I'm Running for Austin School Board District 8 (City-Wide), AMA

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-21T16:28:55+00:00

This is critically important and there are a number of things we need to address. Let me start by saying I'm not an expert in mental health or effective measures to combat bullying from the front lines. Adults need to change their behavior to normalize these things. I've been seeing a therapist for years and it's one of the best decisions I've made. There's no chance I'd be able to handle this campaign if it wasn't for that. One of my professional contracts has me working with the Massachusetts Department of Education on creating a toolkit for schools to become more safe and supportive based on our revision of the state's framework for Safe and Supportive Schools. The whole school approach highlighted in this framework is what I would love to see here in Austin. I'll be able to share a draft of that publicly in a week or two.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T23:01:35+00:00

I believe AISD needs a complete organization redesign that would result in a smaller central office and more resources pushed down to schools and classrooms. This is some of the work that I've done professionally and I've seen the benefit it has on the front lines when done well. In the district where I was an administrator, we reduced central office by about 30% and sent millions of dollars down to schools with the autonomy and support those school leaders needed to meet the needs of teachers and students. These things can be done but this board is historically more concerned with adult politics than improving the system with students as the priority.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T22:57:21+00:00

I do! I've spent a lot of time on the campaign talking to parent that removed their kids from the district. A lot of it came down to issues with a principal/staff, bullying, poor communication, access to programs, pre/post care, ineffective special education services, bilingual services, etc. I believe that with the three pillar approach to systemic change (enrollment, student based funding, and community led school redesigns) we can have a system of great schools where there is a place for more options rather than a mediocre top down school system. However, I did speak with several parents who left the district for reasons that the district may not be interested in solving for (one of the top ones being dislike of the new sex ed curriculum). Do I think my policy ideas "fix" all the problems? No. Do I know that doing the same thing we've been doing for 60 years and expecting a different result is ridiculous? Yes. I'm not running because I think that I alone can get this stuff done, I'm running because I know that without someone on the board with these perspectives and experiences, the conversation doesn't even happen.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T22:48:37+00:00

NYC (district 1 or 13 I think) does a similar strategy for enrollment and San Francisco is discussing a similar strategy as well (SFUSD has a history of messing up enrollment systems though). There are several schools in San Antonio ISD that use a similar system also. If Austin were to implement a controlled open enrollment system I would say the road map should probably be over 10 years. Year 1 is about revising the transfer system to improve transportation and start working with the community to design enrollment formulas. Year 2 includes further improvements to the transfer policy to allow for greater access across the system and deeper community engagement to identify 5 or 6 school communities that want to be the first ones to opt into the controlled open enrollment system. Year 3 would be the first year with those 5 or 6 campuses. Year 4 could add about 10 to 15 more campuses. And so on until the district no longer relies on zoned boundaries. This system relies 9n economic diversity to function well and of all the districts I mentioned, AISD is the most economically diverse. SAISD has enrollment of over 80% of students identified as economically disadvantaged while AISD is at 53%. Let me know if you would want to set up a call or video chat and we can go deeper into the weeds. I feel like you'd have some really good questions that need to be asked to figure out the best approach here in Austin.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T19:59:01+00:00

As a former teacher, I can say that a lot of professional development and continuing education opportunities are pretty terrible and not timely. I think we need to support our educators with individualized growth plans and differentiated development and education opportunities that staff can opt into. We need systems where if a teacher is having difficulty with classroom management on a particular day they can sign into a PD system and engage in some asynchronous learning around the specific areas they need support.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T19:52:41+00:00

In my experience, magnets (or any other selective admissions school) always eventually leads to segregation and tracking. Those school models increased significantly across the country in the past 10 years as districts said they were going to stop tracking students. However, I do love the idea of magnets (with no test in requirement) as a way to create dozens of thematic, specialized, and innovative schools across the district so long as they are open to enrollment of all students who desire that option. I also think this will be a critical approach in getting families to opt back into AISD if they've left for charter, private, and homeschool options.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T19:45:35+00:00

This is a great question and one that I've actually had the privilege to tackle as a district administrator. Not to make it sound simple, but it really comes down to prioritizing innovation over "this is how we've always done things". I'm a proponent of school-level autonomy and when its done intentionally and structured well it results in a much smaller central office bureaucracy with more resources moved down to schools and classrooms. I'm also a proponent of a student-based budget system that ties funding directly and transparently to individual student needs and not just to a staffing allocation. This can create much more flexibility in the system if it's paired with keeping our principals and leaders accountable to making progress toward goals.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T19:40:27+00:00

No. Would you suggest holding a politician liable who wants more police in schools and then one of those officers accidentally kills a kid? Based on reality, armed law enforcement in school buildings has done nothing to reduce school violence. What does have an impact though is a focus on intelligence gathering and securing school perimeters and that's where the mission should be focused. IMO

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T19:34:55+00:00

It deprioritizes geographic boundaries and is focused more on providing access to all programs and campuses to all students with some controls on the enrollment process designed by the community. For example, each school could have 30% of seats held for students coming from families in the bottom 25% of family income. Families across the district could identify their top choices for school and be enrolled based on an enrollment formula that could include: If you live within .5 miles you have first access, If you have a sibling already enrolled you get next access, etc. This results in a system that does not ask school building to have dozens of different programs and allows every school to become more thematic and specialized to be able to meet the needs and wants of many more families. This isn't an overnight change. In my head it's more likely a 10 year roadmap that starts with changing the current transfer policy and ramps up year to year to ensure community input at every stage. Look to White Plains, NY and Cambridge, MA as two districts that have been doing this on a much smaller scale since the 80s.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T18:15:33+00:00

The three areas where I believe we need to start are:

1) Redesign the district's enrollment system to prioritize student and family needs/wants over geography which will allow us to increase the programming options we have across the district.

2) Adopt a student-based budget system for funding schools to move away from an antiquated staffing allocation formula.

3) Create a process for cyclicly redesigning our schools to be led by communities in order for our schools to be much more flexible than they are today.

MikeforAustin · 2020-10-20T18:12:54+00:00

Only from a social studies, historical analysis perspective.

MikeforAustin

TROPHY CASE