BOE Survey Matthew Molyett – District 1
http://elect.molyett.com/
1. How long have you lived in Howard County? Which voting district would you represent?
I have lived in Howard County since 2015. I live in voting district 1, where I would be elected by. I would be elected by district 1 to represent the whole county and whole school district.
2. What is your experience with and interest in public schools?
I am a graduate from public schools in northwest Ohio. My entire adult life was shaped by how the public school prepared me for success by aggressively meeting my personalized educational needs. That is the kind of focus and preparation I expect the school system to be able to deliver to all the students of Howard County.
3. Considering many schools are still overcapacity, how should the BOE address this continued concern?
The BOE should, as a part of the attendance area creation with High School 13, balance the short term utilization of our community schools. Additionally a long term process should be created that will regularly review population distributions and population trends so that five year projected student bodies remain within capacity. Long term planning and processes can ensure that the school utilization remains appropriate while also preventing any instances of it being up in the air where a student will attend school next year.
4. How should the BOE ensure that resources reach the students who need them most?
Providing a guiding direction that identification of student needs, and then meeting those needs, be a top priority. Enable the principals and their staff to see that it occurs and make available the required funding.
5. What should the relationship between the BOE and the teachers’ union be?
The teacher’s union is composed of the resident experts in day to day education, the BOE should respect that. BOE needs to enable and support the educational requirements of the teachers and professional administrators. The specifics of budget and policy decisions are distractions that the average members of the union should get to avoid, not something that educators should feel they need to beg to avoid catastrophic decisions. The flow of information from teachers to BOE should feel like advisors and partners.
6. What should be the approach to school safety? What is working and what could be done differently?
Protect and support student mental health and engagement. Bullying, anxiety, and suicide are significant school safety concerns that need more counselors. Safety policy and design steps like using locked doors to funnel visitors into the office are working to control the number of unexpected people in the building when classes are in session. Policies that control the people in the school after hours might benefit from revisiting them.