From left to right, Columbia School Board candidates Jay Atkins, Della Streaty-Wilhoit and Blake Willoughby.
Jacob Moscovitch, Tristen Rouse and Ethan Weston
The Missourian submitted a list of 10 standardized
questions to the three candidates for Columbia School Board.
The recent change in school attendance zones, effective for the fall 2020 school year, showed again how hard it is to balance the socioeconomic status of students from school to school. How can the board and the district improve that going forward?
Jay Atkins: The first step is to figure out what went wrong last time. The district hired outside consultants to propose new district boundaries that would address school overcrowding and racial inequality. What it got in return was a plan that failed to address the former and exacerbated the latter. This district needs to get serious about ensuring every student has equal access to a high-quality education. Before we waste more money on out-of-town consultants who don't understand our district or its goals, let's do the hard work of understanding our own failings and then marshaling our resources to correct them. No student in this district should be penalized for their socioeconomic status, where they live or what they look like.
Della Streaty-Wilhoit: Redistricting is prompted by growth within the district. Each occurrence of changing zones is an attempt to take into consideration population growth while balancing other factors such as socioeconomic status. This is an ongoing matter that our administrative professionals are aware of and make, in my opinion, quality decisions in their attempt to seek balance within the district.
Blake Willoughby: One action that the board can do to improve this going forward is to ensure that there is an equitable distribution of resources throughout our schools. This would ensure that where the most positive impact would occur with the funding, that is where the funding should go. Now this distribution should not cause a disparity or decline in other areas, but the board needs to take a deep analysis of the budget to ensure our resources are being used equitably across the district.
Gaps in academic achievement among different groups of students, particularly between black and white students, persist in the district. What do you think explains those disparities? What would you propose to address them?
Della Streaty-Wilhoit: It is the district's responsibility to provide a quality education for all students. However, not all students come to school with the same level of preparation and/or home support systems to advance their success. The struggle is real for minority students, often at home and at school. These societal issues demand incremental improvement. Specific actions the district can take to close the achievement gap is a win for everyone; the students, our community and our state. When we make progress toward racial equity, we are closer to solving the achievement gap disparity. We must make every effort to actively pursue racial equity and address structural racism and its consequences within our community and schools.
Blake Willoughby: I can’t speak in a valid manner that this one area or another item is why we are seeing the disparity here in the district. I think that there are general ideas that can be addressed that are affecting the entire nation with reaching academic achievement goals for kids in the K-12 system. We need to ensure that every child is spending majority of their time in the classroom. They don’t need to be spending a large portion of their schooling absent, in ISS, or in OSS. Children that are in the classroom where they know the teacher and their classmates will be able to learn more because they are in a comfortable environment that they know.
Jay Atkins: Explaining the achievement gap’s origin and perpetuation would take a lengthier tome than I have room for here. Suffice it to say it exists, and it needs to be addressed. Closing the achievement gap requires engagement on three fronts: District, Classroom and Student. First, the district must define CLEAR educational goals. Next, it must make sure that every teacher in every school has the education, support and tools necessary to constructively engage students and meet the goal. Finally, the district must expand its partnership with community and neighborhood organizations to ensure students are adequately supported and ready to learn when they get to school. Closing the achievement gap takes an "all-hands-on-deck" effort. It is incumbent upon the district to lead the way, but parents, churches and the greater community must all support the effort.
What is your stance on teachers having guns in the classroom?
Jay Atkins: I oppose guns in the classroom. That said, our schools must take seriously the rising threat of mass shootings being perpetrated at home and abroad. The old model of relying on under-staffed police agencies and a handful of resource officers for protection is insufficient to the current threat. Our administrators and teachers need training in modern security and defense practices. I support a three-pronged approach to protecting students and faculty: Run, Hide, Fight. Where possible, students and faculty should use pre-planned egress routes to RUN away from the threat. When running is not an option, they should HIDE in secure, pre-designated, locations until the threat passes. When running and hiding are not possible, I support our schools having small, voluntary units of specially trained personnel with access to defensive weapons to act as critical response teams that can defend students and faculty against a threat.
Della Streaty-Wilhoit: Guns and schools do not mix. Proactive protection of our students is paramount; however, in my opinion guns in classrooms do not advance student security.
Blake Willoughby: I don’t believe teachers should have guns in the classroom. I believe that this doesn’t increase safety and actually creates more safety concerns. I grew up around guns with friends hunting and going to ranges on the weekends to shoot, but having these items in a classroom can be a space of inducing anxiety for our teachers and kids. Though I don’t believe our teachers should have guns in the classroom, I do believe that having trained officers and personnel with a gun can be an added safety measure that is beneficial. Select trained officers in de-escalation procedures specifically in regard to all children would be a necessary requirement for me to feel comfortable having guns in the buildings.
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