WYDaily sent an identical questionnaire to each candidate for the Powhatan District seat on the Williamsburg-James City County school board. The seat is currently held by Joe Fuentes who is facing off against challenger Melinda Lincoln-Richardson. The election takes place Nov. 5.
These are Lincoln-Richardson’s answers to the questions. View a completed questionnaire from Fuentes by clicking here.
1. Can you share your age, family and professional background?
I am sixty-five years of age, retired from Federal service, as an Education Program Specialist with the U.S. Department of Education and as a Senior Assistant Ombudsman and a Senior Policy Advisor with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. I currently serve as a professor of Communication with the University of Maryland University College and Thomas Nelson Community College at the Historic Triangle campus in Williamsburg, Virginia. I have also taught Conflict Resolution Communication classes for the Christopher Wren program for the last two years. I am happily married with six adult children.
2. What do you feel are the three major issues facing the school district right now? What are your ideas on how to work toward a solution for any or all of them?
Three major issues currently addressing the school district are: academic achievement, teacher to pupil ratio in the classroom, and the emphasis of administrative importance over education. I believe, as a school district, we must return to the basic values of education, including early identification of under-achievers and develop a better approach to maintaining their attention and eagerness to participate in education. As educators, we need to make learning interesting, progressive, and applicable to real life situations.
Because our SOL scores have dropped dramatically and our sub groups, reflecting ethnicity and disability, have decreased in comparison scores with other public school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the WJC school system must work to achieve better than a minimum rating. We are not getting the value in our education that we should in terms of the taxpayer dollars per student we receive. How much is WJC paying per student for education compared with the better SOL performing school districts in the Commonwealth? Why are our expectations of our school system less than other school districts? Why do we accept less and pay more?
Teachers achieve their best performance and effective learning results when addressing smaller size classes. I believe an increase in the number of qualified educators is needed with equally qualified assistants in every classroom. Educators do not have sufficient time to tailor education for thirty or more students. Educators must address individual learning needs and maximize learning potential for each student within a minimum amount of time daily to overfull classes.
Also, administration staffing is top heavy, including coaching executives and consulting studies. We need to focus on effectively increasing contact between educators/teachers and our students. Teachers provide the needed learning, promote student interaction, and provide the expansion and application of critical thinking skills in our children. Teachers are the driving force of education and need the resources (smaller class size, qualified assistants, and learning resource tools) to effectively reach the students and build an articulated learning level from one year to the next, building on previously demonstrated knowledge and new learning techniques.
Building a new administration building, for $8.5 M, as recommended by the administration, will not increase learning in the classroom. I consider a new administration building as an example of fiscal irresponsibility at this point in the economy. Monies can be better allocated for needed educational development and resources for our teachers and our students in the classrooms. The WJC Schools must not only achieve the minimum Standards of Learning, established by the Commonwealth of Virginia, for all school districts, but show consistent improvement in student learning for our children, as well.
3. How well do you think the elementary school curriculum does addressing the needs ofeach student? What, if any, ideas do you have for improving student performance across the achievement spectrum?
I believe teachers, beginning in the elementary schools, are challenged with greater classroom size, limited resources or learning tools, and inadequate salaries, and are expected to perform their duties over and beyond what is realistically expected of them in the classroom. Without the use of qualified assistants or aids in the classroom coupled with the reduction or dissolution of additional student programs, our educators are expected to achieve higher learning standards, address early identification of students with special learning needs, and tailor individual learning plans to promote success for every student in the classroom.
Effective communication between teachers and parents/guardians addressing the needs of their students is needed and will prove to be most valuable when maintained throughout the year. Teachers need more planning time, more conference time, and more professional development opportunities to maintain effective communication and successful learning strategies demonstrating rewarding results for our children.
Also, many teachers receive minimum stipend pay for extra work assignments, and maintain multiple jobs, minimizing their focus on education to simply maintain their standard of living. A pay increase and/or a cost of living increase must be seriously considered for qualified teachers. We must also maintain a balance of experienced teachers and new teachers to best apply the effective learning strategies and techniques benefitting our students in WJC schools. The advent of issued “tablets”, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and similar initiatives demands new and better approaches to learning that are only now being presented to graduating educators. WJCC must be prepared to excel in this technical learning environment.
All teachers must demonstrate best education practices in the classroom and become examples of the value of education. Educators are expected to lead forums and conferences for new and better learning initiatives. Educators must be able to apprise the administration of their requirements for how best to achieve learning, without fear of losing their jobs or retribution. At the same time, a safe learning environment must be provided for all students and educators in order to promote effective learning.
In other words, provide teachers the intervention tools and resources needed to engage and empower students to maximize their learning potential with skilled professionals in WJC schools. Provide professional development opportunities, administrative support for new learning initiatives from our qualified educators. Provide performance metrics, not yet available in the strategic plan, for educators’ use in measuring progress toward reaching their goals, measure their progress quarterly, and celebrate educational success in the classroom.
