These are critical times for the Davenport Community School District, and next week's school-board election has the potential to alter the course of local education policy.
Following a winter and spring of contention that saw the closing of Grant and Johnson elementary schools to alleviate a $4 million budget deficit, the district is now in the process of setting its long-term agenda. The Local School Improvement Advisory Committee will be charged with establishing the district's priorities. That includes the possibility of a new school in northeast Davenport.
Yet at the same time, the school-district administration promises that the closing earlier this year of the two relatively small and old schools was just the beginning of a process reacting to a long-term budget crunch and declining school-district enrollment. Many parents are fearful that the Davenport Community School District might close even more of its older neighborhood schools, replacing them with larger facilities in parts of the community that are poised for growth.
In addition to these crucial, basic issues of school-district policy, the current seven-member board has engendered much ill will by the process it used to close Grant and Johnson. The board initially voted for the closures in January, but after an appeal with the Iowa Department of Education, it re-started the process. Much to the dismay of the people who opposed closing the schools, the board in April simply affirmed its earlier decision, in spite of a community task force that identified more than a dozen budget cuts that could have saved the neighborhood schools. In addition, many members of the community were disillusioned by shifting numbers presented by the school district, and the difficulty of getting information from the administration.
A group of parents was galvanized by the school-board's decision to close Grant and Johnson, as well as its methods. Three parents from that group are running for the school board in next week's election, promising to change the way the board does business.
The seven candidates on the September 10 ballot were recently mailed surveys dealing with important issues facing the Davenport Community School District and the school board. Four candidates - Bonnie Beechum, Alan Guard, Phillip Hofinga, and Paul Holcomb - returned their surveys, and their responses are presented below, unedited except for obvious grammar and spelling corrections.
Steven C. Imming (an incumbent board member), Anne Losasso, and Dan Portes did not return surveys. Imming told the River Cities' Reader that he did not have the time to answer our questions, while neither Losasso nor Portes responded to phone messages inquiring about whether they planned to respond.
The three candidates who come from the group of Grant and Johnson parents opposed to the closing of those schools - Guard, Hofinga, and Holcomb - returned their surveys. Not surprisingly, they touch on similar themes in their responses.
Voters will select two candidates from the field of Guard, Hofinga, Imming, and Losasso to serve three-year terms. The winner of the race between Beechum, Holcomb, and Portes will serve a one-year term.
1. The State of Iowa was forced to make a 4.3-percent budget cut last fall to meet its budgetary obligations. The state's economy has not improved since that time, and additional cuts are likely to occur. What measures can the school district take to offset these cuts?
Bonnie Beechum: Assess what areas will be affected by these cuts. Review what organizations or agencies do the same or offer similar services and/or goods. Build a partnership and then make use of that and other related resources.
Alan Guard: The school district has already taken an important step by adding a tax levy this year for cash reserves. These funds are above and beyond what it may spend according to the state formula, but $1.8 million will be available if the state cuts funding at mid-year again. Other cost-saving ideas may include offering early retirement for a selected number of teachers and filling their positions with facilitators, associate principals, and coordinators; or speaking with each employee union and asking them if they would accept one or more unpaid holiday, including all administrators. Whatever conclusions are reached I would recommend that a community-based process that includes all stakeholders be used to identify potential steps and achieve consensus.
Phillip Hofinga: We need to take a position of fiscal responsibility rather than capitulating to fiscal expedience. Fiscal "responsibility" in this context means subordinating our budget process to educationally sound policy. We don't want to cripple our capacity to deliver quality education. In last spring's task force, we discovered that there were a number of expenditures that warrant examination. Administrative costs, especially in the area of salary and benefits, are certainly worth looking at, as well as areas of material overhead.
Part of our current budget difficulties can be attributed to the fact that DCSD open-enrolls far more students out of the district than into it, resulting in less funding and less spending authority from the state. In order to reach our goal of becoming the "District of Choice" we need to make sure that quality is our first priority. In other words, not only should we be concerned first and foremost with quality education for every child as a matter of principle, but our marketability as a district depends on making educationally sound decisions.
Personally, I would not like to see any more cuts coming from the state. Already Iowa spends significantly less money per year per student than the vast majority of the states in the union. Therefore I think it is imperative that our school board along with others in the state make their presence felt in Des Moines in opposition to further cuts in education spending and in favor of a review and revision of the spending-authority restrictions.
Paul Holcomb: We should make sure that our schools are practicing good stewardship with our tax dollars. We should ensure that overhead and administrative costs represent the best value to the community. We should begin to build a cash reserve to make it through the tougher economic times. I am in favor of involving the community to get input for saving money without closing schools or cutting programs.
2. How do you respond to data from the Iowa Department of Education indicating the Davenport Community School District has the highest administrative costs of any urban district in Iowa, and the district's claim that is has some of the lowest? What, if any, specific actions should the school board take to reduce administrative costs?
Bonnie Beechum: Scientifically review priorities, need, and expenses. Review what can be combined as duties. Seek to get all employees of the board from top to bottom to support the effort with brief training and incentives.
