Candidate questions: MMSD Board of Education Seat 1
These questions were written by the Northside Antiracism Group to reflect issues that impact Northsiders, that have been the focus of local organizing and that the county has power to act on.
Question 1: Community Control
This June, the Board of Education voted to remove police officers from MMSD schools. Their decision followed years of public testimony and protest led by Freedom, Inc. youth organizers sharing their experiences as students in MMSD and calling for increased investments to support youth of color and LGBTQI+ youth in the district. As part of this campaign, they have also called for Community Control of schools. The Movement for Black Lives policy platform outlines a demand for “real Community Control of schools by parents, students and community members of schools including democratic school boards and community control of curriculum, hiring, firing and discipline policies.”
What specific opportunities do you see for the board to shift decision-making power about schools into the hands of youth, parents and families?
The full Community Control policy platform from the Movement for Black Lives is online at m4bl.org/policy-platforms/community-control.
Question 2: Early Literacy
In August, MMSD welcomed Dr. Carlton Jenkins as the new Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Jenkins has shared that a priority will be improving early literacy instruction. MMSD’s literacy curriculum has been criticized for both its approach and its outcomes. MMSD recently announced a joint Early Literacy and Beyond Task Force with UW-Madison to analyze approaches to teaching reading and make recommendations to teacher education programs to improve reading outcomes and reduce achievement gaps.
How will you as a school board member be involved with the campaign led by Dr. Jenkins to strengthen early literacy, working with both the superintendent and teachers?
Maia Pearson
Question 1: The first step is the Board and administration making a commitment to full transparency in terms of data, information, proposals, and budget. Real decision making often rests on access to resources, including finances, space allocations, and the opportunity for involvement at each step of the process. Without that access, there is only the appearance of shared power.
Second, it is up to the Board and administration to go to the community; it should not be the community’s responsibility find ways to have communication that are effective. The outreach needs to apply to youth, families, and advocacy groups.
Third, the Board structure, meetings, and protocols need to be adapted so that there is access to legal opinions and ombudspeople who represent the students and families, in addition to those directly from MMSD. It just makes sense to me to get breadth and depth of information to help make decisions.
Some initiatives I support focus on direct conversations: Board with students, families, and front-line teaching staff. Differing opinions are healthy. It is important to hear directly from the people impacted, as much as it is important for the people directly impacted to hear directly from us as we move forward.
Question 2: This is one of my priorities and was a focus of my candidacy last year. There has to science and evidence-based practices in all ages of literacy education; there has to be sufficient staffing to allow individualized learning opportunities and support; and there has to be unified push back on mandated, standardized testing. Teachers have been asking for more autonomy in the way they approach literacy, because they realize and work first-hand with students with multiple interests, ways of learning, and support levels outside of the classroom.
Another aspect of early literacy is to make certain students are able to see themselves in what they are reading, and feel enthusiastic about what they are studying. At every age, students must be motivated by the materials being used. This is another way that standardization actually interferes with educational growth.
It is an exciting time to be joining the Board. We are primed to be moving forward on an issue that has a huge impact on learning and equity, and we have a Superintendent who is aligned with the priority.