Arlington School Board candidates

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Having kids in APS is a must in my book, and involvement very desired, but what the School Board needs is someone who brings relevant skills to the table!


Involvement should be a pre-requisite, no other city has as many advisory councils and commissions as APS and pretty much anyone who volunteers can get appointed. There's no reason to not get involved with one of those if you "care about the schools"--you don't have to start with the board. Plus, "the relevant skills" at the board level should include knowing how a school system works--having gone to public school for 12 years or having kids in the schools does not give you any special competency. It used to be pretty standard that candidates would have experience on the instruction, facilities, or budget committees and be active in a PTA or BLPC or something.


Very few of these people run for school board. What about the anons here tearing down CL for his lack of experience? Why don’t they run?


The Hatch Act prevents the huge number of Arlington residents who are federal employees from running, because ACDC endorsement is necessary to have a shot at winning the November ballot. No one has beat the Democrat sample ballot in 20 years.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When your first instinct is to assume an asst superintendent is wrong and you have the right answer, that's inexperience.



+1

And there are citizen commissions that go into this stuff in a ton of detail—boundaries (FAC), line item spending (BAC). You have a chance to work with staff and learn all the ins and outs of the policies—so that the committees can advise the board. Then you run for the board. Or you go to every school board meeting and work session for a whole year before you run, like Noah Simon did. You don’t take one of five board seats to do the on-the-job learning, you’ll be wasting everyone’s time. Everyone on the FAC is smart and a fast learner, but it still takes two years to get how the CIP works. And we have no idea if you can effectively work with others on school issues if you haven’t been involved in PTA leadership or other committees.


How do you know they aren't going to SB meetings?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When your first instinct is to assume an asst superintendent is wrong and you have the right answer, that's inexperience.


When your first instinct is "'comparable laptop' is an odd way of phrasing that',
and your second instinct is to actually look at prices and policies on things like cloud storage,
and your third instinct is to look at what other school systems are doing,
and your fourth instinct is to put all that together

It's pretty reasonable to apply Occam's razor and conclude that the Assistant superintendent is either a) ignorant of the actual prices, policies, and values of competing products, or b) using deliberately veiled language to prevent an unfavorable comparison.

HOWEVER, if someone lays out that thinking for you, and YOUR first instinct is to compress all of that detail into a simple narrative of "you're making assumptions!", perhaps it is you who should be asking why defending APS in the face of actual evidence is your first instinct.


We don’t buy laptops from Best Buy. They are purchased/leased with special educational use warranties and anticipated repair/replacement expenses built into the price. The assistant superintendent participated in the procurement, evaluated bids, and negotiated service level agreements with the vendor. But sure, you probably know more about it.


Doesn't mean they made the most cost-effective, or the best decision. Maybe they did. But until they explain it with the comparisons, I'm not just going to assume they're right. Not when we're looking for every budget savings feasible. Not when APS has been so poor rolling out 1:1 program - 9 years in and they still don't have a coordinated digital curriculum for consistent/more uniform use across the district.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When your first instinct is to assume an asst superintendent is wrong and you have the right answer, that's inexperience.


When your first instinct is "'comparable laptop' is an odd way of phrasing that',
and your second instinct is to actually look at prices and policies on things like cloud storage,
and your third instinct is to look at what other school systems are doing,
and your fourth instinct is to put all that together

It's pretty reasonable to apply Occam's razor and conclude that the Assistant superintendent is either a) ignorant of the actual prices, policies, and values of competing products, or b) using deliberately veiled language to prevent an unfavorable comparison.

HOWEVER, if someone lays out that thinking for you, and YOUR first instinct is to compress all of that detail into a simple narrative of "you're making assumptions!", perhaps it is you who should be asking why defending APS in the face of actual evidence is your first instinct.


We don’t buy laptops from Best Buy. They are purchased/leased with special educational use warranties and anticipated repair/replacement expenses built into the price. The assistant superintendent participated in the procurement, evaluated bids, and negotiated service level agreements with the vendor. But sure, you probably know more about it.


