Red Clay School Board Candidate, Joanne Johansen, Replies To My Questions

Joanne Johansen is the first of two candidates to reply to my questions concerning the upcoming Red Clay School Board Election.  I have received an email from a second candidate promising an answer shortly.

Joanne Johansen’s answers to my questions:

Why are you running for the school board, and what are the top three things you’d like to accomplish during your term?

I have been involved in Red Clay schools for over 12 years as a committed parent volunteer. I see this as a natural progression of what I have been doing. I think Red Clay is an innovative district that has improved the educational opportunities for our students. I do believe the district has more to do for our schools which have particular challenges but overall I believe the district is moving in the right direction.

Top 3 things You’d like to accomplish?

–Red Clay offer the best possible education for ALL students.
–Red Clay continues to offer choices to students and there families
–Red Clay  operate in a transparent manner with opportunity for the surrounding
communities input.

Red Clay city elementary schools are all high poverty schools. How would you address this issue?  Do you have a plan for the schools?

I think putting programs in place at these schools that will serve the needs of the students attending them but also may tempt families from other schools as well. This giving families of Red Clay more choices. I do not have any specific “plan” but an intent to keep raising the issue of how we can serve these children and their families the best we can.

What is your position on Charter Schools? Do you feel Charter Schools impact traditional public schools? If so, how?

I can only speak of Red Clay Charters which are unique because they are the only Charters in the state authorized by the district and not the state. I think that CSW and DMA are again choices for families in Red Clay and have raised the bar for the district high schools. I think that’s a good thing. The district is now responsible to look at what is working in these Charter schools, and magnets as well , and apply programs , additional choices, to our traditional schools, For example the IB program at Dickinson.

When the 2,000 seat Bank of America Charter Schools open do you see these schools effecting Red Clay schools? If so , do you have a plan to offset the impact and keep Red Clay schools competitive?

Since we do not know what schools will be housed in the building, it may be premature to have such a “plan”. Will they effect Red Clay Schools?  I assume they will. I think the district will have to be proactive and plan to maintain and add improvements to our existing schools making it more difficult for parents to choose to leave.

What is your opinion on Race to the Top?

Race to the Top highlights a big concern in public education today. The federal government gave Delaware a lot of money in this grant. The issue is that they mandate how the money is spent. Much of this money was spent on data coaches. If the data was driving education decisions in a positive direction I would support this, However,  this is not consistent from district to district. A bigger concern will be sustainability of these programs we are putting in place and where the funding will come from once the grants run out.

Given recent current events, do you feel Intelligent Design should be taught alongside Evolution in our public schools?

I do believe that the Red clay position is that only science is taught in science class. I agree with that.

Thank you for the opportunity to answer your questions.

I would like to thank Ms. Johansen for taking the time to answer my questions.