- Increasing the ability of home-schooled and private schooled students to attend Metz Middle School and Osbourn High School on a part time basis
- Implementing data-driven decision making to ensure we make the right decisions
- Seeing increases in most of our test scores, while continuing to serve a more diverse and economically challenged student population.
However, there is more I want to see us accomplish. I believe in Manassas and in the potential we have. Strong successful schools are the foundation of great communities. They attract residents and result in increased property values. Equally as important, High School graduates ready to work in the 21st century economy will help attract businesses. In the short term, I believe we must:
- Complete the planning and begin the work for a regional Governor’s School for Math and Science, giving our high school students the best possible background for their college educations;
- Replace the aging Baldwin Elementary School. But this should be more than just a replacement. We need to work with the City and the downtown sector plan to plan for the future of the Educational Center at the heart of our community (Osbourn, the Johnson Learning Center, Baldwin, and our Central Office) ensuring they are key elements in the City’s plans for downtown;
- Achieve full accreditation, meaning that all students perform successfully.
If re-elected, I pledge to continue to put the education of Manassas children first, and to help build a school system that will serve as a magnet for citizens and businesses to our wonderful City.
Issues: Pick 5 (or more, or less) issues you think are important to Manassas and give your thoughts on them
- Eliminating or mitigating the negative public perception of K-12 education. The Bush administration, recently acknowledged that the Federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act has diagnosed too many public schools as failing. NCLB is quick to label schools and programs as failures when subgroups do not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Nationwide, thousands are labeled as failures even though some of those schools have made admirable progress and have been judged favorably under state standards. Here’s a short explanation:
- Each school must “disaggregate” pupils into a number of sub-groups. Criteria include ethnic group, income level, second language learners and various categories of special education. Pupils may be in more than one group, for example: Hispanic, learning disability, English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and socio-economically disadvantaged.
- 95% of the pupils in each sub-group must take the test or the school is labeled failing
- Every sub-group of pupils is expected to make AYP each year or the school is failing.
- If a local school district has one failing school it is labeled a failing district.
Nationwide, the number of “failing” schools is rising. For the preliminary 2007-2008 AYP results, 26% of schools in Virginia and 55% of Virginia school districts did NOT make AYP. Manassas is no different than the rest of the State or nation; we too have schools labeled as failing, even though most of our students are getting more quality differentiated instruction, and as a result they are performing better than ever.
- Expanding and enriching education beyond the minimum established in the Standards of Quality (SOQ) while continuing to pay a larger share of education with local revenue. As an example, while City revenue in the schools 2008-2009 budget increased 3%, overall revenue increased only 1%. This is specifically due to reductions in Federal and State revenue. Continued “unfunded mandates” by State and Federal government and reductions in Federal and State to public K-12 education, will result in increased costs to the local taxpayer/homeowner.
- Continued fiscal restraint. We must continue to demonstrate to the citizens that the schools can be good stewards of their money and deliver a return on their investment. Budget increases for the past two years have been 1.9% and 2.9% respectively. Budget restraint is especially important in light of the continued lack of Federal and State funding. However, while the budget increased by 2.9%, as discussed above, revenue increased by only 1%. This is a long term untenable situation.
- Teacher retention and recruitment. There is a national teacher shortage, and it is exacerbated by attrition that is as high as 50% after five years for new teachers. We must differentiate ourselves from Prince William, Loudon and Fairfax counties. Loudon County alone hires more new teachers in a single year than all Virginia universities graduate. In addition to the abnormally high attrition in new teachers, we are faced with a large percentage of teachers who have been with us a long time; many of whom could opt to retire at any time. This would cause a significant brain drain. Hence, we must make sure we hire the “best and brightest” teachers, and develop strategies to retain them once we do.
Is there a particular issue you are especially committed to? If so, explain how you plan to address it if elected:
I am committed to expanding our curriculum beyond the bare basics needed to meet the State mandated Standards of Quality (SOQs) so that we give our graduates the best possible background for their college educations or preparation to enter the 21st century workforce. I believe this will also help stem the loss of students to private schools, and help restore public confidence in the quality of our school system. I am committed to starting this by working throughout the region to implement a regional Governors’ school in Manassas and currently serve as the School Board representative to the regional (Manassas, Manassas Park, Prince William) task force. We have received approval from the General Assembly, and with focus and diligence can make this a reality within the next two years. Expanding on this, we must continue to address the national shortage of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates. Having a Governors’ school will only be successful if we have an enriched science and technology curriculum at the middle and intermediate school level. If re-elected, I promise to ensure that our graduates have the opportunity to experience a world class education in math, science, and technology.
Authorized by the Candidate
|
