What are YOU Going to Do THIS Tuesday?

Why We Need To Support Columbia Public Schools Bond/Levy

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Vote yes and support better education for Columbia students

• MONICA NAYLOR AND PHILIP G. PETERS JR
 Columbia Missourian


Parents know that highly qualified teachers are crucial for their children’s success.
Business leaders know "the cities with the best schools will win."
On April 5, local voters will be asked to provide the Columbia Public Schools with the resources needed to stay at the top. We believe the school district has earned our support.
During a decade of financial constraints, the district used tax dollars prudently, cutting expenses by more than $20 million and eliminating 250 staff positions, in order to add teachers for our growing student population.
CPS has delivered on past promises to reduce overcrowding and to upgrade aging schools. It has raised the graduation rate while reducing the graduation gap.
Our existing revenue streams are not adequate to maintain this excellence. Enrollment is growing while state funding per student has shrunk since 2000 by 10 percent in today’s dollars.
Transportation costs have risen at twice the rate of inflation, but state funding has shrunk by $6 million in today’s dollars.
The proposed levy will allow the first raise in teacher salaries in nearly a decade. Current salaries are simply not competitive. That must change if we want to recruit and retain the best personnel.
We urge you to support the proposed increase in the district’s operating levy and its no-tax-increase bond authorization, which will allow for future building expansion to help keep up with our city’s growth.
To be the best, our schools need continued public support. Please vote "yes" on April 5.
Monica Naylor and Philip G. Peters Jr. are co-chairs of the Committee for Continued Excellence in Columbia Public Schools.

Columbia School Board hopefuls discuss systemic racism at forum

• BRITTANY CROCKER- Columbia Missourian
 
• Mar 30, 2016
 

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• COLUMBIA — A Tuesday night Columbia School Board candidate forum put on by Race Matters, Friends, spurred several rounds of lively conversation, with all candidates present agreeing that some dialogue was better than no dialogue at all when it came to racial disparities.
  Four candidates — challengers Sarah Dubbert and Paul Rainsberger and incumbents Jan Mees and Jim Whitt — sat with about 20 people around six folding tables arranging in a circle at Bethel Baptist Church. Sky Jiménez led the group in a short meditation before the four candidates gave their opening statements. Candidate Joe Toepke did not attend.
  Topics of discussion included how one might lead and participate in uncomfortable conversations about race, changes in school curricula, hiring and purchasing practices, and discipline disparities between white and nonwhite students. 
  Dubbert said a lack of transparency and closed meetings blocked conversations about issues such as race. And Rainsberger said the school board should seek out those kinds of conversations, not wait for them.
  "If you want a dialogue that involves all voices in the community, you have to go where the comfort level belongs to the audience, not the government officials," he said.
  Forum moderator Traci Wilson-Kleekamp changed the topic for Mees, asking a question she uses when recruiting people for MU's School of Medicine: "How many worlds can you walk in, and walk with grace and listening? How is the School Board walking in other worlds?"
  Mees said she has seen a switch flip when it came to the School Board's awareness of race in Columbia Public Schools.
  "The light is on right now," she said. "We need to get moving. We can't wait any longer for all of us as a board to address the issues in our community."
  She said the challenge lay mostly in the board's dealings with facts and figures instead of the people they're trying to serve. She said she wanted to see the entire board participate in diversity training and poverty simulations to learn how to approach divisions in a systemic way.
  "Not understanding everyone who comes into our schools is the most systemic problem," she said.
  Tara Griggs asked the candidates how they planned to include in curricula people of color who were less prevalent in textbooks, offering African-American scientist Benjamin Banneker as an example.
  Dubbert has taught high school math in the past, and she said she understood because that subject's best-known historical figures were white Europeans.
  Rainsberger said the most systemic issue affecting conversations about race is the inertia of privilege perpetuating itself.
  Whitt said the board reviewed the curriculum every five years. He said history-making minorities needed to be given more exposure in general coursework and not just in electives.
  "You will get pushback. The community has to be involved, has to buy in, but the school system needs to lead that," he said. 
  John Clark asked the candidates if they would consider establishing alternative hiring and purchasing criteria in the School District.
  Rainsberger said he was "a firm believer that public entities need to be the vanguard of HR practices," adding that background checks could act as an invisible method of screening people out of jobs.
  Dubbert and Whitt agreed that breaking contracts for large projects into smaller pieces could increase the involvement of small, local or minority-owned businesses while building and maintaining a more inclusive district.
  The conversation shifted to how public schools can create a pipeline to prison for minority students who are more likely to be diagnosed with a conduct disorder. 
  Laura Danforth, an MU doctoral fellow studying racial disparities in public schools, said that black and Hispanic students were more likely to be suspended and arrested in school than were white students. Fewer than 3 percent of black students make up gifted and talented enrollment, compared to white students, who make up about 76 percent, Danforth said, citing data collected by the U.S. Department of Education.
  Whitt said the district had reduced out-of-school suspensions by two-thirds but that 90 percent of the students getting suspended were still minority students.
  "Our goal is to keep kids in school. We have programs working toward that," he said.
  On top of that, Mees said, the district was making a concerted effort to keep kids out of the juvenile system.
  "We're not slapping a kid in handcuffs for something that can be resolved by other means," she said.
  Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to choose two of the five candidates to serve on the School Board.  