Alan Guard: I believe that the board should require the administration to explain the data from the state and then do a critical analysis and comparison of its data with the other seven districts that make up the UEN. Then the board should have a serious discussion to see if the differences in the Davenport district are worth the additional expense or if that money is better spent in other areas or not spent at all. Any specific actions should be made on objective data derived from job audits, comparison of minimum qualifications versus actual qualifications of people in those positions, and comparisons of similar positions in other districts. Again, I believe that we need to have a process that allows for input from all stakeholders.
Phillip Hofinga: It is my understanding that Davenport is second highest in percentage of budget expended for administration. The district's claim lacks verisimilitude, since it seems to rest on creative categorization of several high-cost administrative positions. The situation presents a hopeful challenge, however, insofar as reducing these costs to bring the district in-line with other similar districts could alleviate a significant portion of our budget woes. Several administrative positions have already been identified that need to be reviewed for necessity and/or appropriateness of job level and compensation. Do we really need, for example, two director-level positions in human resources? Do we need two or three associate principals at each high school? Do the facilitators' job descriptions warrant administrative-level salaries? Doesn't the substance of their job descriptions belong reasonably to the job descriptions of the principals and associate principles in the buildings anyway?
Most importantly, when a "budget crisis" forces the district to consider salary/benefit freezes and/or cuts, virtue and good conscience demand that we start from the top down. It is simply immoral to freeze or cut the salaries of the lowest-paid employees of the district, many of whom make less than half the median household income for the area, while doling out 6-percent-plus raises to the highest-paid employees of the district (and on top of that, a hefty annuity), many of whom make more than twice the median household income for the area.
Paul Holcomb: I believe that the school board needs to build trust with the community. In order to do that our schools should openly communicate the true numbers to the community, whatever those numbers show. I do not believe in using smoke and mirrors to justify our current administrative costs. If the administrative costs are justified, we should present that justification to the community. If they are not justified, then we should be willing to cut administrative costs. It is difficult to say exactly what actions are necessary without further review and input from the community. The policy of the board should be to build an operating budget that is fiscally responsible and then to hold the administration to that budget. The bottom line is we need to get our financial house in order.
3. Data indicate that small, neighborhood schools are more successful educating urban and at-risk students. Davenport is shifting to larger class sizes as well as increased enrollment totals per school. Do you support this trend? If yes, how do you reconcile the district's actions with this data? If no, what would you recommend to reverse this trend?
Bonnie Beechum: Question the data first for accuracy and the line of questions used to compile such data. Review scientifically the high-performing schools and what makes them work and be successful. Apply the school for a period of review and re-assessment. As my response to the question, I will say neither yes nor no as both have supporting data.
Alan Guard: One of the primary issues of this race is: What do we want our elementary schools to look like? All of the research and all of the data indicate that the current board policy of larger schools and larger class size is bad education policy, bad financial policy, and bad urban-planning policy. I do not support it, and I would recommend that the board put into place a real community-based process (rather than the LSIAC) to look at all of the issues regarding school boundaries, school size, and class size, as well as how to finance it.
Phillip Hofinga: I emphatically do not support this trend. It is not merely "data" that suggest that small, neighborhood schools are superior learning environments, but the sum of the collective American public-school experience of the last half-century that overwhelmingly defies any other conclusion. Class size and school size are related yet distinct issues. Still, we should strive to keep both small. One way to reverse this trend is to look back at how small schools have operated in the past in Davenport. Some of our small schools have been the most cost-effective to run, even when considered on a per-student basis. Research data show also that even when small schools are somewhat more expensive to run, the cost balances itself by the educational benefit. In other words, successful elementary students are far less likely to incur more cost to the district later on by their delinquency or need for remedial instruction. Still, there are some measures worth examination (such as sharing a principal between two small schools) that might be employed to ensure that the cost does not become unreasonable or prohibitive.
Paul Holcomb: No, I do not support this trend. I believe very strongly in maintaining our neighborhood schools. Smaller neighborhood schools are better for children. I believe that they also attach people to our area. My wife and I chose our Davenport neighborhood because of the small neighborhood school. That school has been closed.
4. Did you support or oppose the closing of Grant and Johnson schools? Please explain your position.
Bonnie Beechum: I adamantly support neighborhood schools. Given all the financial data and issues regarding modernizing the two buildings, it seems impossible to find money to keep them open.
Alan Guard: I did not support it. The closings have led to larger elementary schools with larger classes, have been divisive to the community, and have caused decreases in property values. Further, closing the schools will not save the district as much money as planned because many students will leave the district either by moving, attending a private school, home-schooling, or open-enrolling out of the district next year. This will cost the district substantial state funds. Closing schools is a proven failed policy from every perspective - education policy, financial policy, and urban-planning policy.
Phillip Hofinga: I actively opposed the closing of the two schools for the reasons I mentioned above. It is also worth mentioning that we on the task force last spring only began to scratch the surface of potential and fairly benign alternatives to closing the schools, and we already identified over $3 million of potential savings. In no way was the board or the district forced by circumstances to close schools. But the broader principle is that we need to put our children first, and that means all of the children of DCSD.
