Montessori Community Council

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Questionnaire: Ms. Felicia Green

Questionnaire filled out by Ms. Felicia Green.

Meet the Candidate Questionnaire

1. Why did you decide to run for Albany City School Board?

I am running for the School Board to address the key issues that currently face the district. I believe I bring experience, dedication, and a willingness to work with all of the key stakeholders to move the District forward. As a parent of two children who have attended Albany City School District, I have over 23 years of experience with the school district. My youngest daughter currently attends New Scotland Elementary School and previously attended Montessori Magnet School for Pre-K and Kindergarten. During that time, I have served in the following areas:

· City-wide PTA Co-President (2006 – 2008)

· City-wide PTA Charter School Committee that lobbied legislators to secure alternative funding sources due to Charter Schools

· Montessori Common Council Co-President (2005-2006)

· Montessori Magnet School Health Fair Chairperson (1^st health fair)

· Montessori Magnet School Multicultural Dinner Co-Chair

· District Strategic Planning Committee

· Middle School Enrollment Committee

· District Interviewing Committee

· New Scotland Elementary School Swing Space Committee

· New Scotland Elementary School Naming Committee

· “Get Out the Vote” Committee

· Girl Scout Troop Leader

· Junior Achievement Instructor

· Regular attendee at school board meetings

· PTA Member: New Scotland Elementary School, Montessori Common Council, Pine Hills Elementary School, Phillip Livingston Magnet Academy, Albany High School

2. What qualifies you to be on the Albany City School Board? Do you have any unique qualifications that set you apart from other candidates?

As a parent, a former City-wide PTA Co-President, and a local school PTA President, I have regularly attended school board meetings and actively participated on key District committees that have been charged with making important decisions for the District. The Board sets policy for the entire school district. I understand the responsibilities of a board member and the important role this position serves. I also understand the key issues facing the District and would be able to solicit information from key constituencies to move the District forward.

I also bring solid financial and management experience to the Board. As a Comptroller, Commercial Lender, Banker, and Financial Manager, I have solid financial experience. I have also served as a Board President and a Treasurer for the Capital District Community Loan Fund in addition to serving as the Board Secretary of Community Works of New York State. In addition to this experience, I have conducted financial training seminars for not-for-profit board members. These sessions were designed to prepare non-financial board members to utilize financial and program information to make good business decisions for the organization. I have also been a guest speaker at a New York State Housing Agency that provided financial training for Executive Directors. This session helped directors use key financial information as management tools. It also enabled them to ask their financial and program managers for information that would help the director determine program effectiveness and make solid financial decisions without being a “number cruncher”. I believe this same experience would be beneficial to the Albany School Board.

3. Parents in each Albany city school watch as their neighbors and children’s friends leave the schools for Charter Schools, Private Schools, and other districts. What concrete steps can be taken to prevent the loss of students and resources from the ACSD to these competitors?

The District can take several steps (not all inclusive) that can be taken to prevent the loss of students and resources to outside competitors:

· Promote all District programs and requirements to ensure all parents are aware of the wide variety of courses, programs, and services offered by ACSD and able to take advantage of the benefits of ACSD.

· Focus on improving student performance at all schools and all levels to ensure the District is able to compete with other schools.

· Review the services that are being provided by competitors to determine if ACSD can improve its current services.

· Develop tools to identify parent concerns before the parent chooses to move a child from the district.

· Conduct exit interviews (i.e. in person, telephone, email surveys, etc.) with parents who choose to move their child to a new district or school.

4. How would you work with City government and other community stakeholders to make Albany more attractive to homeowners and parents as a permanent option for their families?

The Albany City School District (“the District”) is a separate entity from city government. However, the school district and the local city government share a common source of funding—property and local taxes generated from homeowners in the City of Albany. This mutual reliance on homeowners who willingly buy property in the City of Albany should create a natural bond between the school district and the local city government. Excellent schools and well maintained neighborhoods contribute to a solid tax base and adequate funding for schools and community services.

Historically, homeowners are attracted to cities with the best schools and are willing to pay a little more in taxes in exchange for a quality education for their children; businesses locate to cities that have “highly educated” populations; and funding agencies (i.e. private, state, and federal) favor funding requests that have local government and community support. With these factors in mind, I would encourage the District to work collaboratively with city leadership and city government agencies, such as Albany County Health Department, the Department of Youth and Children Services, the Recreation Department, and the Department of Social Services This will enable the District to increase extracurricular activities for children outside of school hours and create alternative career paths.

