On Saturday, April 4 I held a Q&A session at the Appleton Public Library. I held this as an opportunity to explain my campaign motto of DEMAND BETTER RESULTS and why I was running for the Appleton Area School District (AASD) School Board.
I invited Anthony Phillips and Reive Pullen as special guests to get an understanding of the public concerns regarding educational matters. Both will be excellent additions to the State Assembly this Fall.
Eleven citizens attended the event. They asked questions about the AASD referendum, school performance, school financing, vouchers, technology in the classroom, and why I was running. The attendees were, to say the least, skeptical of my candidacy. Their questions were pointed, and our give-and-take was at times tense—but at no time was it disrespectful. Below is an outline of the main topics we covered:
Referendum and School Performance
I reiterated my resistance to the April referendum. My opposition is not based mainly on the cost, but on the fact that school performance has collapsed since 2020. Over 53 percent of graduating students cannot read and write at grade level, and if Appleton North is factored out this figure jumps to 63 percent. If the referendum passes, then all we are doing is financing and extending these poor results.
Several attendees took issue with me. “How can you run for the School Board and not support our students?” was a standard question. “Performance is improving and we are back to pre-COVID results” was a common theme. I showed them the graph below but it had no impact on some.
PERCENTAGE OF AASD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
WHO DO NOT PERFORM AT GRADE LEVEL
School Financing and Vouchers
The attendees voiced vehement opposition to the voucher system. They said taxpayers should not have to pay for vouchers through property tax dollars. One attendee stated that it was against the Wisconsin state constitution to finance private religious education with taxpayer dollars.
I explained I supported vouchers because forcing students to attend failing schools is wrong, and parents should have the option to give their children a better educational option than the public school system where less than 4 in 10 students graduate at grade level reading and writing (see chart above).
Technology in the Classroom and Why I Am Running for School Board
The discussion circled back to what could be cut to reduce costs. I replied the policies and use of technology in the classroom need to be reviewed. Recent studies reveal electronic devices (cellphones, tablets, etc.) may be having a detrimental effect on cognitive abilities and that Gen Z students may have lower IQs than Gen X students, despite having access to the most powerful computing tools in human history.
Reducing technology sounds counterintuitive. The rush to deploy Chromebooks during COVID to educate children remotely was an expedient that did not consider long-term effects. The current spending required to maintain these devices can be used to reduce the overall deficit the school district faces.
Overall, I came away from the session with a better understanding of not only the strength of the VOTE Yes referendum, but also the logic and reasoning of those who support the status quo of the local educational establishment. I kept reiterating that something has changed and not for the better. I received tremendous pushback along the lines that progress is being made and not supporting the referendum would be a severe setback.
I doubt I made any converts, but at least they came and got answers to their questions from me.
