|
Tim Osborn For Alpine School Board Moving Alpine Forward |
|
|
Frequently Asked Questions Why are you running for the school board?
Why are you running for the school board? All we hear from the current board seems to be 'what a great job Alpine is doing', but as a parent I know that we are falling down in a lot of areas. Teachers and principals are working hard, they care about our kids, and they have accomplished amazing things with very little resources; but we still have many many things that could be improved. The only way to find those things to be improved is to be constantly asking "what is wrong with this picture" rather than just painting a rosy picture, as the board seems to be doing.
I have no special axe to grind, and no ties to anyone in the school system except my children. I have no pet projects, and I am not hung up on any one issue. My one agenda item is just excellence in education for our children, and there is a lot that needs to be done. An agenda is a plan to accomplish something, and yes I do have such a plan. Some of the details are found on this website. I will bring a fresh perspective and ask some of the tough questions that need to be asked. I won't be just a rubber stamp. I think I can make a contribution, and I feel it is my turn to serve the community.
What are the top three things you would change? 1) Strengthen school community councils so they are truly providing parents a real voice in the schools. 2) Set higher expectations and specific goals for improvement. 3) Get more school funds to reach the classroom. 4) Find a long term solution for the math curriculum ( There is too much to do to pick only three!)
How would you strengthen School Community Councils (SCC's)? I have been working on this issue since 2006, when I met with several members of the board, along with Superintendent Henshaw, and presented recommendation to improve SCC's. (Click here to see the document.) A test was conducted a couple of years ago by calling each school in the OHS cluster and asking questions about the SCC. In most cases the school secretary had little or no information on the SCC. Why? Because no one is putting any focus on the importance of the SCC. So hare are some specific steps that I would take: 1) Enact clarifying policies. The SCC's are not mentioned anywhere in the current board policies (a pretty good indication of how the board values the SCC). 2) Provide training to the SCC, faculty, PTA, and administration on the responsibility and workings of the SCC. 3) Increase the responsibilities of the SCC 4) Publicize the SCC, through public communications of the board, school web sites, and the district web site. 5) Be sure that good people are attracted to the SCC and that proper elections are held.
What about Investigations math? Where the Board went wrong on Investigations, is they forgot who they work for*. When you cut parents out of the loop, and then ignore their complaints, you cannot implement a successful education program. One cause of the bungle with Investigations is that there is no one on the board with experience in managing innovation. Someone who has a career managing innovation, such as myself, could have immediately seen that it was not going to work. There is wide agreement now, even from the Utah State Office of Education, that Investigations alone does not properly prepare students for college math. Investigations is not approved by the state as a primary curriculum. We don't yet have the final solution to our math education problem, even if some board members seem to think so.
I've spoken with several professional math educators who feel the Singapore Math curriculum is a terrific program. It combines some of the elements using in the Investigations program, with the "tool kit" approach of Saxon math, all in a very intuitive and engaging style. Currently most schools in the district are combining Investigations and some other program. Wouldn't it be better to use a single comprehensive curriculum that was designed with these ideas in mind, and has already been proved effective for more than 12 years? The legislature will be considering a bill that will allow a grant to school districts to give Singapore Math a try. We should take advantage of that, if it does become available. Here is some information on Singapore Math. http://www.utahsmathfuture.com/letter.cfm
What is your stand on Orem city splitting off on its own school district? A decision to split should be based on what will improve education. In 2006 the Orem City Council spent 4 hours at a council meeting discussing whether we could afford a split, and 15 minute discussing how it might improve education. That is backwards. In hindsight, now seeing what the Jordan School District is going through with their split, and the flaws in the laws that govern the split, I'm glad the city council decided not move ahead with it. One day Alpine will need to be split - when a strong case can be made that it will improve education. When that time comes the board should have the courage to propose it regardless of administrative fiefdoms. How the district should be split is the real questions. A district with only Orem city will probably never make sense because of our declining school demographic (look at the problems Provo is having). More of a 50/50 split would seem the most likely to have a chance to benefit our students.
How would you vote on programs for special education and resource children? I am well acquainted with the range of difficult situations facing our parents. About 12% of Alpine students, over six thousand children, are involved in these programs. We need to ensure that all students receive an education appropriate to their needs. We also need to remember that high achieving students have particular needs as well. Every student deserves a school experience that is challenging and rewarding.
The school board does not have a vote on vouchers - that is the state legislature. The public vote last election has laid the voucher issue to rest for the immediate future. The voice of the people has spoken, and I feel that people on both sides of the issue should move on to important issues that directly impact our schools, such as class size, math curriculum, and improving responsiveness. The voucher issue was hotly contested, even though a VERY small percentage of voters would ever actually ever USE vouchers. This tells me the voucher issue has become an important symbol of the dissatisfaction that many people have with our district schools. What the school board should be learning from the community debate on vouchers is there are many people who are not satisfied with our schools. The focus of the board should be on improving our schools.
Where do you stand on Charter Schools? Should they get the same funding as district schools? As Charter Schools are now a fact, I assume the question is really 'how can the district get the most benefit from the existence of charter schools?'. I have nothing but respect for parents who patronize charter schools - they are doing what they feel is best for their children. I have opted, as a personal choice, to put my efforts into making the district schools better. As a business person, I'm not afraid of competition. Instead of treating charter schools like the enemy, the district should be learning from them, such as how to listen to parents. Funding for charter schools is determined by the state, and not by the school board, so the funding question would be better put to a candidate for the legislature.
Is "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) good for our kids? The federal government needs to get out of education, which is the constitutional responsibility of the states. The red tape and bureaucracy created by federal intrusion into our schools take time any money away from educating our kids. We need to send a message to our U.S. representatives that education is best managed at the local level. Some say a good NCLB thing about NCLB is that it is making schools accountable - but the school board should be doing that anyway. Maybe the worst thing about NCLB is it forces us to spend more and more money and time in ways that may not make a real difference in the lives of our students.
The role of the school board is to support parents in the parent's responsibility to educate their children. Alpine does a pretty good job supporting home school, and I would work to maintain and improve that. |