We reached out to all four individuals that will be on next week’s ballot for the Manitowoc Public School District’s Board of Education. We asked them three simple questions.
1 – Why do you want to be on the Manitowoc Public School Districts Board of Education?
2 – What are some of the positive things you are seeing in the MPSD?
3 – What are some things you would like to see addressed moving forward?
Here are their unedited responses.
Collin Braunel
1 – I am running for office because I believe in the work we have done for our district and feel that we still have some things left to do yet. I was a graduate of MPSD and I live and work in this community. I believe this is community service and a chance to make my community better
2–
- Supported the Behavioral Code of Conduct for MPSD
- Supported the Restructuring of the District Office
- Researched and Supported the School Reform Program to respond to steady declining test scores for our district
- Increased Professional Development for our teachers
- Supported the Strategic Plan Initiative to give our district a clear path to success
- Reviewed Wages and sought ways to make us competitive with the surrounding school districts and other employers
- Increased Superintendent Evaluations to hold the Superintendent accountable to the board
- Supported Curriculum Mapping Found new revenue sources for the district Sold property we didn’t need
- Hosted my own Q&A Listening session and opened it up to the entire public to ask any question they wanted to provide increased transparency
- Met with Parents/ Staff/ Students to hear their concerns and hear their input
- Worked to begin updating and reviewing policies because it hasn’t been done since 2014
- Hired our current Superintendent who has been instrumental in elevating the discussion of making our district a high performing destination district. Our superintendent wants to make Manitowoc the top performing district in the state.
3 – I would like to see our per pupil funding shortfall addressed. On March 23, the superintendent, Board Member Matt Spaulding and I went to Madison to lobby for this to happen. Another item I would like to see fixed is our proficiency levels. We are currently about 30% proficient and have put together a school reform model to achieve better results Hopefully that is addressed.
Kathy Willis
1 – I would like the opportunity to continue serving as a school board member for many reasons. I have a love of learning and believe in the power of a good education. I believe it’s our duty as parents, teachers, administration, and community to provide the best education possible for our young people so that they can move forward in life as well-equipped, responsible, and productive human beings. Where our children go, so does our community. I believe that there is still a lot of room for improvement and I would like to continue to help make that happen here in our district. I would also like to continue with my collective efforts in bringing about change through our Ad-hoc Student Behavior Advisory Committee as behavior goes hand-in-hand with student learning. Our committee created the Code of Conduct this past year and are now working on renewing our student handbooks to help support the Code of Conduct, including the Athletic Code. We are beginning to see improvement in the behavior area, but it’s just a start. It’s important for me to see this effort through.
2 – I’m excited that we have completed the District’s Strategic Plan. This will allow us to keep focus on the very areas identified. Also, as I mentioned in the previous question, we are working on improving student behavior. This is a real improvement for our district. The Ad-hoc Student Behavior Advisory Committee includes parents, teachers , administrators, and counselors from all of our schools. Every school is represented. We now have a student working on it also! I’m very excited that we are working together to create better systems for our entire district. Having unity throughout is key, especially for those students who move schools. I’m excited about the SFA program. It’s a great opportunity to meet every student where they are at so that they are continuously engaged in the classroom. It’s not separating students as we do currently, it’s bringing them together so that teaching happens for all students at all times, not waiting for their group’s turn. I also want to mention that I am encouraged by all the wonderful events taking place for students and the parent /community turnouts such as reading nights, math nights, athletics, concerts, etc.. A wonderful example took place at the Rahr West Art Museum on March 4. They just had what they believe is their largest single day attendance record with nearly 1,200 people attending our MPSD Youth Art Month show. There are many, many great things happening!
3 – We definitely need to continue to address behavior and achievement in our district. That being said, this isn’t exclusive to our area. It’s happening all over the nation, but just because it’s happening all over, doesn’t mean we can’t make it better for our kids right here. Other major issues are capital improvements, teacher retention, and inequitable per pupil school funding. I am certain that all of these areas will be part of much needed Board discussions in the coming months and year.
Chris Able
1 – Like many in our community, I am very concerned about the degradation of our Public Schools. Behavior, Academics, Teacher Retention, Workplace Culture, Transparency of Governance, Poor Maintenance, Spending More to Achieving Less, are serious issues. Sadly, none of these are new, but the Board doesn’t seem able to ensure that any of them are getting better.
It is the duty of the Board to protect and improve a quality education every child in the District. We ought not settle for “we tried” or any other kind of lip service.
