MTSD School Board Candidate Answers
Forward Ozaukee asked each candidate for the School Board to answer five questions. Here are the answers of those whom replied. Some answers exceeded the 100 word count limit, so for further details or clarification please contact the candidates directly. Their contact information can be found at the top of the document.
The top 2 candidates in April will be elected to a 3-year term.
Paul Buzzell:
Connect with me:
linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbcfo/
facebook https://www.facebook.com/paulhbuzzell/
Website: Pb4mtsd.com
Jill Chromy:
Age: 52
Address: 13033 N Phillip Dr. Mequon, WI 53097
Previous Public Office: None
Community involvement: PTO President Lake Shore Middle School, Area Council Representative in MTSD, Destination Team manager for MTSD, Member Christ Church and Christ Church Women's Group (Monday AM)
Contact information: Email chromy4mtsd@gmail.com
Phone 414-331-4241
Website chromy4mtsd.com
Scarlett Johnson:
Age: 47 yrs
Address: 10935 N Wyngate Trace Mequon
Email: Scarlett@scarlettforkids.com
Website: www.scarlettforkids.com
Facebook: @scarlettforkids
Jason Levash:
Age: 41
Address: 8955 W Highlander Dr, Mequon WI 53097
Previous Public Office: none
Community Involvement: past and present listed on my website under "Meet Jason"
Contact Information: jason@levash4MTSD.com, 920-540-6150 or levash4MTSD.com
1. In your opinion, what should be the 3 top priorities of your school board?
Paul Buzzell: Sound Strategy. Good Policy. Appropriate Budgets. Actions by MTSD’s Board of Education waterfalls to impact student growth, beginning with the Board-developed 2021-2024 Strategic Plan’s five goals and 17 objectives. The plan is the foundation for district work whereby Board members ensure tactical alignment. Board policy is the framework for District operations, carried out by the Superintendent and Administration. Board members must be astute to policy change nuances and its importance shouldn’t be diminished. Finally, good budgeting, which meets educational objectives, maintains physical plant and balances the needs of all is mandatory, and requires financial competencies to support long-term district needs.
Jill Chromy: Excellence in Academics should be priority one and happens if we have high standards and expectations of students, quality curriculum, and a strong teaching staff.
Fiscal Responsibility - Communities expect measurable results showing return on investment for tax dollars. Resources in time, staffing, and monies spent for curriculum and consulting, should be utilized in a way that ensures the needs of the student body and educational goals are being met.
Community Engagement - School boards should have a partnership with the community it serves. The board should ensure that its policies are representative of the priorities, goals, and values of the community.
Scarlett Johnson: Students First, Parents as Partners, Teachers Supported. …School boards should operate business in an atmosphere of mutual cooperation and trust, providing a safe space for educators and parents to communicate with board members. Our district needs to move from a rigid top-down system that stifles creativity, to a system that encourages teachers to be more intuitive and less focused on paperwork and checking boxes…...A “back to basics" approach would translate into smaller classrooms and more direct instruction, to that end it is clear that the district must provide relief to current teachers and attract more in-person instructors.
Jason Levash: Supporting Learning - The pandemic has resulted in learning loss for students; the academic recovery plan in place needs to be deployed with fidelity, supported with adequate resources and monitored. A focus also needs to be on improving the District’s student growth and target group outcomes. 2: Community Engagement - Strong communities build strong schools so the board needs to engage with the community in new ways so every stakeholder has a voice, is responded to, and is able to engage in civil discourse. 3: Fiscal Management - The district is going to be facing significant fiscal restraints while developing the 2022-2023 budget, a focus will need to be on allocating resources in a fiscally conservative manner that will support ALL students.
2. What are the central events/or ideas our country was founded upon, and how important is it to teach these in the classroom?