Paul Holcomb: I strongly opposed closing both Grant and Johnson schools. My children attended Grant. Grant was a great school with an environment conducive to learning. The sense of community that my children had at Grant was priceless. I have been told by Johnson parents that their school had the same environment. These schools also had great reading scores. If these schools were still open there would be more places to allow parents to transfer their children to from the schools that have not performed to the federal standards.
5. Why would you support or oppose a referendum asking taxpayers whether they support the construction of a new elementary school in northeast Davenport?
Bonnie Beechum: I would support a new school if the district does not have enough seats to accommodate the present student population. The developing residential area would justify it. More data for vacant chairs in the district is needed. I would not support such a referendum if researched data would imply that a more even distribution of students throughout the district would accomplish the goal of filling all existing classroom seats.
Alan Guard: I would support it because the current board has not always followed through with projects that it promised with the Local Option Sales Tax. Further, I would also support the construction of a new neighborhood school to replace Johnson and Grant on that same ballot, but as a separate issue.
Phillip Hofinga: I'm not sure that a referendum is either appropriate or necessary for this decision. It does not make sense at this time to consider building an elementary school for future, as-yet-unrealized developments when funding is tight for the existing elementary schools. When the time, the need, and the opportunity for building such a school comes, the board should be able to work with the community to gain consensus for it. But this will require board members who are dedicated to involving the community in, and receiving community input on, important decisions.
Paul Holcomb: I would support a referendum because I feel that the community has the right and the obligation to be involved with decisions concerning Davenport "Community" Schools. Since I do believe in small neighborhood schools, once a neighborhood exists in northeast Davenport that needs a school, I would support that effort. We need to focus on a quality education for all of our children whether they live on the east or west side of town.
6. What do you believe the role of the community should be in prioritizing school-district plans and projects?
Bonnie Beechum: The community which is widely made up of parents who have children in the district needs to be more involved in their schools, such as attending open house joining organizations (PTA and PTO). Participate in parent-teacher conferences and sit on boards that the district has available for community input.
Alan Guard: I believe that it is critically important to the success of any public organization. The current methodology used by the district is the Local School Improvement Advisory Committee (LSIAC). This has been a poor model for addressing important school-district issues. Membership has not been representative of all community stakeholders, there are no opportunities for citizen input, too many administrators serve on the committee, and attendance is usually weak. We need a better model to really meet the needs of this district. There are over 100 models for citizen participation described by the Jefferson Institute. I would recommend that we identify and use that model or models that will let us get a real cross-section of stakeholders, including teachers, custodians, para-educators, bus drivers, parents, administrators, and board members. Only then can we identify what we all value the most about the district and what we dream for it to become.
Phillip Hofinga: This is a more complex question than it appears to be, but the answer lies in the name of our school district: Davenport Community School District. In other words, the role should be an active one. First of all, the community should be active in electing board members who will make educationally sound choices for our children. Secondly, those board members need to be open and receptive and even seek out community input with regard to special projects, especially but not exclusively when such projects may impact the quality of the community in general as well as the quality of education for our children. This means being willing to establish committees that are not heavily loaded with or appointed by administrative personnel, but those that include genuinely concerned citizens who are willing to volunteer their time and effort.
Paul Holcomb: These are our schools. Not just a group of elites who know what is best for Davenport. The community should be involved in helping to prioritize school-district plans and projects. I mean it when I say that I want to put the community back into Davenport Community Schools.
7. The school district lost $2.2 million last year because of students leaving the district through the open-enrollment process. How would you reverse this trend? What would you do to persuade parents to enroll their children in the Davenport Community School District?
Bonnie Beechum: I would visit those families to get a real feel of their reason for wanting to transfer to another school. Hopefully by persuasion I would be able to ask them to at least give us one year before they have their child attend another school district.
Alan Guard: There are several steps that need to be taken. While the district is working on a marketing plan, I believe that it is weak response to a critical issue. The board needs to address its key issues first. What is the structure of our elementary-school system going to look like? Large schools with many bus routes, or small neighborhood schools that bring a sense of community? How are we going to resolve our financial situation? People want to perceive that the leadership can effectively manage the district' s finances. Finally, how do address our challenges? Do we engage the community and embrace all of our diversity in order to come to solutions or do we allow a rigid bureaucracy to dictate our responses from above? I believe that more people will stay in Davenport schools if we are perceived as leaders who will work and listen to the community in order to meet our challenges.
Phillip Hofinga: There has been a lot of talk, not only among the candidates, but even on the current board, of "marketing" the district. This is an important priority, especially with our area employers and realtors, but also with the general public. However, we cannot market bad educational policy. In the south, this is what they call "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face." We do need a marketing plan, but one that is backed by substantive quality. Having a good product is always the best marketing approach. Davenport has had a history of excellence in education, and there are many positive aspects of our district for us to be proud of. But the recent trend has been to cut away the cornerstone of our excellence at the elementary level, and that is simply not going to sell our schools.
