ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The community got to hear from the candidates running for the USD 480 school board last Tuesday evening, and multiple questions centered around the role of the board and its level of activity throughout the district.
The first of the questions on the topic asked the candidates on what they thought their role as a school board member should be.
“There are a number of roles, but the biggest role we have is to care about the students and the instructional coaches and teachers and administration,” candidate Alan Brown said. “Our two big jobs are to hire the superintendent and then to set policy and make sure that policy is followed. All the other things are what we can go enjoy in terms of being around the students and hearing about what’s going on, but our two big jobs are to set policy and see it’s followed through.”
“I would say our role is to, like Mr. Brown said, set the policy and work with the superintendent and let him do his job,” candidate Travis Martinez said. “Our job is to make sure we back him and have him follow what he needs to follow. I know there are policies we set, and I think we have to keep those in order and make sure the administration’s following them as well.”
“The role of the school board is to hire the superintendent and set updated policy – those are the two main things,” candidate Sarah Thompson said. “But there’s also so, so much more we should be doing, whether that’s advocating for our students or advocating for our staff and teachers, coming up with creative ways to find more teachers, and supporting not just the superintendent but our other district staff as well. It all goes hand in hand, but the main to jobs are to hire the superintendent and set policy.”
“Before I started on this, I thought we could do this and that, but there’s really only so much we can do,” candidate Terry Tanking said. “Like has already been said, I know one of the big things is hiring the superintendent and having his back and making sure he knows we’re there for him. There are also the policies, we have to keep up with those and do those investigations and research on those and do what’s necessary to get those in place. There are a few other things I think are important, like the budget and reassuring the students we have their back.”
“What’s already been said is exactly what the responsibilities of a board member are,” candidate Nick Hatcher said. “We need to support the superintendent and if need be fire whoever is in that role. We also need to advocate for the students, manage and help set the budget, set policies and make sure we’re following those policies. I truly believe advocating for the students is right up at the top of that for me.”
“That’s actually a question I asked the superintendent during his second week here,” candidate Luz Riggs said. “Number one is to support the superintendent, advocate for the students, their parents and teachers. And not just that, but we need to listen and serve with transparency so when the community has questions, we should be able to answer them with clarity and transparency. We also need to collaborate with the Central Office staff when we need to. When I was talking to the superintendent, he said the board’s job is to do the ‘What’ while his job is to do the ‘How.’”
The candidates were later asked about what concerns they would like to address should they be elected.
“I think the biggest concern we’ve had in the past few years is trust, so I think we have to gain some trust back from among the teachers, administrators and the community,” Brown said. “I think when you have trust, everyone does better – the students have to trust their teachers, and I think what we really need to work on is making sure everyone trusts each other and we’re all on the same page doing the same thing in terms of increasing student learning.”
“The most important thing we need to focus on is the culture of the district,” Thompson said. “That includes the trust, that includes much better communication from the Central Office to the building principals and staffs, and vice versa. Once you can build that positive culture, which I feel we’ve made great strides in, that helps with retention and recruitment, and it’s an overall snowball effect.”
“Student achievement is definitely a big thing,” Hatcher said. “That’s one of our biggest goals as a board and one of the most important things we have concerning USD 480. One way to increase student achievement is to align all the curriculum with Kansas standards through quality professional development and training. We increased accountability scores by 3.5 percent in ELA, math, science and chronic absenteeism. We also created a retention and recruitment program to increase the number of certified positions from 65 percent to 80 percent over the next five years. Drive instruction is also a big thing, we have to meet the students’ needs by data-driven assessments and reports and benchmarks and walk-throughs. We also utilize programs like CTE, dual enrollment and alternative education to improve our graduation rate. All of that, plus the culture in the district, will help a great deal.”
Later on, the candidates were asked about the board having a presence in district classrooms.
“There’s a difference between having a presence and actually being invited as a board member to observe,” Martinez said. “I feel like there has to be some communication with the superintendent so we’re able to actually go into the buildings and follow all the rules and regulations in place. There’s definitely a time and place when that could happen, but I do think it’s a good idea so everyone has a full view of what’s going on in the classrooms, whether it’s to do with curriculum or a new teacher or lesson. I think the superintendent should also be involved with anything like that.”
“I feel like that could be a double-edged sword – if you’re invited, that’s one thing, but I think things like that should happen as a group,” Tanking said. “As a parent, I like to be involved in my child’s life, and I think everyone else could say the same thing. If not done correctly, it can be a distraction having us just come in the classroom, and the students need to be focused on learning. And, if everyone keeps seeing our presence in the school and there happens to be some sort of complaint, they’re going to come to us instead of going to the superintendent or principal or whoever’s in the chain of command. If we’re invited as a group, that’s great, but if we just go in, it can be disruptive.”
“Like has already been said, we definitely need to follow the chain of command when it comes to going into a classroom,” Riggs said. “If we’re invited by the building principal, we need to be sure the Central Office staff and superintendent know where we’re going and what the plan is. But I agree, we shouldn’t just show up.”
