With less than a week until Election Day, The Daily Tar Heel spoke with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education candidates to discuss major issues facing the board. Election day is Nov. 5.
Candidate Name: Michelle Brownstein
Daily Tar Heel: What are the biggest issues facing the school system?
Brownstein: My big issues are supporting our new superintendent Dr. (Thomas) Forcella and his successful implementation of a long-range plan, which for me encompasses all the major issues for our district: achievement gap, professional development of teachers, accountability issues, discipline issues and the big thing we’re highlighting is a year’s worth of growth for every child and accelerated growth for those who are behind.
This whole growth mindset that Tom has is really tremendous. The other big thing is the budget and the state government’s onslaught on the profession of teaching. I’m trying to do all I can to make sound choices with regard to the budget.
An offshoot of the budget is the facilities assessment that we’ve done of the older buildings of schools in our district and we’re partnering with Orange County Schools to do this there as well.
That’s going to be a huge fiscal need for our community that will involve a lot of work by whoever’s sitting on the school board to work collaboratively with the Orange County School Board, commissioners and the taxpayers to make sure everyone knows what’s going on.
DTH: Under your term as chair of the board, the achievement gap in CHCCS has remained steady, with white students significantly outperforming their minority counterparts. How can you explain this? Is the board doing enough?
Brownstein: Part of the reason I even ran for the school board the first time is because I want success for all students, and they’re not realizing their potential. That goes across the board for all kids.