Former Teacher Says She Knows Schools the Best

By Janese Heavin, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Mar. 20–Michelle Gadbois says the decade she spent as a Columbia Public Schools teacher gives her a unique qualification for serving on the district’s Board of Education.

She’s among five candidates seeking to fill two open seats in the April 4 election.

A former Hickman High School social studies teacher, paraprofessional and special education teacher, Gadbois left the district last year to help her brother and sister-in-law operate their business, Cherry Hill Dental. Once she left teaching, Gadbois said, she started eyeing a seat on the school board, hoping to “bring an educator’s voice to the board.”

“I think what I know best is Columbia Public Schools,” she said.

Jessica Lucas, who taught American studies at Hickman alongside Gadbois, described her as “intelligent” and “enthusiastic about our school system.”

“She would be a good voice on the school board,” Lucas said. “I think she understands students because she’s been around them. I think she understands teachers because she’s been a teacher. I think she understands Columbia as a community because she’s been a lifelong resident.”

Gadbois, a Hickman graduate, has a master’s degree in education from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

She cites funding, teacher pay and achievement as the top issues facing the district.

“The financial situation is going to be a challenge,” Gadbois said. “We may be asked to cut from within or ask voters for more of their support.”

Teachers and principals should play a key role in deciding which programs to cut, she said.

“I do not believe the cuts should be random,” Gadbois said. “We need to go to our schools, teachers and administrators, who know what works and what doesn’t in our schools. Research is key.”

Gadbois said she would like the board to review the duties of each of the six assistant superintendents to see whether any of those positions could become part time.

Gadbois is leery of setting a minimum salary significantly higher than the base teacher pay, saying the district should reward veteran teachers. To compete for qualified new teachers, the school district could better promote the high standard of living in Columbia, she said.

At Hickman, Gadbois served on a committee that studied the achievement gap. She said she supports the West Boulevard Elementary School project and would like to see similar programs at other schools.

“I think the key is early literacy and early achievement,” she said. “We have to see what would work elsewhere in the community and make decisions on the front end so we don’t have to talk about the dropout rate at the high school level.”

Parents need to be involved in their children’s educations, Gadbois said, but school officials should not sit back and wait for them to come forward.

“We need to invite people to speak and not just wait for them to show up,” she said. “We need to meet people where they are.”

Gadbois traveled and studied in South Africa and China through Fulbright and Freeman Foundation scholarships. Along with social studies, she taught women’s studies and African-American history.

Gadbois said her parents were teachers and stressed issues of tolerance. She put those lessons into play five years ago when she joined activists to encourage the school board to pass a policy combating discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Gadbois vowed she would continue that path as a board member. “I will side with open-mindedness and access to information and text free of discrimination,” she said.

Gadbois supports the teaching of evolution and health classes providing students with information about contraceptives. Those stands have earned her Bill Monroe’s vote.

“She seems open and honest and scientific-based,” said Monroe, a local political activist.

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