Guía de Votantes

The District is continuously assessing student achievement using multiple measures. The summer BOOST program is a start to remedy learning loss and will be offered to the students most at risk for learning loss. Planning for other supports and programs is in process. Assessment of each student's needs should occur early in the 21-22 school year to determine the appropriate supports needed to help each student to overcome the loss.

I am a firm believer in restorative justice. I believe it needs to be used as the primary method to address all issues, and to help the affected students and staff to move beyond the incident(s) that prompted the use of restorative justice. Discipline data will be used to measure the effectiveness. A reduction in disciplinary actions is the expected positive outcome.

Parents/guardians have a right to select the best option for their children. The following reforms are needed due to the old & unfair charter school law that harms public school students. I believe funding formulas need to be fair. The rules that govern expenditures of the public schools must be equally applied to charter schools. I also believe the tuition charge to a district for a student with an IEP attending a charter school must reflect the cost of implementing the IEP. I propose a flat tuition rate charged for each student, regardless of a student's school district, with the IEP implementation cost added for each student with an IEP. Money not used by a charter school to educate a student should be returned to the school district.

Formative assessments should be used to help educators understand where students are academically and with which concepts they are struggling. These assessments should be low stakes and casual and can come in the form of a quiz or even a conversation. The results should guide educators' practice to address students' individual and collective academic needs. Addressing learning loss will require cooperative effort between educators, communities, families, and students. In addition to learning loss, it is imperative that we also focus on students' and educators' social and emotional needs as they return to school.

I would determine the effectiveness of anti-bullying efforts by taking stock of changes in students' attitudes about how best to treat one another. I would also pay attention to the number of reported bullying incidents. Interestingly, sometimes if anti-bullying programs are effective, the reported incidents may increase as students' understanding that bullying is inappropriate rises and they become empowered to report bullying. A focus on anti-bullying to address racial and social justice issues seems short-sighted. Many racial and social justice issues are systemic and do not show up as interpersonal conflict between students.

I am in favor of impactful, high-quality schools for all children in our district. All schools should be held to high standards and be accountable for student outcomes. Seventy percent of Pittsburgh families choose a school other than their feeder school for their children. White families choose primarily private and magnet schools, and Black families mainly choose district, magnet, and charter schools. The families of the 5,000, mostly Black children who attend charter schools, live in our district, pay taxes, and deserve to send their children to schools that work for them. Our district has historically under-served low-income and Black children. It is imperative that families have options about which they can feel confident.