Reasons to Vote For Rainsberger/Dubbert

Rainsberger, Dubbert will improve public schools

• BECKY ELDER
 

Columbia is fortunate to have great schools. There are two ways to make them even better. Choose Paul Rainsberger and Sarah Dubbert when voting for school board members.

As a teacher, I like Sarah’s message of seeking to communicate more with parents and the community and valuing contributions from stakeholders.

Paul’s concern to “enhance learning opportunities for all” addresses the wide range of achievement our students need.

Let’s help our district continue to move ahead by voting for Paul and Sarah.

Becky Elder is a teacher with Columbia Public Schools.

Community Group Race Matters Hosts School Board Candidate Forum

Race Matters, Friends challenges school board candidates

By ROGER MCKINNEY

Wednesday, March 30, 2016 

Columbia Board of Education President Jim Whitt on Tuesday listed some of the progress he said Columbia Public Schools has made on race.

Whitt said Kevin Brown, a new assistant superintendent for secondary education, would help the district become more inclusive in terms of race. He said CPS also is working on equity training and changing discipline policies.

“This is tough work, and it’s going to take time,” Whitt said. Whitt was one of four Columbia Board of Education candidates on Tuesday’s ballot who attended a school board forum held by the group Race Matters, Friends at Bethel Baptist Church.

“We’re used to hearing that bureaucratic yip-yap,” said Traci Wilson-Kleekamp, a Race Matters, Friends member, in response to Whitt’s comments.

Tuesday’s event was marked by tense moments between group members and board candidates.

The other candidates are Sarah Dubbert, Jan Mees, Paul Rainsberger and Joe Toepke. Toepke wasn’t at the meeting because he was out of town on vacation.

Race Matters, Friends members challenged the candidates to start a conversation about race in public schools.

Dubbert said people are afraid to talk about race, usually diverting the conversation to discussions of poverty and diversity.

“If you’re not going to talk about anything, it’s not going to get fixed,” Dubbert said. “Why are we talking around the issue?”

Rainsberger said board members have to go into the community to hear the what people are saying.

“We have to actively seek out all the voices in the community,” Rainsberger said.

Mees said things have changed for the better at the school district. She said the key is for board members to establish relationships with teachers and parents in the schools.

“We’ve flipped a switch, and the light is on right now,” Mees said. “We need to get moving. We can’t wait any longer as a board.”

Grace Vega, a member of Race Matters, Friends told the school board candidates that it will be their responsibility to set the district agenda on race.

“If the people at the top aren’t speaking the language, it’s not going to happen from the bottom up,” Vega said.

The school-to-prison pipeline and the disparity in student discipline between white students and minorities were major topics Tuesday.

Whitt said out-of-school suspensions have been reduced significantly but black students are given most of the suspensions. He said the goal is to keep students in school.

Whitt and Mees discussed restorative practices, an alternative discipline method in which all interested parties in a dispute meet to find a resolution to the conflict. There also is equity training, in which educators are trained to recognize and understand and acknowledge the backgrounds and identities of their students.

The incumbents said the programs are starting to yield results, but progress is slow.

Mees said there’s an agreement with the Columbia Police Department and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department to prevent putting students in the legal system for minor incidents.

“We try not to slap a kid in handcuffs,” Mees said. “We made a concerted effort to keep kids out of the juvenile justice system.”

Addressing a question about hiring practices, Rainsberger said organizations should expand the hiring pool by considering all those who are qualified. He said in CPS, the highest turnover of employees is among custodians, who mostly are black.

“Public entities have the obligation to be the vanguard on human resources,” Rainsberger said.

CMNEA Member Shares Why She Supports Dubbert/Rainsberger

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Rainsberger, Dubbert good choices for School Board

• ANYA WALENTIK-Columbia Missourian
 
• Mar 26, 2016
 
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I am a teacher for Columbia Public Schools. I have enjoyed getting to know this year’s School Board candidates.

Paul Rainsberger and Sarah Dubbert are the most qualified to serve on our School Board and support our students.

Paul Rainsberger was an educator at the University of Missouri. He wants to ensure we meet all students' needs. He wants to bring all involved to the table to make the best decisions for our district, our community, and most importantly our students.

As a former teacher and active community member, Sarah Dubbert brings a diverse perspective that will help address the challenges our district is facing.

Both would bring fresh ideas and an important voice needed on our School Board.

Anja Walentik is a teacher with the Columbia Public Schools.

Koster Has August Primary for Governor with Former KC Mayor

Former Missouri senator, Kansas City mayor runs for governor

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Former state senator and Kansas City mayor Charles Wheeler is running as a Democrat for Missouri governor. Wheeler filed for candidacy Monday. He would need to beat current Democratic front runner Attorney General Chris Koster in a primary. Wheeler was elected to the state Senate in 2002 to a four-year term and served with Koster. Wheeler also was mayor of Kansas City from 1971-1979. Republicans running for the state's top executive office are suburban St. Louis businessman John Brunner, former Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens, former House speaker and U.S. attorney Catherine Hanaway and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. The primary is Aug. 2. The general election is Nov. 8. Gubernatorial hopefuls and other office-seekers have until Tuesday to file for candidacy.