Two years ago, both Jim Hester and the district superintendent expressed the sentiment that our high schools were the right place to focus our resources, since they seem to open-enroll fewer students out, and more students in than our elementary schools. Some candidates have recently reiterated this approach and have suggested that we need to improve the records of our sports teams. This reasoning is severely flawed. First of all, to mainly recruit to our high schools would be equivalent to a tuition-driven four-year college focusing all of its recruiting resources on transfer juniors. The best value that a tuition-driven college is going to get is a freshman who will pay tuition for four years, so this wouldn't make any sense. The best value we will get (in terms of spending authority per child) is a child who starts with us in kindergarten and stays through graduation. No parent who is considering whether to enroll his/her five-year-old in the district is going to make the decision based on whether the high-school football team had a winning season! Rather s/he will make the decision based on whether the district seems likely to provide a safe, quality education for his/her child.
Paul Holcomb: We need to reverse this trend together as a community. We should maintain a policy of small neighborhood schools. We should continue to market the great things about our schools to realtors, major employers, relocation services, and developers. However the best marketers we have are the people whose children already attend our schools. We need to build trust back with the community so that we are all saying positive things about our schools in lieu of the negative. We need to make the relationship between the board and the public a positive one.
8. What is your position on the open-forum process at school-board meetings?
Bonnie Beechum: I support it and learn from it. I have attended board meetings and have had no problem in the open-forum process.
Alan Guard: It is not user-friendly and the current method is used to expedite the meeting for the board. Board meetings are for the public to communicate with the board. There needs to be a change in the current method in order to open it up for real public dialogue.
Phillip Hofinga: My experience with open forum over the past two years has been somewhat negative. While open forum presents an opportunity for community members to be heard, the two-minute time limit is too restricting. Secondly, open forum is a one-way communication and has not succeeded recently in creating real dialogue. This may be largely a function of the attitude of current board members. While I would not be willing to do away with open forum, I would support the re-establishment of standing committees open to the public where fruitful dialogue could take place.
Paul Holcomb: I would like to see a more open discussion between the community and the board. I would like for the public to have input as individual issues are discussed by the board.
9. How would you repair damaged relations between the school district and the public?
Bonnie Beechum: If elected I will host informal public meetings at a variety of facilities, whereby parents and students can voice their concerns. It would be my hope that the public would then feel more confident and see firsthand that the district is truly a place of first choice.
Alan Guard: I would promise to visit every school at least once during the year and at least one PTA meeting at every school during the year. Further, I would try to incorporate changes in the open-forum process, invite as many people as possible to serve on all the committees we will need to address our many challenges, and I would have the board admit to its shortcomings during the last year, offer a sincere apology, and promise to do better.
Phillip Hofinga: The most important beginning for this is to establish a pattern of integrity, honesty, and openness with the public. Trust is earned, and must be re-earned where it has been lost. It is absurd to simply say, "Trust me, and I will be trustworthy." The board must commit itself and the administration to an ethic of integrity and then demonstrate its commitment. I do not think there are any quick fixes to this very important problem; only resolute dedication to acting in a trustworthy manner, and demanding such from the administration will serve to re-establish the community's trust in the board.
The board not only lost the trust of the community by attempting to railroad through the decision to close neighborhood schools, but also by failing to uphold sound educational policy, the district's mission, and the board's own stated goals. Clearly a change in the board is needed in order to rectify this situation, and in that degree the voters have a role in putting the right people on the board for the future.
Paul Holcomb: By listening to the community. Trust is built over time by open communication and by doing what you say you are going to do. Even those on the losing side of an issue can accept the results if they were able to articulate their position fully and recognize that board is using that input to make the best decisions. We must stop all the rumors. Rumors are divisive and they help to perpetuate the negative. The truth is a powerful healer.
10. What do you believe is the primary role of the school board as it relates to the school-district administration, students, parents, and taxpayers?
Bonnie Beechum: The school board's role is to see to it that the school-district administration follows the set policy that has been laid out for it and to be accountable. To hear the concerns of parents, students, and taxpayers and work together to correct whatever problems they might have. To make sure the students are receiving the best education we can possibly provide them.
Alan Guard: School District Administration - The role of the board in relation to the administration should be one of healthy skepticism. This is important to a proper system of checks and balances. Further the board is responsible for setting policy and establishing a vision for the district, and then holding the administration accountable in its efforts to carry out those policies and achieve that vision.
Students - We must set policies and procedures and ensure that there are programs established so that there exists an environment that enables every student to be successful.
Parents - The board must make sure that we engage our parents as a fundamental player in every facet of our education system. They must be part of every process whether it is finances, curriculum, facilities, athletics, discipline, etc.
Taxpayers - These are all the people who are depending on us to accomplish what we need to with the students. We owe the taxpayers responsible young people who can read, write, do math, and think for themselves. In that way, the taxpayers' investment will pay off in the form of a vibrant community with a solid economy and all the amenities needed to keep young people in the Quad Cities and draw new families to our region.
Phillip Hofinga: The school board's primary role is to set educational policy for the district and to hold the administration (specifically, the superintendent) accountable for carrying out that policy. The school district exists for the education of our children, kindergarten through 12th grade, making the best educational interests of the children of the district the first priority of the board. The board is a democratically elected body, making it accountable to the community for its actions and decisions. The district itself exists as a public service; the employees of the district and the directors of the board are public servants.