5. While publicly, there is a perception of failures for the ACSD, there are many successful programs and schools that families look forward to sending their children to. While everyone values these programs, they are often targeted for cuts, making them less effective. During a time of budget reductions, how do you intend to support existing successful programs in schools, and continue to bring in new programs in schools that need them? When you do need to cut programs, what will be done to fill the voids that follow?

The ACSD has many successful programs and schools. As a board member, I would encourage district administrators to review all programs and courses to identify “best practices” in teaching strategies, instructional materials and resources, and programs and to replicate these programs whenever possible. This review should also focus on effectiveness, accessibility, economic sustainability, and the ability to replicate “best practices”. District programs should be promoted at early stages of educational development to ensure that parents are aware of the many programs offered by ACSD and children are prepared to participate in these programs.

6. The budget process in the ACSD has been a particularly painful one in recent years. Often, to streamline the process, items are lumped together in budget lines. While this makes sense for some items, for others, this has the effect of drastically changing a program without involving the school stakeholders. How will you balance the need for a streamlined process with transparency?

Currently, the public receives a combined budget that groups financial information and provides minimal information on program impact. This information provides broad based information for the general public, but does not provide program or individual school budget detail. There are also individual budget meetings at schools that are generally conducted by senior administrators and principals. These meetings provide an opportunity for individual schools to meet to discuss the impact of the budget on individual schools. Budget details are also discussed at the local board meetings and other budget meetings that are opened to the public. As a board member, I would encourage greater publicity and transparency for these meetings to ensure the public is aware of the meetings and able to understand the information presented at the meetings.

7. What will you do to ensure children’s safety not only at school but getting to and from school?

Over the past few years, the District has implemented several initiatives that have improved safety at Albany City School District. To further this effort, I will collaborate with the Superintendent and the new Safety Director to ensure adequate emphasis and focus on student safety inside and outside of the school.

8. Parent involvement is an important part of every child’s education. How will you encourage parents to be more involved?

As a board member, I would work with the District to define parent involvement and encourage a diversity of methods to involve parents in a child’s education. As a PTA Co-President, I learned that most parents want to be involved in their child’s education, but may be unable to attend numerous meetings, event planning sessions, etc. However, parents tend to show up for events that included or involved their own child. They also were willing to contribute to planning events if non-traditional methods (i.e. emails, conference calls, task delegation, etc.) were used.

Further, the District has a new email system that will enable parents to stay in communication with teachers and become aware of events. I would encourage the District to ensure that all teachers, administrators, and parents are trained to utilize this system. This will enable parents to remain in contact with teachers and administrators and school groups. I would also encourage a welcoming environment for parents in the school district. Many schools have implemented new ways for parents to have access to teachers and for teachers to have access to parents. I would encourage ACSD to review and implement some of the “best practices” in this area.

9. What are your thoughts on the high school restructuring?

The District Strategic Planning Committee developed an extensive plan to restructure the Albany High School into smaller learning communities. In addition to the items outlined in the New York State Education (NYSED) report, I would work closely with the board, the Superintendent, and the High School Restructuring team to implement a comprehensive restructuring and academic improvement program. As noted in the NYSED report, the ACSD must focus on aligning the curriculum in the elementary and middle schools with the high school to ensure students have the core skills required to succeed in high school. As a board member, I would also work closely with the Superintendent and district administrators to ensure that elementary/middle school programs are rigorous and provide the “regents level instruction” required to enable all ACSD students to be successful in a “high quality” high school environment.

10. Being on the School Board is a large, unpaid time commitment. There is often a high turn over for School Board members because of this, are you aware of this and what have you done to ensure against it for you?

I understand the rigor required of School Board Members. In 2005/2006, I was asked to undertake this role and decided against it because my daughter was very young. However, at this time, my daughter is older and I have a support system that will enable me to make a viable contribution to the Board. I realize the position is “unpaid”, however, the rewards will be great if we can work together to solve the challenges that face the District.