4. Parents have high expectations for their children in WJCC schools. Recently, the budget has been strained between what the division says it can afford and what people want. How can you resolve this problem so expectations and affordability align? Be specific.
I believe parents and the public need to be aware of and involved in the dynamics of the budget process. Currently, the administration is provided with a built in pay increase and benefits in excess of all the teachers employed in the county. A “golden parachute” exists for the administration to collect up to twelve months continuation of pay if terminated. This type of agreement holds the public hostage and pays for two administrators for 12 months when the incumbent leaves prior to contract end. The administrator has a cushion to fall back on as a reward for risk-taking, what do the educators have? What risks has the administration taken to earn this “golden parachute”?
More fiscal reward is needed for our teachers, as well as administration, to ensure a continuation of effective education. Teachers have been receiving the same level of compensation or a 1% cost of living increase over the last four years. Their standard of living is challenged, especially when many teachers need a second job to meet their budgets and takes their concentration off education. A re-allocation of resources is needed to ensure that teachers are able to put forth their full efforts and focus on educating our students.
Unfortunately, many children are being processed, not educated, and more focus is needed on individual student learning differences and abilities which are not now being challenged. Re-allocate budget items to meet educational priority. Why is the building of a new administration building being aligned or being considered concurrent with the building of a new middle school? If the school enrollment projections indicate the need for a new middle school, why is the bloating of administrative staffing in a new facility to the tune of $8.5 M also being considered when additional space, including empty office space is available in the community? Why are we considering rewarding administrative mediocrity and not promoting educational achievement?
5. In 2011, the school board ended Academy for Life and Learning and put in place a coaching system for middle school students who would have previously qualified for the academy. What is your assessment of the change?
I would request to view the performance metrics of the coaching system in place for middle school students who were identified as “at-risk” learners. I would ask whether the dissolve of the Academy for Life and Learning contributed to the current 2013 WJC drop-out rate of 7.69%, with an increase of 2.79% from the 2012 drop-out rate of 4.9%. I would also question whether the current graduation rate of 85.9% in WJC schools, which is better than those in Hampton and Newport News, but behind York, Gloucester, Matthews, Poquoson, and Isle of Wight districts, is affected by the dissolve of the Academy for Life and Learning. In closing or dismantling the Academy for Life and Learning and creating a new alternative educational program for WJC schools, I would address the following questions listed below.
1. How many students have been serviced in the new program?
2. What are the results/benefits for the enrolled students?
3. What criteria is used in evaluating the student’s progress/success?
4. What is the percentage of students attaining success/failure in the program?
5. How many coaches/deans have been hired for this program? At what cost? How does this compare to the original program?
6. Has this program exceeded the results of the Academy for Life and Learning? Did we reach the Adequate Yearly Progress Benchmarks identified in the program’s metrics? Explain.
7. What is the cost per student for this new program? Did we move from 40 enrolled students in the Academy for Life and Learning to the projected enrollment of 120 students in the new program? What is the cost per dean/teacher as compared to the original program?
8. How many students in the program have since succeeded in traditional classroom settings?
9. Since conflict resolution skills are uses in the re-vamped program, why not include these skills in all classroom instruction to limit or reduce the number of students recommended for this program as a preventative measure?
10. How are drop-out prevention methods or out-of-school suspensions being addressed in the building of a “community of learning”? Through performance metrics, are more at-risk children being assisted in terms of discipline, absenteeism, and parental involvement?
6. Talk about the school board’s relationship with the James City County Board of Supervisors and Williamsburg’s City Council. On the one hand, the school board makes independent decisions regarding policy and programs. On the other, it’s largely dependent on the two boards for its funding. As a leader, what’s your philosophy for promoting cooperation? What, if anything, would you do to improve the relationship?
The relationship of the WJC school board and the JCC Board of Supervisors should reflect independent thinking on a non-partisan level of commitment. To paraphrase General George Patton, “If everyone thinks the same, then someone isn’t thinking.” Emphasis should be placed on budget priority as it provides and promotes the fulfillment of educational needs for our students in the county. The relationship cannot be based on external allegiances, backroom networks, or other group alliances, but remain focused on fully and effectively educating our children to provide the leadership we will need from the next generation of Americans.
Effective cooperation with the BOS needs only to address providing the best education we can offer this county. We require the resources from the BOS to do the best job of education. We need to overcome poor and falling scores, indicative of mediocre performance, and achieve a higher rate of return on the educational investment in our young people from the BOS. The School Board must maintain a sharp focus on education, backed up with data and logic, to insure the needs of the community are channeled through the BOS without political interference. We must divorce politics from education and serve the needs of our children.