Paul Holcomb: The school board represents the community in deciding the policies that the administration should follow. The board serves the students and parents by setting policies that will give them the best possible education with the resources available. The board serves the taxpayers by making sure that we are exercising good stewardship with our hard-earned tax dollars. This is done by increasing efficiencies and reducing cost when possible.
Yet at the same time, the school-district administration promises that the closing earlier this year of the two relatively small and old schools was just the beginning of a process reacting to a long-term budget crunch and declining school-district enrollment. Many parents are fearful that the Davenport Community School District might close even more of its older neighborhood schools, replacing them with larger facilities in parts of the community that are poised for growth.
In addition to these crucial, basic issues of school-district policy, the current seven-member board has engendered much ill will by the process it used to close Grant and Johnson. The board initially voted for the closures in January, but after an appeal with the Iowa Department of Education, it re-started the process. Much to the dismay of the people who opposed closing the schools, the board in April simply affirmed its earlier decision, in spite of a community task force that identified more than a dozen budget cuts that could have saved the neighborhood schools. In addition, many members of the community were disillusioned by shifting numbers presented by the school district, and the difficulty of getting information from the administration.
A group of parents was galvanized by the school-board's decision to close Grant and Johnson, as well as its methods. Three parents from that group are running for the school board in next week's election, promising to change the way the board does business.
The seven candidates on the September 10 ballot were recently mailed surveys dealing with important issues facing the Davenport Community School District and the school board. Four candidates - Bonnie Beechum, Alan Guard, Phillip Hofinga, and Paul Holcomb - returned their surveys, and their responses are presented below, unedited except for obvious grammar and spelling corrections.
Steven C. Imming (an incumbent board member), Anne Losasso, and Dan Portes did not return surveys. Imming told the River Cities' Reader that he did not have the time to answer our questions, while neither Losasso nor Portes responded to phone messages inquiring about whether they planned to respond.
The three candidates who come from the group of Grant and Johnson parents opposed to the closing of those schools - Guard, Hofinga, and Holcomb - returned their surveys. Not surprisingly, they touch on similar themes in their responses.
Voters will select two candidates from the field of Guard, Hofinga, Imming, and Losasso to serve three-year terms. The winner of the race between Beechum, Holcomb, and Portes will serve a one-year term.
1. The State of Iowa was forced to make a 4.3-percent budget cut last fall to meet its budgetary obligations. The state's economy has not improved since that time, and additional cuts are likely to occur. What measures can the school district take to offset these cuts?
Bonnie Beechum: Assess what areas will be affected by these cuts. Review what organizations or agencies do the same or offer similar services and/or goods. Build a partnership and then make use of that and other related resources.
Alan Guard: The school district has already taken an important step by adding a tax levy this year for cash reserves. These funds are above and beyond what it may spend according to the state formula, but $1.8 million will be available if the state cuts funding at mid-year again. Other cost-saving ideas may include offering early retirement for a selected number of teachers and filling their positions with facilitators, associate principals, and coordinators; or speaking with each employee union and asking them if they would accept one or more unpaid holiday, including all administrators. Whatever conclusions are reached I would recommend that a community-based process that includes all stakeholders be used to identify potential steps and achieve consensus.
Phillip Hofinga: We need to take a position of fiscal responsibility rather than capitulating to fiscal expedience. Fiscal "responsibility" in this context means subordinating our budget process to educationally sound policy. We don't want to cripple our capacity to deliver quality education. In last spring's task force, we discovered that there were a number of expenditures that warrant examination. Administrative costs, especially in the area of salary and benefits, are certainly worth looking at, as well as areas of material overhead.
Part of our current budget difficulties can be attributed to the fact that DCSD open-enrolls far more students out of the district than into it, resulting in less funding and less spending authority from the state. In order to reach our goal of becoming the "District of Choice" we need to make sure that quality is our first priority. In other words, not only should we be concerned first and foremost with quality education for every child as a matter of principle, but our marketability as a district depends on making educationally sound decisions.
Personally, I would not like to see any more cuts coming from the state. Already Iowa spends significantly less money per year per student than the vast majority of the states in the union. Therefore I think it is imperative that our school board along with others in the state make their presence felt in Des Moines in opposition to further cuts in education spending and in favor of a review and revision of the spending-authority restrictions.
Paul Holcomb: We should make sure that our schools are practicing good stewardship with our tax dollars. We should ensure that overhead and administrative costs represent the best value to the community. We should begin to build a cash reserve to make it through the tougher economic times. I am in favor of involving the community to get input for saving money without closing schools or cutting programs.
2. How do you respond to data from the Iowa Department of Education indicating the Davenport Community School District has the highest administrative costs of any urban district in Iowa, and the district's claim that is has some of the lowest? What, if any, specific actions should the school board take to reduce administrative costs?
Bonnie Beechum: Scientifically review priorities, need, and expenses. Review what can be combined as duties. Seek to get all employees of the board from top to bottom to support the effort with brief training and incentives.
Alan Guard: I believe that the board should require the administration to explain the data from the state and then do a critical analysis and comparison of its data with the other seven districts that make up the UEN. Then the board should have a serious discussion to see if the differences in the Davenport district are worth the additional expense or if that money is better spent in other areas or not spent at all. Any specific actions should be made on objective data derived from job audits, comparison of minimum qualifications versus actual qualifications of people in those positions, and comparisons of similar positions in other districts. Again, I believe that we need to have a process that allows for input from all stakeholders.
