Questions left over from League Of Women Voters Forum

By Patricia A. Booker

Too manu questions, too little time to answer them all...

In what ways do you intend to be responsive to citizen input and participation in decision making? First by improving the `committee' structure, making those meetings regularly scheduled, with agendas and meeting minutes and if possible televised. Detailed discussions should take place in those meetings and if they were open per the Sunshine Law meaningful discussions could be had.

If elected to the Board, how would you enforce the Sunshine Act when meeting in executive session? The Sunshine Act is very clear about the topics that can be discussed in closed, executive sessions, such as personnel or real estate. I would work to ensure that only those items are elevated to an executive session and urge the board to discuss ALL other items in public meetings.

Currently, the President of the Board selects committee chairmen. Do you agree with this process and why? This structure does allow for favoritism and some may argue can be used to `payback' board members for voting a certain way, however, I do think that the committee chairs should be chosen by the Executive team, President and Vice President. This is standard operating procedure for boards of many kinds and can be very helpful in controlling bickering and politicking between board members. The board votes for the President and as such has to live with the consequences.

Given NCLB and its emphasis on bringing everyone up to a minimal level or standard, what do you, as a future board member, consider your role to be in supporting high achieving and gifted students? Radnor is blessed to have many high achieving students who have earned their place in our gifted programs. For example there are now 76 children in 8th grade official recognized as gifted but that means there are 211 students with a varying range of capabilities. It is the job of a school director to provide programs for all 287 children. As a parent of a gift child I want strong educational programs available to him, but as a parent of two other children who have not tested for gifted classification, I want strong educational programs for them as well. It is a balancing act, if there is a need we will meet it head on but that may require out of the box thinking, outside funding streams and resource sharing with the many higher education organizations that surround us.

How do you plan to keep the lines of communication open between the board, the teachers, and the community? First, we need to use the web more efficiently. This is the greatest resource we have because it is REAL time. We need to train the parents and the community to rely on the web for the most updated information and we need to deliver. The same can be said for communication with teachers but we can't let technology take the place of face to face conversation. Much can be misinterpreted from the way an email is worded, the body language and eye contact is lost and so many times the real meaning is lost. Real issues need to be discussed in person and I would be willing to put in the time

How will you engage teachers in constructive dialogue to solicit their input and increase the exchange of ideas between the Board, district administrators, and professional educators? Over the years I have built a good working relationship with teachers at RES, RMS, and now at the RHS. While I have never been a teacher I have spent a great deal of time in our schools. I would bring my knowledge of the challenges and successes I have experienced to the conversation and hope that this approach will help to open real dialog and ultimately lead to a better collaborative relationship. It will take time but it is a priority.

What do you see as the ideal relationship between the Board and superintendent? The Board sets policy, approves district goals and measures the results of district, while the Superintendent is responsible for the implementation. I would keep this thinking front and center at all times but that does not mean the Superintendent gets a blank check or a free reign of the district. I would work to see to it that the whole board participates in providing direction to the superintendent and not just the president of the board. Each board member has expertise and I would hope the superintendent would seek out input from board members when making decisions. But mostly I would ensure that there is an ongoing Q & A between the board and superintendent. We have seen what can happen if there are no checks and balances.

What is your vision for technology in our schools? How do you intend to fund and maintain this ever-increasing need? Technology is key to the success of our children and Radnor is quite frankly behind. Technology is not just computers but white boards for engaging group learning, it is self testing systems that instantaneously can tell a teacher whether their lesson got through to the kids, it can save MANY hours of paperwork both for grading and documentation. The world is real time and we need to teach our kids to learn in that environment if they are to be competitive. As for funding, private + public partnerships is the way to go, from tax credits to advertising rights and everything in between, we have to find a way to afford the technology without crushing the tax paying community. It can be done but it takes planning and effort.

If you are not selected to be a part of the board leadership, how do you plan to change the flaws that have been pointed out in the current school board "process?" We have seen that trying to be a one-man or one-woman town crier doesn't work. The power of persuasion is critical and that takes patience and time.

Do you believe there should be term limits for Board members? Why or why not? Not sure about this, but I am inclined to say no term limits. The voters can limit a term if the person is not meeting their promises.

In this year's budget, the district spent more money than it took in. Would you support pay as you go in the future? I am a conservative spender and as Treasurer of a small church with a big property I often find myself having to make difficult choices. Other than building projects which in my opinion naturally are paid for over time, I would push the board to only approve spending based on a know revenue stream.

Do you believe that the documents of local government should be open with few exceptions? If so, would you vote to make this a policy of the school district in advance of legislative actions? I do believe that unless covered by the Sunshine Law all documents should be public and available upon a reasonable request. The taxpayers pay for the schools and therefore they should be able to look at any document they would like unless associated with those areas outline by the Sunshine Law. I am not in favor of paying lawyers with taxpayer's money.

When was the last time you visited the schools and took part in a classroom activity? Just this week, we held a program at lunch time for any student who wanted to eat some pizza, talk about science and look through the science books we gathered from local libraries in preparation for our November science fair. This is just one part of the science programs I have helped to lead at RES in an effort to excite kids about science. When I walk in the schools I hear more "Hi, Mrs. Booker" comments than I can count.