Paul Buzzell: Freedom is in the DNA of America. Free markets and free people are fundamental for personal and collective prosperity, and having an educated populous is critical to ensuring them. The nexus between founding ideals and education is discoverable and lessons immutable through research, questioning and critical thinking. The days of memorization are over. Schools teach to standards, but the entre of value systems is naturally occurring. It is important for students to understand the DNA of our country and how historical events shaped us. When these concepts are openly explored and compared to other nations, America’s uniqueness can be understood.
Jill Chromy: The history surrounding the Revolutionary War and the ideals that are laid out in the Declaration of Independence, the US constitution, its Bill of Rights and additional amendments, create the strong foundation for our country. It is of utmost importance that this is taught in the classroom as it provides students with a sense of belonging within the American identity, a history of the sacrifices made for our freedoms and rights, and displays that our Constitution is a living and working document that provides a pathway for correction, improvement, and flexibility for future challenges.
Scarlett Johnson: … I am thankful every day that I was born here, as this is the only country in the world where a kid who was born to a fourteen-year-old, unmarried, Puerto Rican mom can be in the position that I am now. … …It is important to be honest about America’s history, children must learn about the shameful treatment of different races and ethnic groups. In the spirit of “speaking truth” students must also be taught that slavery, legal racial discrimination, and racism are so inconsistent with the founding principles of the United States that Americans fought a civil war …Though not perfect, America has always made progress towards “a more perfect union.”
Jason Levash: MTSD has adopted the 2018 Wisconsin Standards for Social Studies. Standard PS1.b: Origins and foundation of the government of the United States has a focus on investigating how principles expressed in the Declaration of
Independence, Constitution (including the Preamble and the Bill of Rights) have been applied throughout United States history. I believe students should have a strong understanding of the origins of the US along with the how and why the country exists today. It is the responsibility of the professional educators of the District to deliver instruction in alignment with the standards.
3. What should the district's position be on teaching CRT, or topics related to it?
Paul Buzzell: CRT has no place in our District and MTSD Administration agrees. I am the only Board candidate to deep dive CRT and can confirm no CRT at MTSD. Topics relating to CRT, I understand means “equity” versus “equality”. I cannot speak to other schools or “equity” outside of education, but I do know MTSD’s application of “educational equity” through instruction. I’ve researched this in-depth, and found it both conceptually and in practice, to align to our vision, “each student, every time, empowered to succeed.” It’s not racist or scandalous, but based on the question, clearly more public education is required.
Jill Chromy: I believe Critical Race Theory does not belong in our schools. Originally seen as a theory taught at the collegiate level, more literature is being published on its use in all levels of education. There is general confusion and disagreement about what CRT is. Therefore, more work needs to be done in defining what CRT in K-12 looks like. While continued open and transparent discussion is required, we must not lose sight of other important goals. MTSD should continue to focus on academic excellence for all of our students so they can be successful in whatever career pathway they choose.
Scarlett Johnson: …CRT is framework, a lens, one of many of critical theories that puts identity politics and anti-western sensibilities above all else. The intent of Critical Theorists is to convince Americans, including children, to apply prejudicial ideas to every aspect of their lives. …– a concept that when applied in practice, results in new forms of state-sanctioned racial discrimination, quotas, and unequal treatment.
I do not support the implementation of policies, curriculum, and professional development that are ideological in nature and meant to achieve an ideological agenda. … … This is the main idea behind one of critical race theory’s central precepts, that everyone is guilty of unconscious bias.
Jason Levash: Critical Race Theory should not be taught in the district or be in the curriculum of any course. The classroom should be free of any theories or practices that teach students what to think. Instead students should engage with a rigorous curriculum so they can learn how to think critically. The standards adopted by the board should identify what students should know and be able to do. At the same time, students should be able to explore for themselves theories, diverse perspectives and historical facts without being censored.
