Delaware PTA 2015 School Board Candidate Q &A
Dear families and all stakeholders of Appoquinimink School District,
Hello, my name is Tara Greathouse and it would be an honor and privilege to serve you in becoming the next Appoquinimink School District board member. If elected, I will provide positive input and direction needed during challenging as well as prospering economic times. My only agenda is to provide a safe and fun learning environment along with educational opportunities and programs that make sense for our children while managing costs responsibly and effectively.
As a board member, my goal would be to encourage collaboration between teachers, parents, administrators and the district office which is essential to increase transparency and communication to all stakeholders in our district and state. I will uphold the values and principles needed to continue and improve the legacy of the most desirable school district in our state. I have been a district resident for 12 years and have three children.
I am a native Delawarean attended both Christian and the public school system and studied Business Administration at Delaware Technical Community College and Finance at Wilmington University. The majority of my work career has been spent in the business and financial related field for over 20 years, having recently spent my time at BlackRock Financial Management from 2008-2013, and am currently a stay at home mom.
I have many years of volunteer experience working with our younger learners to our oldest learners volunteering with children at Glasgow church children’s ministry, Creative Mentoring, Junior Achievement of Delaware, Boy Scouts of America, BlackRock Financial Management Grade 3-5 Financial Learning Program. I have been a manager and coach and a board member for MOT Little League.
Last year, I led one out of two diverse student teams at Brick Mill Elementary in the Odyssey of the Mind program. Additionally, I have served weekly as a classroom volunteer.
Currently, I have actively volunteered in classrooms including providing extra reading support to a Chinese student, PTO board member at Old State Elementary helping in the delivery of teacher appreciation weeks, Harvest community event and chairperson and management of the Holiday shop and have also hired and trained Leader in Me student applicants for the Holiday shop.
I have been an active volunteer since 2012 for the VA Medical Center, Easter Seals and the Ronald McDonald House of DE. The year I spent as Mrs. Delaware 2012, I had the privilege of volunteering and contributing to 46 charitable organizations from the most northern to southern parts of our state. The volunteer service was not a requirement for this role; however, I have always had compassion to serve our communities. Thankful to the MOT Little League for the endorsement and their trust in me with making critical decisions on behalf of the families and children of our district.
2. There continues to be a focus on full inclusion in our schools statewide. What are your thoughts on inclusion? I support and believe full inclusion of education is a fundamental principle to the value of diversity within the school and community. Full inclusion will meet the students’ needs together and will enable an increase of academic growth as well as physical and personal growth which will enhance their overall quality of life. If elected, how would you ensure our educators receive adequate professional development on inclusion strategies, implementation if IEPs, diversity training for teachers and students and the necessary supports for sustained and successful inclusion? I will work with the team of board members on the current full inclusion plan and identify gaps and/or areas for improvement which will require hands on observations in the classrooms and establish a diverse and experienced group of full inclusion and special education teachers to provide their input and recommendations on the everyday life of the full inclusion classroom. IEP implementation will require a full understanding of the students’ needs in a sufficient and timely manner with detailed input from the teachers and parents. We also need to ensure our legislators continue to understand and support this important need to ensure sustainability. I will also work on a comprehensive review by visiting classrooms and research of programs, IEP strategies and training development opportunities that have been successful and not successful in our schools to ensure we are consistently evolving for the success of the students. Once the above mentioned data is collected, we can build an implementation plan that works. I will work with the board to ensure the financials meet this critical component responsibly for the active nine month life of classrooms.
3. The state is facing a very turbulent time with different implementation efforts around recent resolutions and even legislative bills supporting a Parent’s Right to opt out of the state assessments and to potentially move toward less testing and more teaching and learning. What are your views on this issue and why?