Doesn't mean they made the most cost-effective, or the best decision. Maybe they did. But until they explain it with the comparisons, I'm not just going to assume they're right. Not when we're looking for every budget savings feasible. Not when APS has been so poor rolling out 1:1 program - 9 years in and they still don't have a coordinated digital curriculum for consistent/more uniform use across the district.



So the idea is to use a lot of staff time doing a cost analysis of one issue based on….the fact that you know what a Chromebook costs retail? Again, this is a solution in search of a problem.

How about we ask staff to identify a range of potential cost saving strategies and the alternatives and present them to the board in the budget presentation? Or direct the internal auditor to do some studies? Or ask principals?

OH WAiT the board already does all that, and every budget book includes pages of potential savings, efficiencies, and cuts. They renegotiate everything all the time!

But you think we’re going to magically find a ton of savings based on a random hunch that an individual board member has? Sounds like a great way to waste time and money.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When your first instinct is to assume an asst superintendent is wrong and you have the right answer, that's inexperience.


When your first instinct is "'comparable laptop' is an odd way of phrasing that',
and your second instinct is to actually look at prices and policies on things like cloud storage,
and your third instinct is to look at what other school systems are doing,
and your fourth instinct is to put all that together

It's pretty reasonable to apply Occam's razor and conclude that the Assistant superintendent is either a) ignorant of the actual prices, policies, and values of competing products, or b) using deliberately veiled language to prevent an unfavorable comparison.

HOWEVER, if someone lays out that thinking for you, and YOUR first instinct is to compress all of that detail into a simple narrative of "you're making assumptions!", perhaps it is you who should be asking why defending APS in the face of actual evidence is your first instinct.


We don’t buy laptops from Best Buy. They are purchased/leased with special educational use warranties and anticipated repair/replacement expenses built into the price. The assistant superintendent participated in the procurement, evaluated bids, and negotiated service level agreements with the vendor. But sure, you probably know more about it.


Doesn't mean they made the most cost-effective, or the best decision. Maybe they did. But until they explain it with the comparisons, I'm not just going to assume they're right. Not when we're looking for every budget savings feasible. Not when APS has been so poor rolling out 1:1 program - 9 years in and they still don't have a coordinated digital curriculum for consistent/more uniform use across the district.



So the idea is to use a lot of staff time doing a cost analysis of one issue based on….the fact that you know what a Chromebook costs retail? Again, this is a solution in search of a problem.

How about we ask staff to identify a range of potential cost saving strategies and the alternatives and present them to the board in the budget presentation? Or direct the internal auditor to do some studies? Or ask principals?

OH WAiT the board already does all that, and every budget book includes pages of potential savings, efficiencies, and cuts. They renegotiate everything all the time!

But you think we’re going to magically find a ton of savings based on a random hunch that an individual board member has? Sounds like a great way to waste time and money.


No. Based on knowing that many other school districts use Chromebooks and the fact that the #1 public high school in the country uses Chromebooks for a far more rigorous academic program than APS offers.

Laughable that you think the Board already does all that deep-dive questioning and prodding. They might ask a few questions, then they merely accept whatever response they get from staff - which usually involves the justification for the decision/recommendation they've already made based on limited research/criteria and not a detailed pro/con listing.

And if you've been following, you are aware that the Board adopted a policy PROHIBITING the exploration and consideration of less expensive options in certain instances. See previous board meeting speakers and AEM, notably Stacy Snyder's comments.

Again, if APS had a history of best, cost-effective decisions and effective implementation of initiatives, I'd have more trust in their decision to go with and stay with Apple. I prefer Macs; but that doesn't mean they're the most cost-effective choice for the same results.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When your first instinct is to assume an asst superintendent is wrong and you have the right answer, that's inexperience.


