Curriculum Vital, Candidates Say: What is Taught in Schools Key, MPS Board Hopefuls Say

By Sarah Carr, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mar. 21–While candidates for Milwaukee’s School Board often spar over subjects such as school funding, police in the schools or vouchers, surprisingly little is said about one of the most fundamental issues in the district: What is taught in school.

Michael Bonds and Stephanie Findley, who are running against each other in the District 3 race for the School Board, want to change that. Both say the curriculum is one of their top issues — if not the top one.

Michael Bonds

Bonds, an associate professor of educational policy and community studies at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, said he’s tired of seeing Milwaukee Public Schools students who cannot hack it at UWM.

He thinks MPS’ curriculum needs some serious beefing up, so fewer students have to take remedial courses when they reach college. English classes need to focus more on grammar, and all schools — not just the elementary ones — should have reading specialists, Bonds said.

“It’s frustrating to see these kids coming in (to UWM), thinking they are prepared and then taking remedial courses and flunking out,” Bonds said.

He thinks all schools should have syllabuses for each class that parents can check. “Teaching science by showing ‘Jurassic Park’ is not acceptable,” he said. “Neither is teaching history by showing ‘Ray.’ “

Yet with a long background in education and urban issues, Bonds’ ideas do not stop with the curriculum. He was a policy analyst at City Hall for 13 years and a plaintiff in the 1980s when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sued suburban school districts over school segregation issues. His wife is the principal of Custer High School.

Bonds, 48, is unrelenting in both the breadth and detail of his criticism. Neighborhood schools? The boundaries have become too closed in, Bonds argues, so children living in particularly bad regions of the city might not have enough options anymore to leave that area for school. The residency requirement? It’s crucial that teachers live in the city to help preserve a tax base. Parents? “We are letting parents off the hook too much,” Bonds said. “More people go to the high school games than come out to vote.”

Bonds said he has declined to take money from any political action committees and wants to stay fairly independent. He has, however, been endorsed by well-known figures such as Howard Fuller, one of the most high-profile proponents of school vouchers.

Stephanie Findley

Findley wants to recentralize MPS so that all teachers and students are, quite literally, on the same page.

She thinks that schools should use the same curriculum, so students who change schools won’t find themselves way ahead or behind. “When kids don’t have structure and consistency, you lose them in the shuffle,” Findley said, noting that student and family mobility is a huge challenge for the School District.

Consistency should trump school independence even in the case of specialty programs such as Montessori, she said. “They can specialize in whatever they want,” she said. “But the reading, math and grammar books should all be the same.”

Findley, 33, owns a business called Fast & Accurate Business Solutions. She decided to run for the board after observing that several of her potential employees had not been prepared for the work force by MPS. She also struggled to find a high school last spring for her daughter, now 15. Findley wanted her to attend Riverside because it’s close to where the family lives. But the district said the teen would have to travel to Hamilton. In the end, Findley and her daughter chose St. Joan Antida, an all-girls Catholic school.

Findley is a strong proponent of neighborhood schools and thinks the district should remain constant in its support for them. “I don’t like to see the start-again, stop-again” approach to school reforms, she said.

Findley has had several small-claims cases against her, listed on Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, including a few evictions, with judgments in the cases ranging from $82 to $1,800. The most recent eviction case was from April.

Partly for this reason, she said, she wants to make sure all students learn financial literacy before they graduate from high school. “Am I proud of it?” she said. “No, I’m not.” She adds that as a single mother who had her daughter at the age of 18, life has not always been easy financially and she wants young people to know they can recover from financial troubles.

She has been endorsed by the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, the local teachers union.

MILWAUKEE SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 3

Michael Bonds

Age: 48

Address; time in district:3519 N. 50th St.; 36 years

Occupation:Associate professor of education policy and community studies at UWM

Elective offices, other government experience: Unsuccessful candidate for Milwaukee County Board and state representative

Education: B.A., criminal justice, 1981; M.S., urban affairs, 1983; master’s in public administration, 1988; PhD in urban studies, 1998

Family: Married; two children

Stephanie Findley

Age: 33

Address: 3356 N. Pierce St.; 12 years

Occupation: Owner, Fast & Accurate Business Solutions

Elective offices; other government experience: None

Education: B.A., Concordia University

Family: Single; one child

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Copyright (c) 2007, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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