Questionnaire: Ms. Alexandra Streznewski

Ms. Alexandra Streznewski's completed questionnaire. More information is found for her campaign at: http://www.alexandrastreznewski.com/

Montessori Community Council

Meet the Candidate Questionnaire

1. Why did you decide to run for Albany City School Board?

Response:

As the mother of two children in the Albany Public Schools, I have been active in our schools for many years and am concerned that we continue to improve the education provided to all our children. At this point in time, our District stands at a crossroads – we need to hire a new Superintendent to guide the District to a new level of achievement; we need to negotiate a new teacher contract beginning with the 2011-2012 school year; our high school is in the beginning of a mandated restructuring; and all of this during an historic economic recession. As an educated and concerned taxpayer who has a personal stake in the education we are providing to our children, I believe I can make a difference and help raise the achievement of all our children.

2. What qualifies you to be on the Albany City School Board? Do you have any unique qualifications that set you apart from other candidates?

Response:

First, as a mother of two children in the Albany Public Schools, I am vested in ensuring that we provide a quality education to all our children. We are educating the future citizens of our City and the well being of our society depends upon how well we do that job.

Second, my past experience as an advocate for the restoration of the facilities plan funding for TOAST, Arbor Hill and Giffen Elementary Schools; and as past president of the Albany City Council PTA working to increase parental involvement in all our schools; demonstrates that I am committed to ensuring that quality education is provided to all our children and that the parent voices are heard at all levels of the District.

Third, as an attorney for CDPHP for over 14 years, I have demonstrated the ability to help guide a highly complex not-for-profit organization through challenging economic times without compromising its core mission.

Response:

- Ensure an atmosphere of academic excellence. The best defense is a good offense – if the District offers a demonstrably superior product, families will be incentivized to enroll their children in Albany’s Public Schools. Although we do a very good job educating some of our students, the unacceptably low graduation rate at Albany High School tells us we can do a better job with a lot of our students. By emphasizing academic excellence at every level we will be able to increase the graduation rate and take away the biggest obstacle to retaining families in the Albany Public Schools.

- Ensure that adequate resources are provided for a robust recruitment program for the Albany Public Schools. The variety of options for all parents – public, private, religious, and charter schools - requires the District to compete for students. In order to do so effectively, the District needs to dedicate resources to effectively publicizing the benefits of Albany Public Schools.

- Ensure that appropriate training on the District’s mission and training in “people skills” are provided at all levels for District employees. Although our teachers and principals may be working hard to ensure a quality education, all employees, including receptionists, lunch aides, and custodians, are integral to providing a District-wide atmosphere of excellence. Not only do these individuals interact with our students on a daily basis and provide another opportunity for emphasizing character development for our children, they also interact with prospective families and need to represent a welcoming face for our District.

4. How would you work with City government and other community stakeholders to make Albany more attractive to homeowners and parents as a permanent option for their families?

Response:

Successfully performing schools are key to attracting families to put down roots in our City. In order for the City of Albany to thrive, the District needs to partner with the City and other community stakeholders to ensure that all our children are provided with a quality education. The Superintendent of the District needs to ensure a functioning working relationship with the Mayor of the City. We need to partner with programs, such as the Harlem Children’s Zone which is working to end the generational cycle of poverty in urban neighborhoods, that have a demonstrated track record of success. We need to identify areas of need and partner with city agencies to support services that wrap around the District’s core mission (such as affordable high quality daycare for all children up to the age of 4 and meaningful afterschool programming opportunities for all school age children).

Response:

We need to use the resources we have more efficiently. Given the recession we are in and the uncertainty of state and federal aid, we do not have the luxury of additional funds coming in to the District.

When budget cuts are proposed, in addition to the dollar amount of the budget cut, an explanation should be provided as to how the services are going to continue to be maintained in compliance with the District’s Strategic Plan, notwithstanding the loss of funds.

A greater emphasis needs to be placed on recognizing that the arts, music, gym, and foreign language are not add-ons, but an integral part of educating the whole child and instilling a lifelong love of learning. These subjects should be integrated into the core curriculum and used to emphasize and reinforce the skills that are being taught in English, math, science, and social studies.

Response:

Given that the District must compete with private, religious and charter schools for its students, involving stakeholders in key budget decisions is imperative. Those who are impacted by the decisions should be actively involved in providing input into those decisions. Long-term impacts of budgetary cuts need to be considered and addressed prior to the cuts being approved. By providing more avenues for input prior to the crunch of budget season, greater transparency can be provided while complying with the various required deadlines in the budget process.