When your first instinct is "'comparable laptop' is an odd way of phrasing that',
and your second instinct is to actually look at prices and policies on things like cloud storage,
and your third instinct is to look at what other school systems are doing,
and your fourth instinct is to put all that together

It's pretty reasonable to apply Occam's razor and conclude that the Assistant superintendent is either a) ignorant of the actual prices, policies, and values of competing products, or b) using deliberately veiled language to prevent an unfavorable comparison.

HOWEVER, if someone lays out that thinking for you, and YOUR first instinct is to compress all of that detail into a simple narrative of "you're making assumptions!", perhaps it is you who should be asking why defending APS in the face of actual evidence is your first instinct.


We don’t buy laptops from Best Buy. They are purchased/leased with special educational use warranties and anticipated repair/replacement expenses built into the price. The assistant superintendent participated in the procurement, evaluated bids, and negotiated service level agreements with the vendor. But sure, you probably know more about it.


Doesn't mean they made the most cost-effective, or the best decision. Maybe they did. But until they explain it with the comparisons, I'm not just going to assume they're right. Not when we're looking for every budget savings feasible. Not when APS has been so poor rolling out 1:1 program - 9 years in and they still don't have a coordinated digital curriculum for consistent/more uniform use across the district.



So the idea is to use a lot of staff time doing a cost analysis of one issue based on….the fact that you know what a Chromebook costs retail? Again, this is a solution in search of a problem.

How about we ask staff to identify a range of potential cost saving strategies and the alternatives and present them to the board in the budget presentation? Or direct the internal auditor to do some studies? Or ask principals?

OH WAiT the board already does all that, and every budget book includes pages of potential savings, efficiencies, and cuts. They renegotiate everything all the time!

But you think we’re going to magically find a ton of savings based on a random hunch that an individual board member has? Sounds like a great way to waste time and money.


No. Based on knowing that many other school districts use Chromebooks and the fact that the #1 public high school in the country uses Chromebooks for a far more rigorous academic program than APS offers.

Laughable that you think the Board already does all that deep-dive questioning and prodding. They might ask a few questions, then they merely accept whatever response they get from staff - which usually involves the justification for the decision/recommendation they've already made based on limited research/criteria and not a detailed pro/con listing.

And if you've been following, you are aware that the Board adopted a policy PROHIBITING the exploration and consideration of less expensive options in certain instances. See previous board meeting speakers and AEM, notably Stacy Snyder's comments.

Again, if APS had a history of best, cost-effective decisions and effective implementation of initiatives, I'd have more trust in their decision to go with and stay with Apple. I prefer Macs; but that doesn't mean they're the most cost-effective choice for the same results.


Why do you think that staff don’t do detailed pros/cons (or whatever) and only do limited research/criteria on new investments, spending, policy recommendations, etc.?
Anonymous
I completely agree that the School Board should probe more and ask better questions of staff. This is exactly why our Board members need experience, and have some sort of track record.

How on earth would a newbie be able to do this? They would just be asking basic questions to learn on the job, we don't need that. We need someone who can come in swinging. The only one who can do that in this group is Kathleen Clark. That's one, but we need another and I'm not seeing anyone who can do that.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:When your first instinct is to assume an asst superintendent is wrong and you have the right answer, that's inexperience.



+1

And there are citizen commissions that go into this stuff in a ton of detail—boundaries (FAC), line item spending (BAC). You have a chance to work with staff and learn all the ins and outs of the policies—so that the committees can advise the board. Then you run for the board. Or you go to every school board meeting and work session for a whole year before you run, like Noah Simon did. You don’t take one of five board seats to do the on-the-job learning, you’ll be wasting everyone’s time. Everyone on the FAC is smart and a fast learner, but it still takes two years to get how the CIP works. And we have no idea if you can effectively work with others on school issues if you haven’t been involved in PTA leadership or other committees.


Sounds great. Get another one of them to run for school board.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I completely agree that the School Board should probe more and ask better questions of staff. This is exactly why our Board members need experience, and have some sort of track record.

