you support Superintendent Nerad’s plan to close the achievement gap?

“The preliminary plan has a wide range of options that are good but there are far too many of them at the price tag offered.  There are promising ideas and particularly four or five that I think could make a critical difference to our district. It comes down to how we can make changes while staying within the budget.  Over the last six years we have not seen improvements and instead taken a step backwards and we need to come in and make the achievement gap a priority in order to help our students.”

What makes you uniquely qualified for the position?

“I have worked in the community for the last 15 years and have work experience at community based organizations.  My perspective is grounded from people in our community who rely on the public school system.  Through my work at the Urban League I understand the inner workings of public educational systems. As a parent who has three of four children still in Madison schools I see what is happening in the school system and what is not.”

Mary Burke

Running for: Seat 2

Background:  Former Commerce Secretary, co-founder of the AVID/TOPs program

What’s the single biggest challenge facing the district today?

“The achievement gap that has low graduation rates among African-American and Latino students.  We need to focus on the health of the district and improve the learning environment for all the students.”

What’s your plan to narrow the achievement gap?

“Something I have worked on with the Boys and Girls club is the founding of AVID/TOPS in four Madison high schools. Initial results show that all seniors in the program went onto post-secondary education and had 30 percent higher GPAs than the control group.  There was also a decrease in disciplinary issues and increase in attendance.  The programs target kids in the middle, 75 percent are students of color and 75 percent are from low-income families.  We need to get focused and use these practices and expand the program to middle schools and elementary schools.  By making childhood literacy and math skills a priority during crucial years we can make improving education a community priority.”

Do you support Superintendent Nerad’s plan to close the achievement gap?

“I support parts of it but think that at the cost it is not necessary until a track record of success shows how these strategies work.  The plan lacks goals and benchmarks of success and how many students will be affected.  We need to focus on the areas that have the highest impact that we have seen and then build these into a district wide policy.  There also needs to be a priority for good training and development of educators to deal with these programs.  There are many good options being presented but it needs a clear focus and community partnerships to make it beneficial.  Some of the issues can be addressed in other ways and having focus will help that.”

What makes you uniquely qualified for the position?

“My business background gives me knowledge of how to deal with budgets and provides an understanding of how public organization works.  My work with the Boys and Girls club and the founding of AVID/TOPS program gives me an insight, as well as being a mentor to five different students over the last 13 years.  I have a broad range of skills that are good for dealing with the complex issues that the Board faces.”

Michael Flores

Running for: Seat 2

Background: Community Activist, firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician

What’s the single biggest challenge facing the district today?

“The budget is the biggest challenge because it limits what we can do and also cuts some of the programs that are working to help close the achievement gap.”

What’s your plan to narrow the achievement gap?

“I want to reduce class size and work on eliminating the bottleneck effect by increasing the diversity of our educators and representatives.  Intertwining health and other services to disadvantaged families can also help students receive more help at home that will improve their education.”

Do you support Superintendent Nerad’s plan to close the achievement gap?

“There are lots of good ideas and programs that are making some headway, such as the parent involvement programs, but I want to see more tangible results from our students and schools.”

What makes you uniquely qualified for the position?

“My point of view as a minority that came up in the Madison School District as a graduate from Madison East High School.  I faced many obstacles that kids today are facing, such as low-income and low-education parents.  Being a parent of kids in the school district I have a direct connection with the issues, and as a firefighter, have access to an understanding of issues that the community faces, such as domestic and familial issues.  My roots with the community to continue working as a group as we face these issues give me a distinct perspective.”