Phillip Hofinga: It is my understanding that Davenport is second highest in percentage of budget expended for administration. The district's claim lacks verisimilitude, since it seems to rest on creative categorization of several high-cost administrative positions. The situation presents a hopeful challenge, however, insofar as reducing these costs to bring the district in-line with other similar districts could alleviate a significant portion of our budget woes. Several administrative positions have already been identified that need to be reviewed for necessity and/or appropriateness of job level and compensation. Do we really need, for example, two director-level positions in human resources? Do we need two or three associate principals at each high school? Do the facilitators' job descriptions warrant administrative-level salaries? Doesn't the substance of their job descriptions belong reasonably to the job descriptions of the principals and associate principles in the buildings anyway?
Most importantly, when a "budget crisis" forces the district to consider salary/benefit freezes and/or cuts, virtue and good conscience demand that we start from the top down. It is simply immoral to freeze or cut the salaries of the lowest-paid employees of the district, many of whom make less than half the median household income for the area, while doling out 6-percent-plus raises to the highest-paid employees of the district (and on top of that, a hefty annuity), many of whom make more than twice the median household income for the area.
Paul Holcomb: I believe that the school board needs to build trust with the community. In order to do that our schools should openly communicate the true numbers to the community, whatever those numbers show. I do not believe in using smoke and mirrors to justify our current administrative costs. If the administrative costs are justified, we should present that justification to the community. If they are not justified, then we should be willing to cut administrative costs. It is difficult to say exactly what actions are necessary without further review and input from the community. The policy of the board should be to build an operating budget that is fiscally responsible and then to hold the administration to that budget. The bottom line is we need to get our financial house in order.
3. Data indicate that small, neighborhood schools are more successful educating urban and at-risk students. Davenport is shifting to larger class sizes as well as increased enrollment totals per school. Do you support this trend? If yes, how do you reconcile the district's actions with this data? If no, what would you recommend to reverse this trend?
Bonnie Beechum: Question the data first for accuracy and the line of questions used to compile such data. Review scientifically the high-performing schools and what makes them work and be successful. Apply the school for a period of review and re-assessment. As my response to the question, I will say neither yes nor no as both have supporting data.
Alan Guard: One of the primary issues of this race is: What do we want our elementary schools to look like? All of the research and all of the data indicate that the current board policy of larger schools and larger class size is bad education policy, bad financial policy, and bad urban-planning policy. I do not support it, and I would recommend that the board put into place a real community-based process (rather than the LSIAC) to look at all of the issues regarding school boundaries, school size, and class size, as well as how to finance it.
Phillip Hofinga: I emphatically do not support this trend. It is not merely "data" that suggest that small, neighborhood schools are superior learning environments, but the sum of the collective American public-school experience of the last half-century that overwhelmingly defies any other conclusion. Class size and school size are related yet distinct issues. Still, we should strive to keep both small. One way to reverse this trend is to look back at how small schools have operated in the past in Davenport. Some of our small schools have been the most cost-effective to run, even when considered on a per-student basis. Research data show also that even when small schools are somewhat more expensive to run, the cost balances itself by the educational benefit. In other words, successful elementary students are far less likely to incur more cost to the district later on by their delinquency or need for remedial instruction. Still, there are some measures worth examination (such as sharing a principal between two small schools) that might be employed to ensure that the cost does not become unreasonable or prohibitive.
Paul Holcomb: No, I do not support this trend. I believe very strongly in maintaining our neighborhood schools. Smaller neighborhood schools are better for children. I believe that they also attach people to our area. My wife and I chose our Davenport neighborhood because of the small neighborhood school. That school has been closed.
4. Did you support or oppose the closing of Grant and Johnson schools? Please explain your position.
Bonnie Beechum: I adamantly support neighborhood schools. Given all the financial data and issues regarding modernizing the two buildings, it seems impossible to find money to keep them open.
Alan Guard: I did not support it. The closings have led to larger elementary schools with larger classes, have been divisive to the community, and have caused decreases in property values. Further, closing the schools will not save the district as much money as planned because many students will leave the district either by moving, attending a private school, home-schooling, or open-enrolling out of the district next year. This will cost the district substantial state funds. Closing schools is a proven failed policy from every perspective - education policy, financial policy, and urban-planning policy.
Phillip Hofinga: I actively opposed the closing of the two schools for the reasons I mentioned above. It is also worth mentioning that we on the task force last spring only began to scratch the surface of potential and fairly benign alternatives to closing the schools, and we already identified over $3 million of potential savings. In no way was the board or the district forced by circumstances to close schools. But the broader principle is that we need to put our children first, and that means all of the children of DCSD.
Paul Holcomb: I strongly opposed closing both Grant and Johnson schools. My children attended Grant. Grant was a great school with an environment conducive to learning. The sense of community that my children had at Grant was priceless. I have been told by Johnson parents that their school had the same environment. These schools also had great reading scores. If these schools were still open there would be more places to allow parents to transfer their children to from the schools that have not performed to the federal standards.