My +20 years in the MPSD, and my experience and knowledge of how local government is supposed to work means I understand the realities from the classroom to the Boardroom and will work to get you public answers to your concerns with a focus on better educations for our students.
2 – Manitowoc is a great community that appreciates and supports its Public Schools. Many families proudly trace generations that have passed through our halls. Our neighborhood schools each demonstrate their strong connections with their communities.
We have a great history of excellence in the Fine and Performing Arts. We have innovative programs for students who are looking beyond High School, to career or college. Also, we provide robust extra-curricular opportunities.
3 – We need an immediate and dramatic improvement in behavior District-wide. Let’s stop making excuses and demand improvement. The same is true of all academics (not just Reading). We start that through accountability.
The Board can lead on this by making itself accountable by posting Behavior and Academic Expectations clearly and prominently on the MPSD web site. I also want to work to get us out of the “crisis of the month club.” We can do this by talking with parents, teachers, administrators, and students about the problems they are seeing. We should be fixing problems well before reaching any crisis point.
Biff Hansen
1 – I am disappointed in the process the Board of Education is using to identify needed change in the MPSD, and then implementing what they perceive the solutions should be. Every organization can grow and prosper by evaluating itself and admit the need for change when it is present. However, the elected Board needs to work with its community stakeholders, (voters, parents and children), working staff (educators and support personal) and within State rules and MPSD Bylaws. An open and trusting dialog needs to take place to achieve by-in from employees and the public.
Additionally, the transparency promised by the Board has not happened. The process creating the Assistant Superintendent position was done in a manor that is under consideration for Open Records and Open Meetings law violations. Hiring the Superintendent, and Assistant Superintendent positions happened without a true search of qualified State certified candidates as had been the history of the MPSD.
As a MPSD graduate, and parent who’s children received an education that has allowed them to become successful in their lives, my hope is to help the district return to the days when the MPSD was a destination district for teachers, support staff, and administrators.
2 – The staff, facilities and offerings of the district are its strength. No matter what outside forces try to mold the district to their point of view, I trust the MPSD staff to carry on and treat/teach students with respect.
Between the Rising Phoenix Program, School To Work Program, Partnerships with LTC and other academic offerings we do an outstanding job of getting students ready for their future. Students of every academic level and personal interest have an opportunity for success through our educational programs.
Our Music and Arts program fill a creative need (would love to see a 1 credit Arts requirement for graduation) for many students at levels other schools in the state do not have.
MPSD offers some outstanding facilities, such as Rubick Field, JFK Fieldhouse, the School Forest, but we must continue to maintain those and other facilities at a high level. There is no excuse for poor maintenance and the needed repair of our buildings and properties currently required.
3 – Clear the Politics from the School Board. Education is local, it should not driven by the national political dialog.
All decisions by the School Board should be transparent with Open Meeting Laws followed. Educator input and public input should part of the change process, not used after administrative decisions are made.
All students should be seen as equal in all aspects of education within our district. Inclusion of all is a must.
The process used by the School Board for the hiring of prospective administration staff needs to be open and transparent to the public, and they should use a process of interviewing multiple candidates to find the best prospective employee for the position. A robust search will detail strengths and weakness of candidates and improve the quality of the final hire. Additionally, when hiring Administrative Staff state certification should be a must.
Transparency. This was promised in the last election and has not happened as evidenced by the Freedom of Information request for various issues within the district over the last year. How do you achieve transparency? Follow the State Open Meetings Law and the spirit of that law, include the public in the discussion process of major changes to the district, and apply a thorough and open application and hiring procedure to fill the needs of the MPSD.
Naturally, any area on the State of Wisconsin test score report that the district is lacking is a concern. Though I do not think testing is the end all be all, it is a public measurement of our standing with other districts and a measurement the public understands. Areas below standard should be evaluated and researched by our educators for ways to improve. There are many school districts in Wisconsin with effective programs. We should research high preforming local districts for ideas as to their high performance on the Wisconsin State test and look to implement their successes.
Student achievement needs to include all students. We discontinued some important alternative programs that aided students who struggled academically over the past few years. Not every student has the ability to learn when they walk through our doors. We need to develop programs to aide students who do not meet Special Education requirements, but continue to struggle in the classroom. Not all students have the educational background, social background, and home support system needed to learn as the majority of our students do. Alternative Education is not a bad thing, it helps all students learn.
