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Nine running for three Howard-Suamico seats

By Press Times Staff


HOWARD-SUAMICO – It’s a crowded candidate pool for three Howard-Suamico School Board seats up for election this spring.

There are triple the amount of candidates, than there are open seats, are on the Feb. 15 primary ballot.

Incumbents Teresa Ford, Scott Jandrin and Jason Potts face challengers Michell Bartlein, Jeff Eilers, Allen McGuire, Michael Moran, Amanda Pascoe and Amy Rubright.

The top six vote-getters will move on to the April 5 general election ballot.

The Press Times emailed each candidate the same question and gave them 200 words to respond.

What do you see as the most important issue facing the Howard-Suamico School District, and if elected, how will you address it?

Teresa Ford

A: The reason for our very existence as a school district has always been, and will continue to be, the most important issue facing us – and that is providing our students with an education that gives them the knowledge and skills they need in order to be successful in a changing world.

If reelected, I will continue to work with my fellow board members, along with the administration, to enact policies and allocate resources to develop all students’ full academic potential and to promote their social and emotional growth.

There is so much great work happening in learning spaces throughout our district.

We, as educators, must celebrate that with our families and community.

We must also continue to be innovative in ways that will address the interrupted learning of the recent past, to ensure success for all of our students.

Michael Moran 

A: The most important issue we’re currently facing is the accumulated learning loss during this pandemic, and how we prevent additional learning loss.

We need to close the gap, and we can only do that if the district places greater emphasis on the risks of the pandemic.

The district should focus on keeping kids, their teachers and support staff safe and physically in school.

Going forward, we need to make sure the district prioritizes bringing in additional staff and resources to help students achieve, be confident and successful.  

The policy governance model that the board uses focuses on the end result. 

As a board, we need to enact policies to measure and evaluate the administration on how well they are closing the learning-loss gap – not just general achievement.

We also need to make sure we are allocating resources so the administration can be successful implementing the policies we set.

If elected, I will advocate for doing both.

Our district’s success depends on our children, teachers, staff and parents working together.

I promise to be a voice and a bridge for all the stakeholders, if I’m given the opportunity to serve.

Amanda Pascoe

A: I feel the most important issue facing the Howard-Suamico School District is the loss of learning that our students are facing in light of the pandemic.

Going virtual was tough for all area districts, and now that we are back in-person, we are dealing with issues like loss of learning.

If elected, I would work to address the deficits and gaps in student learning.

In collaboration with the district, I would find the best ways to apply district resources to concentrate helping students where they need it most.

Some thoughts might be:

• Educating teachers on how to address the gaps (for example, collaborating with teachers in grades below them, offering in-district training for common needs).

• Make it a focus of the district literacy and math coaches working with teachers to address the gaps within the classroom (scheduling small groups, how to intervene with students, how it looks and sounds, analyzing data, utilizing district resources).

• Focus on providing intensive intervention for students who are one to two years below grade level. As a board member, this issue would be a concern for me.

Jason Potts

A: Unfinished learning and social and emotional wellness are the most important issues facing our district.

Both must be addressed by continuing our focus on personalized learning.

The Howard-Suamico School District already excels in personalized learning, and I will continue to push for more specialists and counselors to provide an equitable opportunity for all students.

Educating students well also requires funding.

I’m proud of our efforts in lobbying Madison for fair funding options, and our fiscal responsibility in paying off debts years ahead of schedule, which enabled us to pass two referendums in a pandemic, while also lowering the levy rate.

The political and social division of the last two years has too often led to students being left behind in the distracting arguments regarding COVID-19 protocols.

It is past time to turn our focus back to educating our students well.

Amy Rubright

A: Our school district, like many across the country, is seeing a significant lack of trust and transparency between the parents and the district.

The district has crossed a line from educating our children to making critical parenting decisions.

Parents need to be advocates for their children, and trust needs to be restored for the district ultimately to function properly.  

Ways to restore trust:

• Let parents back into the schools. Parents want to help support teachers and be involved.

• Curriculum and library book lists should be readily available on the district website.

When a child’s parents are engaged in their education, students have greater academic success. 

I have already reached out to the principals at each school. That was time well spent.

I had a great conversation and learned more about each school.

I would actively meet with the principals, advocate any needs, support them and their staff.

We as a community may not always agree, but are stronger if we all unite.

We all need to do a better job of listening, not rushing to judgment and most importantly, being involved as much as our time allows in our schools and community.  

Jeff Eilers

A: As it has been for two years, the COVID-19 pandemic and how it is affecting the children’s abilities to learn and the teachers ability to teach is the largest issue the village faces today.

My plan after election would be to learn as much as possible about the learning styles of the children, as well as the the teaching styles of the teachers.

We need to give the children every opportunity to learn in a safe and comfortable environment, as well as allowing the teachers to teach in the style that allows them to teach to the most students as comfortably and safely as possible.

I have served on the board in the past, and I trust the district’s leadership.

However, I feel that the entire community may not and this is something that can and should be addressed.

Michell Bartlein

A: As a Howard-Suamico School District parent, business owner and active community member, I feel my focus for the School Board can have a loaded answer, because many things are interrelated and important for the future of our students.

However, I believe the mental wellness of our students is at the top of the pyramid, because it can affect a student’s learning and ability to thrive socially/emotionally.

(Students) have experienced an atypical school experience the past two years.

They have lost areas that are a right of passage as a student, such as sports, dances, social events and effective, in-person class time, because of the shutdown and then quarantines, which has brought on anxiety for many.

Anxiety is prevalent, yet many students cannot recognize what it is or tend to suppress their feelings due to embarrassment.

Without awareness, treatment or coping skills, anxiety can hinder learning.

More worrisome, anxiety can become depressive or bring on aggressive behaviors.

My goal on the School Board is to present initiatives that present heightened awareness for parents/teachers (on) how to recognize a student with anxiety, readily available resources, tools for students to cope and creating a plan to keep students progressing in school.

Scott Jandrin

A: The Howard-Suamico School District (HSSD) continues to have a very strong academic focus, and is one of the best districts in the state.

Prior to the pandemic, the nation saw a national regression in education.

Since the pandemic, we have seen a focus on social, emotional learning within our student body.

Our school district has been in-person for academics since December 2020, which has helped strengthen student-teacher relationships, connections and a foundation for educational success.

We have a plan in place to cover educational gaps with a balanced focus on students’ emotional learning as well.

Our district has been able to hire permanent, long-term subs, along with additional support at all levels with literacy and math to help with individual students as the needs continue to grow.

I will continue to advocate and model our HSSD Graduate Profile for all of our students to help put kids in the best situation to be college or workforce ready and continue to keep kids in school safely.

Allen McGuire 

A: This is not unique to the Howard-Suamico School District: the most important issue facing the school district is addressing the learning loss that is still accumulating today.

It all starts with empowering parents to make decisions for their children, which is key in the context of stabilizing our health response plans.

Policies and mandates should be reserved for situations where uniform responses are the only option to mitigate an immediate risk.

For example, I do not support policies that supersede the parental choice of when to keep their child home from school, or require them to wear a face covering.

Over the past two years, our children have experienced a combination of virtual learning, close-contact quarantines and masking, all of which have contributed to learning loss.

To properly quantify the learning loss, we would have to establish a baseline for the current state.

This would include a close review of Department of Public Instruction report cards, and other quantitative learning metrics, from which a plan can be generated, presented and agreed upon in a joint effort among administrators, teachers, members of the school board and equally important: the parents.

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