My views are grounded by how I was raised and taught in the Christian and public school education system during the 1970’s and 1980’s and the experience I now have with our three children. I am in support of HB 50 to enable a state code that will ensure the freedoms in our state set forth in the Constitution that protects a parental right to choose what is in the best interest of their child(ren) and thankful for the privilege to speak at Legislative Hall in front of the House Education Committee held April 22nd, 2015 on behalf of our children and for other parents and teacher in opposition of high stakes testing. The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is harmful to our children because it is removing critical funding needed inside the classroom. It also destroys the traditional way of allowing teachers the freedom and privilege to live their American dream by helping to educate future leaders of our country and not by having to teach to tests that involve inaccurate measures of the students’ performance. This will not accomplish the traditions in education that have sent men in a space shuttle to the moon. The driver of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is not for the benefit of the student, rather it is for the benefit of the federal government and Wall Street profiteers. If we allow our federal government to control and require more high stakes assessments on a computer and less teaching, we will be the cause to the new education era of replacing teachers with computers and high stakes assessments.
4. Do you support teacher accountability based on the results of the statewide student assessment results (SBAC)? What role do you think state assessments should play in student accountability?
I do not support teacher accountability based on the results of the statewide student assessment, SBAC due to the fact that it is aligned with Common Core and this curriculum was not driven for the sole purpose of our children nor written by educators and confirmed by our DOE that they predict a 70% failure rate. The Smarter Balanced assessment does not have a current growth model by our DOE. They are utilizing the Smarter Balanced as an experiment on our children to find out if this experiment will work as a long term investment to close more public schools and open more charter schools.
The Smarter Balanced has not been shown nor proven academic growth. Our children are human beings and not to be used as a lab experiment. Standardized testing is a part of our history and am in support of assessing the academic progress of our students through district wide assessments such as; MAPS, that is significantly lower in cost than Smarter Balanced and one that measures students accurately and teachers review the report in the same interim/marking period whereas Smarter Balanced is not ready and viewed until after the school year. Principals and teachers should be assessed like any employer, by your direct report and a 360° feedback from peers and to allow parents to provide feedback on the performance of the principal and teacher. This is a true measure of teacher and school accountability ratings, not by a federal and state government model. Our founding fathers declared education to be lived in and through community, not to be controlled by the federal government.
5. It is said that many of Delaware public high schools are referred to as dropout factories and that our students lack the 21st Century skills necessary to compete globally. What do you see as the state’s role versus the local district’s role in increasing graduation rates? How would you improve 21st Century Learning in your district?
Engagement and partnering with and in our community is key to ensure we gain more management control at the local district level. This will enable input from teachers and parents on what the best interests are for our children to ensure they have a successful experience Kindergarten through 12th grade.
6. During times of fiscal constraint, what programs would you consider essential to keep in order to maintain the current level of education in your district and why?
I will work with the board to review all of the programs and offerings in our district and require school feedback on their most successful programs to determine which programs are critical to academic and personal student growth. Engagement and partnering with and in our community is key to ensure we understand ideas and experience as a team what will drive the ultimate success of our students.
7. How do you feel about family engagement in areas such as shared decision-making at the building and district level?
Family engagement is important to ensure expectations are being met that will enable the district to provide the best possible opportunities and solutions for the students. It also engages all stakeholders in the development and planning of policies, instructional programs and hiring of teachers. This builds a partnership with the community.
8. Do you believe extracurricular activities are necessary?
I believe extracurricular activities are necessary if it is applied to continue learning that provides achievement and personal growth inside and outside the classroom that will enable an increase of confidence and a motivator vehicle to help them sustain excellent grades throughout the school year. The participation and success are strongly associated to better attendance, higher levels of achievement, and aspirations to higher levels of education.
9. Do you feel that subjects such as music, art, physical, education, technology, and foreign languages play an important part in a child’s education? Explain.
Related arts such as music, art, physical education, technology and foreign languages play an important part in a child’s education because it provides an opportunity for children to utilize their gifts and talents in other areas of school life that will help foster a well-rounded and responsible student that will increase their overall school life success. Some of our related arts programs should be held every day, such as physical education, music and art.
10. If you could change one thing about the district’s proposed school budget, what would it be and why?
Common Core curriculum standards including high stakes testing assessments e.g. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium because this curriculum is significantly costly and is not research based and was not driven by educators for the sole benefit of the student. Our state adopted and implemented this curriculum without having our educators review and approve it. This curriculum is a dumb down approach to education.
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