5. Why would you support or oppose a referendum asking taxpayers whether they support the construction of a new elementary school in northeast Davenport?
Bonnie Beechum: I would support a new school if the district does not have enough seats to accommodate the present student population. The developing residential area would justify it. More data for vacant chairs in the district is needed. I would not support such a referendum if researched data would imply that a more even distribution of students throughout the district would accomplish the goal of filling all existing classroom seats.
Alan Guard: I would support it because the current board has not always followed through with projects that it promised with the Local Option Sales Tax. Further, I would also support the construction of a new neighborhood school to replace Johnson and Grant on that same ballot, but as a separate issue.
Phillip Hofinga: I'm not sure that a referendum is either appropriate or necessary for this decision. It does not make sense at this time to consider building an elementary school for future, as-yet-unrealized developments when funding is tight for the existing elementary schools. When the time, the need, and the opportunity for building such a school comes, the board should be able to work with the community to gain consensus for it. But this will require board members who are dedicated to involving the community in, and receiving community input on, important decisions.
Paul Holcomb: I would support a referendum because I feel that the community has the right and the obligation to be involved with decisions concerning Davenport "Community" Schools. Since I do believe in small neighborhood schools, once a neighborhood exists in northeast Davenport that needs a school, I would support that effort. We need to focus on a quality education for all of our children whether they live on the east or west side of town.
6. What do you believe the role of the community should be in prioritizing school-district plans and projects?
Bonnie Beechum: The community which is widely made up of parents who have children in the district needs to be more involved in their schools, such as attending open house joining organizations (PTA and PTO). Participate in parent-teacher conferences and sit on boards that the district has available for community input.
Alan Guard: I believe that it is critically important to the success of any public organization. The current methodology used by the district is the Local School Improvement Advisory Committee (LSIAC). This has been a poor model for addressing important school-district issues. Membership has not been representative of all community stakeholders, there are no opportunities for citizen input, too many administrators serve on the committee, and attendance is usually weak. We need a better model to really meet the needs of this district. There are over 100 models for citizen participation described by the Jefferson Institute. I would recommend that we identify and use that model or models that will let us get a real cross-section of stakeholders, including teachers, custodians, para-educators, bus drivers, parents, administrators, and board members. Only then can we identify what we all value the most about the district and what we dream for it to become.
Phillip Hofinga: This is a more complex question than it appears to be, but the answer lies in the name of our school district: Davenport Community School District. In other words, the role should be an active one. First of all, the community should be active in electing board members who will make educationally sound choices for our children. Secondly, those board members need to be open and receptive and even seek out community input with regard to special projects, especially but not exclusively when such projects may impact the quality of the community in general as well as the quality of education for our children. This means being willing to establish committees that are not heavily loaded with or appointed by administrative personnel, but those that include genuinely concerned citizens who are willing to volunteer their time and effort.
Paul Holcomb: These are our schools. Not just a group of elites who know what is best for Davenport. The community should be involved in helping to prioritize school-district plans and projects. I mean it when I say that I want to put the community back into Davenport Community Schools.
7. The school district lost $2.2 million last year because of students leaving the district through the open-enrollment process. How would you reverse this trend? What would you do to persuade parents to enroll their children in the Davenport Community School District?
Bonnie Beechum: I would visit those families to get a real feel of their reason for wanting to transfer to another school. Hopefully by persuasion I would be able to ask them to at least give us one year before they have their child attend another school district.
Alan Guard: There are several steps that need to be taken. While the district is working on a marketing plan, I believe that it is weak response to a critical issue. The board needs to address its key issues first. What is the structure of our elementary-school system going to look like? Large schools with many bus routes, or small neighborhood schools that bring a sense of community? How are we going to resolve our financial situation? People want to perceive that the leadership can effectively manage the district' s finances. Finally, how do address our challenges? Do we engage the community and embrace all of our diversity in order to come to solutions or do we allow a rigid bureaucracy to dictate our responses from above? I believe that more people will stay in Davenport schools if we are perceived as leaders who will work and listen to the community in order to meet our challenges.
Phillip Hofinga: There has been a lot of talk, not only among the candidates, but even on the current board, of "marketing" the district. This is an important priority, especially with our area employers and realtors, but also with the general public. However, we cannot market bad educational policy. In the south, this is what they call "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face." We do need a marketing plan, but one that is backed by substantive quality. Having a good product is always the best marketing approach. Davenport has had a history of excellence in education, and there are many positive aspects of our district for us to be proud of. But the recent trend has been to cut away the cornerstone of our excellence at the elementary level, and that is simply not going to sell our schools.
Two years ago, both Jim Hester and the district superintendent expressed the sentiment that our high schools were the right place to focus our resources, since they seem to open-enroll fewer students out, and more students in than our elementary schools. Some candidates have recently reiterated this approach and have suggested that we need to improve the records of our sports teams. This reasoning is severely flawed. First of all, to mainly recruit to our high schools would be equivalent to a tuition-driven four-year college focusing all of its recruiting resources on transfer juniors. The best value that a tuition-driven college is going to get is a freshman who will pay tuition for four years, so this wouldn't make any sense. The best value we will get (in terms of spending authority per child) is a child who starts with us in kindergarten and stays through graduation. No parent who is considering whether to enroll his/her five-year-old in the district is going to make the decision based on whether the high-school football team had a winning season! Rather s/he will make the decision based on whether the district seems likely to provide a safe, quality education for his/her child.