7. What will you do to ensure children’s safety not only at school but getting to and from school?

Response:

- Transportation needs to institute new policies regarding “never events” such as children being left on busses, or dropped off at wrong stops. Airlines cannot operate on a “close enough” standard and neither should our school busses. Nothing less than the safety of our children is at stake.

- In school programs such as gang prevention, positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS), and anti-bullying programs need to be emphasized for our students.

- All District employees, from the custodial staff to the principal, need to be provided training and held accountable for providing a positive role model for our children. Each interaction a child has with a District employee can be an opportunity for positive character development.

8. Parent involvement is an important part of every child’s education. How will you encourage parents to be more involved?

Response:

- Communication between the District and parents is key. The District needs to provide a variety of ways for parents to receive information and to provide feedback. The District’s School News Notifier (SNN) is a great start, but all teachers need to be using Power School (or whatever subsequent system is adopted by the District) to communicate frequently with parents about student progress. Parents need to be canvassed, including at student registration, as to how they would like to receive communications from the District. Texting and other electronic means of communication need to be adopted.

- In addition to the traditional parent groups such as individual school PTAs, and the Albany City Council PTA, the District needs to reach out to non-school-affiliated groups – churches, health centers, community gatherings – in non-traditional ways such as radio advertising, door-to-door canvassing, and cell phone texting – to ensure that a wider variety of voices are heard. This would include holding outreach forums during non-working hours – evenings and weekends – and in non-school facilities – churches, community centers, and shopping centers.

- We need to include parents in all key decisions. As demonstrated by the middle school enrollment task force, and the pre-kindergarten lottery focus groups, parents are more than willing to provide feedback if asked. Rather than assume what parents would like, the District needs to ensure it reaches out to all parents for their opinions prior to making major decisions.

9. What are your thoughts on the high school restructuring?

Response:

The high school restructuring presents an opportunity for the District to accelerate much needed improvements in the quality of education provided at the high school level. Smaller learning communities, when combined with a focus on rigorous and meaningful instruction, can be successful. Rather than putting the focus on the administration of the four smaller ‘schools within a school,’ however, the focus needs to be on giving our children the tools they need to succeed. The emphasis in each one of these smaller schools needs to be on improving instruction and raising our expectations. Achievement will not improve until we recognize that all of our children can do better, and we hold all stakeholders - parents, teachers, students and administrators - accountable for reaching higher standards.

Response:

Having attended virtually every Board of Education meeting for the last four years, I am familiar with the breadth of topics covered by the Board and have a realistic idea of the time commitment required for the position. While I am not in a position to judge any other individual’s decision to leave the Board prior to the expiration of a full term, I have ensured that I have the supports needed in my personal and professional life to fulfill a full four-year term if elected. In addition, I have two children attending the Albany Public Schools in 4^th and 6^th grade, and am committed to being involved in our schools in some capacity until they graduate from high school - at least 8 more years.

School Board Election

On October 4, 2010, MCC held a "Meet the Candidate" Night where candidates were invited to speak publicly and then privately with our community and the greater public. Candidates were also invited to fill out a questionnaire that was created by our community. Invitations were sent on September 20, reminders on September 25, an outline of the evening and the questionnaire was sent on September 28. All efforts were made to include all candidates. Mr. Wayne Morris had a prior engagement and was unable to attend, but sent a filled out questionnaire along with his regrets. Mr. Barry Walston did not respond, but contacted me on Wednesday, October 13 to say he had been out of the country. Ms. Alexandra Streznewski, Ms. Felicia Green, and Ms. Edith Leet were all able to attend. A note, Mr. James Lembo, who has dropped out of the race sent a message to be read. Although he decided not to run some time ago, his name is still on the ballot. His basic message was "Don't vote for me." We thank Mr. Lembo for his candor and if he decides to run for school board in the future, we look forward to hearing his message then.

A huge thank you to the candidates that were able to attend and who filled out questionnaires. The questionnaires will be posted as a different blog posts, please look at all of them!

Welcome to MCC!

Welcome to the MCC blog. On this blog, we hope to keep people up on the different goings on along with having a "playground chat" feel where we can have up for discussion different topics, like what to make for dinner and how do you get your child up and running for school? In these discussions, we hope for discussions about your own best practices, but would rather not have anything personal about specific children or teachers.

We will also work to keep our community informed on the district level, with updates about district events and currently, the school board campaign.