4. Can you explain your understanding of equity vs equality and what this means for education?
Paul Buzzell: Thank you. These concepts are wildly misunderstood. Educational EQUITY means each student gets what they need to be successful. Educational EQUALITY means each students gets the same thing. The idea of educational equity has existed since at least the 1970’s when my elementary class was split into three math sections based on capability. Today, classes are homogeneous; specialization occurs within. To have educational EQUALITY, every student gets the exact same lecture and materials, technically meaning no AP courses and no IEP’s, which clearly is not what’s best for kids. To learn what educational equity means at MTSD, go to pb4mtsd/ee.
Jill Chromy: All students should be given the tools they need to succeed and reach their full potential regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or disability.
Equality in education means that students are treated equally and that all have access to the same opportunities and resources.
Equity means that some students will also receive additional resources and opportunities depending on their specific needs or situation to help them reach their full potential.
Scarlett Johnson: When the average person ponders the term “equity” they think “equal opportunity.” In reality, “equity” in education policy translates into equalizing outcomes among groups, usually based on group identity. This needs to change.
“Equity” should refer to the principle that all stakeholders must receive fair and impartial treatment, regardless of their identity. All individuals and groups of individuals must have equal opportunities to participate in and benefit from the District’s programs so that every stakeholder can benefit from the MTSD equity/equal opportunity policies. MTSD should ensure that every single student is seen, heard, and valued as a singular personality, not simply a representative member of a monolithic identity group…
Jason Levash: Educational equality focuses on ensuring everyone has the same rights, opportunities, and resources. Educational equity ensures ALL students have access to resources, opportunities and support unique to them so they can be successful today while preparing them for college, careers and life regardless of their current ability, socioeconomic standing, race, ethnicity, language, gender or disability. We need to start with equality by providing all students the same opportunities to ensure success while being equitable to adjust the equal opportunities to the student based upon who they are as a human being.
5. Do you think enhanced pay in recognition of high performing teachers should be part of a district's compensation package?
Paul Buzzell: Absolutely, and I support MTSD’s performance-based enhanced compensation plan available post-Wisconsin Act 10, which limited base wage growth to CPI (historically near 0.5%). For staff electing Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Professional Practice Goals (PPGs), this with administrative observations could add another 2.25% to wages. SLO success is generally measured by student outcomes (e.g., MAP scores), aligning to District milestones. Since my last Board tenure, I continue to advocate tracking cohort growth through individual teachers to identify professional development opportunities and hiring experience. Further, to achieve MTSD’s 95%+ staff retention goal, focus on employee experiences (strategic objective 4A) is paramount.
Jill Chromy: This is a challenging question complicated by larger classroom sizes and a wide range of student needs and abilities in and between classrooms. As a substitute teacher, I see these challenges and understand that direct support within the classroom could add to academic success of our teaching staff.
I believe we need to ensure teaching salaries are highly competitive and provide adequate direct teaching support. The addition of pay recognition for high performing teachers could then strengthen MTSD’s ability to make the district highly attractive in both obtaining and retaining successful educators.
Scarlett Johnson: Yes, enhanced pay is definitely something to consider as a way to reward and attract high performing educators. -EDUCATION BEFORE BUILDINGS: The hiring of more educators to offer in classroom support and retaining talented educators is vital to academic recovery. … … Building effective teachers who work …with collective efficacy and evidence can prove teaching and learning strategies are working. -SCHOOL LEADERSHIP: Our schools need leaders with vision who understand instruction at the levels they evaluate and are held accountable for making learning happen. -PARTNERSHIP: We need to advocate for parents to be more involved and engaged. Educators and parents should work together to set expectations and follow through on them.
Jason Levash: The MTSD’s current compensation model has elements of recognition for high performance. The model has three elements: Student Learning Objective, SLO (50%), Evaluation of Teacher Effectiveness using the Danielson Model (30%) and Professional Practice Goal (20%). Teachers that meet their SLO goal(s), are rated effective or highly effective and engage in professional development have access to compensation increases annually. All teachers do not receive the same increase in compensation since increases are awarded on a continuum based upon their performance. I support the current model and have professional administrative experience in implementing a like model in another district.