Candidate seeks change to Mat-Su Borough School Board

Spectrum, by Stephen Fee

My name is Stephen Fee and I am a candidate for School Board Seat F.

I have lived in the Houston area for more than 27 years. My wife, Susan, and I raised two children here in the Valley, with both attending Mat-Su schools; they attended Willow Elementary and then moved on to and graduated from Houston Jr./Sr. High School.

Since 1985, I have been involved with school bus transportation in the Mat-Su. During this period, I have watched the Mat-Su School District grow, and through the years I have listened to and read the praises and concerns people have had with the Mat-Su School District.

Why would anybody want to run for an office such as the school board, especially considering that it really doesn't pay anything?

The answer usually is because they are dissatisfied with the direction things are going. In my case, my dissatisfaction is with both the school board and the school district administration.

First, let me point out that during the Aug. 18 school board meeting, during one of their public comment periods, I specifically asked that the school board hold off extending the chief administrator's contract until after the election. With the possibility of up to five of the seven seats changing hands, three through direct election and two more due to current members seeking other offices, I was asking them to wait until after the election so that voters would be able to voice their opinion of the school board and the school district administration through their ballots.

I guess they didn't think it was important enough to hear from you or maybe they didn't want to hear from you, because they voted to extend the chief's contract anyway, even though it wasn't due to expire until sometime in 2006. Their comments, as taken from the Aug. 24 Frontiersman: "the board determined Doyle was steering Mat-Su Schools in the right direction."

Let's consider the fact that in December 2002, 47 people lost their jobs, not due to a budget crisis as reported, but through mismanagement -- overreporting of student numbers, adding a new program that wasn't thought through all the way.

Was this steering the school district in the right direction? How about the fact that two years ago, 24 schools failed to make adequate yearly progress as measured by the No Child Left Behind Act and 18 schools failed to make AYP last year?

How about the number of seniors last year that didn't pass their High School Qualifying Exam? Is this steering Mat-Su schools in the right direction? Was this the direction you wanted the Mat-Su schools to continue in? Well, thanks to the school board, you don't have a choice.

One of the more important issues facing the district right now is schools failing to make AYP. Is this because the schools themselves are not doing their job or is it because the administration is not providing the resources needed to bring quality education to all our schools?

Did you read the article in the Aug. 29 Frontiersman about how the administration has decided to increase the number of requirements schools must meet to qualify for Title I funds? This will mean fewer schools will be receiving Title I funds.

How are schools supposed to improve if they're not given the resources necessary to make improvement? This could mean that those Title I schools that passed AYP last year will fail next time because they won't be able to afford to provide the extra tutors or classroom aides that are needed.

You might want to go to the district's Web site and, under the AYP designation for 2004-05, click on the link "a Guide to AYP" and review the difference in consequences for Title I and non-Title I schools.

Do you think there is an incentive there for the district to reduce the number of Title I schools at the expense of insuring your child receives a quality education?

Having been to all of this year's meetings and after reviewing last year's minutes it was interesting to me that this decision was published in the paper before it has even been brought before the school board. Who runs this district anyway?

Yes, providing every student a quality education costs money. The state Legislature needs to make funding education a budget priority, providing adequate inflation-proof funding. The borough needs to fund education to the maximum.

The federal government needs to fund its mandates, such as the NCLB Act.

Wishful thinking. After years of crying wolf, nobody -- not the federal government, not the state Legislature, not the borough assembly and not even a majority of the borough population -- believes there is a budget crisis in the school district.

The people believe in their schools but they just don't have confidence in the school district administrators or believe what comes out of their mouths. The school district has surveys that bear this out.

Changing this will be a monumental task. It can be done, but only by putting people on the school board that will make the school district's administration accountable for its actions. If elected, I will be one of those types of people. I would appreciate your vote, and encourage everyone to get out and vote Oct. 5.

Stephen Fee is a candidate for Seat F on the Mat-Su Borough School Board.