Announcing Candidacy

This afternoon, I turned in my nomination papers to run for OASD School Board. As of that time, Tom McDermott (I), Ben Schneider (I), John Daggett, and John Lemberger had also turned in their papers. Of course there is still time should anyone else want to get a few more signatures before the 5pm deadline.

Before I even got my shoes off, I got a call from the ONW about my candidacy. There were the usual questions about age, kids, and such. For those who might have missed me last year, I am married and have four children. One attends Traeger Middle and is in the Special Ed program there. One attends Traeger Elementary. Two of my children attend a virtual charter out of the Appleton School District at home. Our oldest child, seventh grade, was having a hard time last year at Traeger. She was very distracted and falling further behind throughout the year. We decided to do something to try and get her back on track. The Charter allows us to schedule her classes the way that works best for her. At the moment, a block schedule is working for her and is not an option in Oshkosh yet. Once she is caught up, hopefully by high school, she should be ready for public high school here. Our youngest is advanced and was not able to work to his potential. He started hating school and acting out when he got bored waiting for classmates to finish their work. We decided to put him in the virtual charter so that he could go as fast or as slow as he was able. He is in the first grade and completed first grade math and began second grade math in mid November and will finish first grade reading, science, and social studies in February and begin second grade curriculum at that time. We are hoping that he will be able to attend ALPs or another charter in a year or so. I do not expect a teacher, a class, or a district to stop everything to meet the specific needs of one or two children. We felt that OASD does a great job with most children, hence keeping two kids in OASD, and we needed to help where we could as parents.

In the past, I have been called "angry" and "combative" and "an agitator." I get angry out of fear for our children's educations. I do get angry knowing that we are not doing everything we can for all of our students. I get angry when people try to tear apart our community for tens of millions of dollars on plans that research shows will make no difference. Doesn't that make you angry? "Combative" means willing to fight. Yes, I am willing to fight tooth and nail for our children, our community, and our future. I am willing to fight for our schools and neighborhoods. As for being an agitator, I am a mom with a lot of clothes to wash. To my knowledge an agitator is the thing inside the washing machine that knocks out the dirt. I am glad that some people consider me strong enough to knock the dirt out of OASD.

ONW asked my why I would subject myself to another run at school board. There are many reasons. I am not a quitter and I believe in the untapped potential within OASD. I want to be part of the solution and to work with the community to develop a long term plan for our schools. I do not believe I can do enough or make a difference as one private citizen. I can make a tremendous positive difference as a member of the OASD BOE.

While OASD is developing a Long-Range Facilities Plan, I want to ensure all children are given every possible opportunity to succeed. I believe that if we meet the needs of our most challenged students, we will have met the needs of all of our students. Special Education is very important to me as a parent of a special needs child, the aunt to another, and the sister-in-law to another special person. I have perspective and current experience with special ed issues that no other BOE member has.

As for the Long-Range Facilities Plan, I do not believe we need to spend tens of millions of dollars changing our grade configuration when our administration says it really makes no difference what grade configuration we have. I do not believe we need to tear apart our neighborhoods and bus kids to mega-schools. I do not believe that schools like E. Cook need to be tripled in size when enrollment in that area is declining and expected to do so into the future. I do not believe that Traeger needs renovations or additions when it isn't even paid for and there is the possibility of alternatives. I disagree with building plans that do not take into consideration parking, traffic congestion, or how fire trucks will be able to get near buildings with narrow service driveways and surrounding streets parked full. The current administration says a plan can only be had for $50+ million. I think it can be done in less than $30 million before factoring in sales of some properties and increased efficiencies. Our first goal should be taking care of deferred maintenance and not being the most expensive district in the state.

Finally, I believe in complete, open, and honest communication, communication, communication.

If anyone has any questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to call me (233-9878), email me (monte07@new.rr.com), or post here. Comments are moderated but anonymous posts are allowed.