Paul Holcomb: We need to reverse this trend together as a community. We should maintain a policy of small neighborhood schools. We should continue to market the great things about our schools to realtors, major employers, relocation services, and developers. However the best marketers we have are the people whose children already attend our schools. We need to build trust back with the community so that we are all saying positive things about our schools in lieu of the negative. We need to make the relationship between the board and the public a positive one.
8. What is your position on the open-forum process at school-board meetings?
Bonnie Beechum: I support it and learn from it. I have attended board meetings and have had no problem in the open-forum process.
Alan Guard: It is not user-friendly and the current method is used to expedite the meeting for the board. Board meetings are for the public to communicate with the board. There needs to be a change in the current method in order to open it up for real public dialogue.
Phillip Hofinga: My experience with open forum over the past two years has been somewhat negative. While open forum presents an opportunity for community members to be heard, the two-minute time limit is too restricting. Secondly, open forum is a one-way communication and has not succeeded recently in creating real dialogue. This may be largely a function of the attitude of current board members. While I would not be willing to do away with open forum, I would support the re-establishment of standing committees open to the public where fruitful dialogue could take place.
Paul Holcomb: I would like to see a more open discussion between the community and the board. I would like for the public to have input as individual issues are discussed by the board.
9. How would you repair damaged relations between the school district and the public?
Bonnie Beechum: If elected I will host informal public meetings at a variety of facilities, whereby parents and students can voice their concerns. It would be my hope that the public would then feel more confident and see firsthand that the district is truly a place of first choice.
Alan Guard: I would promise to visit every school at least once during the year and at least one PTA meeting at every school during the year. Further, I would try to incorporate changes in the open-forum process, invite as many people as possible to serve on all the committees we will need to address our many challenges, and I would have the board admit to its shortcomings during the last year, offer a sincere apology, and promise to do better.
Phillip Hofinga: The most important beginning for this is to establish a pattern of integrity, honesty, and openness with the public. Trust is earned, and must be re-earned where it has been lost. It is absurd to simply say, "Trust me, and I will be trustworthy." The board must commit itself and the administration to an ethic of integrity and then demonstrate its commitment. I do not think there are any quick fixes to this very important problem; only resolute dedication to acting in a trustworthy manner, and demanding such from the administration will serve to re-establish the community's trust in the board.
The board not only lost the trust of the community by attempting to railroad through the decision to close neighborhood schools, but also by failing to uphold sound educational policy, the district's mission, and the board's own stated goals. Clearly a change in the board is needed in order to rectify this situation, and in that degree the voters have a role in putting the right people on the board for the future.
Paul Holcomb: By listening to the community. Trust is built over time by open communication and by doing what you say you are going to do. Even those on the losing side of an issue can accept the results if they were able to articulate their position fully and recognize that board is using that input to make the best decisions. We must stop all the rumors. Rumors are divisive and they help to perpetuate the negative. The truth is a powerful healer.
10. What do you believe is the primary role of the school board as it relates to the school-district administration, students, parents, and taxpayers?
Bonnie Beechum: The school board's role is to see to it that the school-district administration follows the set policy that has been laid out for it and to be accountable. To hear the concerns of parents, students, and taxpayers and work together to correct whatever problems they might have. To make sure the students are receiving the best education we can possibly provide them.
Alan Guard: School District Administration - The role of the board in relation to the administration should be one of healthy skepticism. This is important to a proper system of checks and balances. Further the board is responsible for setting policy and establishing a vision for the district, and then holding the administration accountable in its efforts to carry out those policies and achieve that vision.
Students - We must set policies and procedures and ensure that there are programs established so that there exists an environment that enables every student to be successful.
Parents - The board must make sure that we engage our parents as a fundamental player in every facet of our education system. They must be part of every process whether it is finances, curriculum, facilities, athletics, discipline, etc.
Taxpayers - These are all the people who are depending on us to accomplish what we need to with the students. We owe the taxpayers responsible young people who can read, write, do math, and think for themselves. In that way, the taxpayers' investment will pay off in the form of a vibrant community with a solid economy and all the amenities needed to keep young people in the Quad Cities and draw new families to our region.
Phillip Hofinga: The school board's primary role is to set educational policy for the district and to hold the administration (specifically, the superintendent) accountable for carrying out that policy. The school district exists for the education of our children, kindergarten through 12th grade, making the best educational interests of the children of the district the first priority of the board. The board is a democratically elected body, making it accountable to the community for its actions and decisions. The district itself exists as a public service; the employees of the district and the directors of the board are public servants.
Paul Holcomb: The school board represents the community in deciding the policies that the administration should follow. The board serves the students and parents by setting policies that will give them the best possible education with the resources available. The board serves the taxpayers by making sure that we are exercising good stewardship with our hard-earned tax dollars. This is done by increasing efficiencies and reducing cost when possible.
