School board candidates share views on key issues

This is the second installment in a two-part profile on Michael Flores and Wayne Strong, candidates for the Seat 6 on the Madison Board of Education. Part 1 [1] gave an overview of each candidate’s background, reasons for running for school board and their thoughts on the district’s top issues. Today’s piece shares each candidate’s thoughts on specific topics in MMSD, including the achievement gap, the technology plan and an assessment of the superintendent.

MICHAEL FLORES [2]Michael Flores

The achievement gap

Flores said superintendent Jen Cheatham has been proactive in addressing the achievement gap since taking over the job in April 2013. He said, nonetheless, he would like to bring up the competitiveness of Madison public schools.

“We are doing great things, but unfortunately, the way the talk is happening, it seems like we can’t do anything right, which is totally wrong. We are very successful,” Flores said. “I want to emphasize the good that we are doing [and] what we’re going to do better as well, highlight that we are working; we do care.”

Flores noted there have been more conversations about privilege in schools recently and would like to see this trend continue.

Evaluating the superintendent’s first months in MMSD

Flores sees Cheatham and her strategic framework as “very proactive.”

In July, Cheatham released a new strategic framework [3] outlining her focus for the district. The plan’s central focuses includes consistent instruction across the district, valuing mutual accountability over blame and making sure all students succeed.

“It’s a little bit early to see the long-term results, but I like her enthusiasm a lot and her expertise,” Flores said.

New technology plan

In January, the school board adopted a $27.7 million technology plan [4] that will give students in grades two-twelve access to their own computing device, such as an iPad, by 2018-19.

Flores said he likes parts of the plan, but believes the school board should consider revisions to the plan that would decrease its cost.

“[Technology] gives you employment,” he said. “We need to expose our kids to the change in technology.”

He also believes that the district needs to make sure it has sufficient support staff that are tech savvy enough to implement the program successfully.

He added that there needs to be buy-in from the community.

“Parents whose kids fall in the achievement gap, they don’t correlate it to meeting the need in bringing their kids out from the achievement gap,” he said. “I think that was a message that was not conveyed. As a board member, that’s my role, to bridge those lags of communication and emphasize where this is going to benefit every kid in our school in different ways.”

WAYNE STRONG [5]Wayne Strong

The achievement gap
Strong said progress in responding the to achievement gap has been slow.

“I’m not really sure how much traction we’ve gained in terms of moving toward decreasing that gap,” Strong said. “There’s still a lot of work to do.”

He believes slow progress results, in part, from high suspension rates among African American students, who are suspended at disproportionately high rates.

“You can’t close the gap with a group students that are just not in class,” Strong said. “And so, until we figure out a way to really engage these students and keep them in school, we’re not gonna really make a lot of headway closing the achievement gap.”

To reduce the gap, Strong supports the expansion of the restorative justice model in place of suspension. The restorative justice model focuses on repairing harm rather than inflicting punishment.

He also supports the expansion of culturally relevant pedagogy. This includes improving cultural competency among teachers and increasing diversity in the teaching force.

“I think, quite frankly, a lot of the issues that take place with some of our students of color stem from the fact that, for example, we have a district that’s over 60 percent students of color, black and Latino students. Our staff ratio doesn’t come close to that,” Strong said.

Strong noted that superintendent Jen Cheatham has made the achievement gap a high priority, and he said it is important to have a superintendent who recognizes the importance of reducing the gap.

Evaluating the superintendent’s first months in MMSD

“I’m really impressed with what she’s done,” Strong said. “I think she came here with a plan. She’s implemented her plan.”

In July, Cheatham released a new strategic framework [3] outlining her focus for the district. The plan’s central focus includes consistent instruction across the district, valuing mutual accountability over blame and making sure all students succeed.

“She’s bringing the staff on board with her, that’s helping her toward that end,” Strong said. “I think she’s done a good job. I think what she’s looking at is accountability. I think that’s important.”

Strong emphasized the importance of providing teachers with the resources they need to be effective teachers while also stressing that teachers need to be held accountable for their work.

“We’ve got to make sure that everyone who’s responsible for teaching our kids is accountable and we’re doing all that we can to support teachers in the classroom,” he said. “We’ve got some great teachers … They’re competent; they’re good people; but we’ve got some teachers that are not that way, quite frankly.”

New technology plan

In January, the school board adopted a $27.7 million technology plan [4] that will give students in grades two-twelve access to their own computing device, such as an iPad, by 2018-19.

“I think it’s great. Technology is the wave of the future. Students are gonna need to know how to use technology to be successful,” Strong said. “In order for our students to be given the best possible opportunities to succeed, we need to make sure that they are prepared to live in a world where technology is so critical for their success.”