How on earth would a newbie be able to do this? They would just be asking basic questions to learn on the job, we don't need that. We need someone who can come in swinging. The only one who can do that in this group is Kathleen Clark. That's one, but we need another and I'm not seeing anyone who can do that.


I'm going to vote for Kathleen Clark and Chen Ling.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Having kids in APS is a must in my book, and involvement very desired, but what the School Board needs is someone who brings relevant skills to the table!


Involvement should be a pre-requisite, no other city has as many advisory councils and commissions as APS and pretty much anyone who volunteers can get appointed. There's no reason to not get involved with one of those if you "care about the schools"--you don't have to start with the board. Plus, "the relevant skills" at the board level should include knowing how a school system works--having gone to public school for 12 years or having kids in the schools does not give you any special competency. It used to be pretty standard that candidates would have experience on the instruction, facilities, or budget committees and be active in a PTA or BLPC or something.


https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/3rd-democrat-joins-school-board-race/article_cd3984db-b101-5a9b-b4ba-22a4c229fdca.html

According to this article the Fishtahler guy used to be the president of the County Council of PTAs and was co-chairman of the school system’s Advisory Council on Instruction. If he's been subbing at schools since then he's been pretty involved.

Plus yeah having a kid in the system doesn't mean anything; I'm pretty sure they all have kids in APS.
Anonymous
Before you vote for Chen Ling, you should read the other thread. He's not commenting in there because it's not going well:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/210/1178059.page

I believe he's the APE candidate without saying he's the APE candidate. So I'm not voting for him.
Anonymous
Lol did he really start commenting on a new thread?

Kathleen's my #1. Zuraya, though she's not experienced will be my #2.

I'm not bothering to vote for anyone else. Just because it's ranked choice doesn't mean we have to comply.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I completely agree that the School Board should probe more and ask better questions of staff. This is exactly why our Board members need experience, and have some sort of track record.

How on earth would a newbie be able to do this? They would just be asking basic questions to learn on the job, we don't need that. We need someone who can come in swinging. The only one who can do that in this group is Kathleen Clark. That's one, but we need another and I'm not seeing anyone who can do that.


The Fishtaller is the other tbh but he's pretty old
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I completely agree that the School Board should probe more and ask better questions of staff. This is exactly why our Board members need experience, and have some sort of track record.

How on earth would a newbie be able to do this? They would just be asking basic questions to learn on the job, we don't need that. We need someone who can come in swinging. The only one who can do that in this group is Kathleen Clark. That's one, but we need another and I'm not seeing anyone who can do that.


The Fishtaller is the other tbh but he's pretty old


I don’t really understand what his age has to do with anything. We elected a 20-something with zero experience and it’s not like it did us any good. If he’s still vigorous enough to sub, that’s good enough for me.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Having kids in APS is a must in my book, and involvement very desired, but what the School Board needs is someone who brings relevant skills to the table!


Involvement should be a pre-requisite, no other city has as many advisory councils and commissions as APS and pretty much anyone who volunteers can get appointed. There's no reason to not get involved with one of those if you "care about the schools"--you don't have to start with the board. Plus, "the relevant skills" at the board level should include knowing how a school system works--having gone to public school for 12 years or having kids in the schools does not give you any special competency. It used to be pretty standard that candidates would have experience on the instruction, facilities, or budget committees and be active in a PTA or BLPC or something.


https://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/3rd-democrat-joins-school-board-race/article_cd3984db-b101-5a9b-b4ba-22a4c229fdca.html

According to this article the Fishtahler guy used to be the president of the County Council of PTAs and was co-chairman of the school system’s Advisory Council on Instruction. If he's been subbing at schools since then he's been pretty involved.

Plus yeah having a kid in the system doesn't mean anything; I'm pretty sure they all have kids in APS.



As a teacher I'm just going to put this out there if you care about experience:

Fishtahler:
-former president of the County Council of PTAs
-former co-chairman of the school system’s Advisory Council on Instruction
-long term sub at my school

Kathleen:
-6 years of solid Special Ed advocacy

Zuraya:
-???

Chen:
-???
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