School Board Candidates' Q & A

We asked all three school board candidates the following questions:

• Do you support the April 1 OASD referendum? Why or why not?
• What alternatives would you suggest if you are not?
• What is the number one priority for the district moving forward?

We received answers from Molly Smiltneek and Michael Ford. Jacob Wolf did not respond.

Michael Ford

Do you support the April 1 OASD referendum?

Yes.

For me, it is worth forgoing the immediate tax cut to improve our facilities. Buildings don’t teach kids, but being competitive for families and teachers requires safe buildings, achieving economies of scale, and not forcing teachers to move buildings all day. I can’t undo decades of deferred maintenance, or the mistakes around the acquisition of properties around South Park. But I can commit to being a good steward of these funds if it passes. By design it is the voters decision and I will respect that.

If it doesn’t pass we will need to triage the district’s most immediate needs and fund what we can, starting with air conditioning and any pressing safety needs. The strategic triage would have to be aligned with things shown to most impact student outcomes.

What is the number one priority for the district moving forward?

Improving student outcomes. There are many elements to that, including achievement gaps, improving transparency and communication, etc., but that is the district’s top priority if we want to revern negative open enrollment trends, attract and retain teachers, and ensure a prosperous future for the Oshkosh region.

Molly Smiltneek

Do you support the April 1 OASD referendum?

Yes.

Children CAN thrive in any setting and my number one priority is to ensure that every student in OASD has access to obtaining a high quality education. At a minimum they must be able to read and write and have the opportunity to be a successful participant in our community. I believe that students deserve high quality modern facilities in which to learn. However, new facilities don’t matter unless we do the hard work of creating an overall atmosphere where kids are actually learning. For the first time since I moved to Oshkosh 15 years ago, I can say we’re doing it! I am extremely proud of the hard work taking place in this district to create a positive learning environment for students to learn, thrive and achieve. I am confident OASD can transform the learning environment in each of our schools to one filled with rigor, engagement and academic achievement.

Again, neither big nor small, old nor new schools are inherently bad. It’s about the learning environment that they facilitate. Sometimes inappropriate facilities can limit student engagement. Extreme heat where classes have to be relocated and kids go home sick from exhaustion or headaches, windows that don’t open, having to wander a desolate hallway to get to your classroom or the elevator. Those things don’t exactly make kids want to learn or even attend school.

There is a valid purpose in Consolidation. It can ensure access to educators and staff when a child needs that support. To be clear, this means that a staff member’s entire caseload is in one building; this doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more staff members to meet children’s needs or that there are lower ratios.

Consolidation also allows the district to off board schools that are not safe or appropriate to meet the needs of the students of today and in the future and that are expensive to maintain. We can save taxpayers millions of dollars operationally every year and eliminate deferred maintenance costs. Additionally, because the regulations now state that you cannot build new educational facilities at the South Park site because it is within the most likely crash zone for planes landing and taking off from the airport, I am now worried about the safety of students attending school at that site. This is on top of the fact that building is far from an ideal learning environment. If the worst case scenario were to occur and a plane crashed into the building where students were learning - and where they can’t even open the windows to escape because the windows are sealed shut, it would be a preventable tragedy at this point. And we must take action for the safety of our students.

The goal is to right size the district and the facilities it maintains to minimize expenses to the taxpayer. That is our fiduciary duty as board members. A successful referendum would be transformational for our district. Right now there is a lot of misinformation and emotionally charged opinions that focus very little on the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s students as well as our responsibility to the taxpayers of today and tomorrow. There are many who believe the district fails at communication, so if we focus on transparency and communication it stands to reason that we will build trust. If nothing else, it will help us understand what the solution is if not this plan. And that transparency, communication and trust will empower people to make informed votes on this and future referendums. I think this is an opportunity for positive discourse and to put students first.

When it comes down to it though, I’m tired of being mediocre. It’s time for Oshkosh to give our students the opportunity they deserve. They deserve a system with high achieving students and facilities that foster learning, rigor and engagement. We are making the needed investments and changes academically. We need to do the same with our facilities. We can and must do both things at once. Our kids deserve it and we have to try. I voted to send the referendum to voters and I will be voting in favor of the referendum on April 1.

What is the number one priority for the district moving forward?

My most important objective if elected to the board is ensuring kids learn to read. Board members must establish a framework that administration and staff implement ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn to read and succeed. For example, on the last district report card, only 11 of the 117 students who identify as Black or African American at Oshkosh North read at a “meeting” level. Only one was “advanced”. That is appalling and embarrassing. I have fought long and hard for changes that are finally starting to happen in this district and I will not rest until all kids have the right to read. Every child deserves the opportunity to achieve. Our students deserve excellence. They deserve rigor and engagement. They are up to the challenge. It’s up to us adults to follow their lead.