School Board Election: Algonkian

The candidates in the race to represent the Algonkian District on the Loudoun School Board attempted to mark their differences during the recent Loudoun Chamber of Commerce School Board Forum at Belmont Country Club.

Incumbent John Stevens, who currently represent the soon-to-be-eliminated Potomac District, faces intellectual property fellow Debbie Rose and former Loudoun County Public Schools teacher Eileen Tagg-Murdock.

The subject of technology has come up plenty in this year’s election because of a recent proposal to phase in electronic devices for all students, estimated to cost $200 million and potentially enabling the school system to phase out traditional texts in favor of electronic books.

“We have a very wired community. And the technology, it seems, sometimes ends at the schoolhouse door,” Stevens said, explaining that a first step could be allowing students to bring their devices to school. “We need to leverage the devices these students already have and know how to use, and allow them in the classroom now.”

In addition to the cost of upgrading to new technologies, such changes offer long-term savings, Stevens said.

“There’s an enormous amount of savings … in terms of not needing to replace text books,” he said.

Rose said her concerns centers on the unknowns with technology, such as the potential for misuse, damage or accessing inappropriate information. She said she’s in the technology industry and is well aware of the “super cool technology” that’s available, but questioned whether that translates to education.

“Not all of it will enhance my life or effectively help me in the things I do from day to day,” she said. “That same thing is true for our children.”

She also pointed out that electronic texts are not free and questioned whether savings would truly be achieved.

 “I don’t think we want to just eliminate all text books. There are bugs and other issues with technology,” she said, adding that there are also potential dangers online where parents may have difficulty monitoring activity. “Are we opening up our children to bullying online? Are they going to jailbreak these and are they going lose these things?”

Tagg-Murdock offered some similar sentiments as Rose, questioning how the technology translates to education.

“We have to start from the basics,” she said, adding that the business community could help defray the costs to the school system and county. “I think a good way to deal with tech and cost issues is to get business to pitch in.”

But before making the decision to move forward, the potential benefits must be assessed.

“We’re very attracted to gimmicks and bells and whistles,” she said, but she doesn’t know how effective they are.

Asked about how the county and school system could work together to achieve efficiencies, Tagg-Murdock said, she could envision mimicking the business incubator model for schools to get businesses more involved.

“Wouldn’t it be great to have that in our schools?” she asked. “Wouldn’t it be a great idea to have that in the schools, really get the business community involved?”

She also said she’d be happy to have the Loudoun Board of Supervisors handle land purchases for school sites.

“It think it would be good if we could get school site acquisition out of the hands of the school system,” she said. “Just to keep the peace it would be great if we could have that centered somewhere else.”

Rose agreed with Tagg-Murdock, calling school site acquisition responsibility one are that could be merged with county government operations.

“I would definitely support finding more of the core functions of the two sides that could be merged and shared, particularly the land-siting and the capital improvements program,” she said.

Stevens, however, disagreed and opposed pushing state-mandated responsibilities to the board of supervisors.

“There are reasons why there are separations of responsibility in this community,” he said, adding that town mayors would not want to relinquish their planning duties. The state legislature, he explained, determines what responsibilities fall on school board members.

“It concerns me that we have so many school board candidates who are willing to give [land acquisition] up to the board of supervisors and say I don’t want to have to worry about these, you’ll do a better job than I will,” he said, pointing out that the school system is roughly three times the size of county government. “I wonder if anyone would entertain the notion of the school system taking over some of the county’s responsibilities as a matter of efficiencies because of the size of the shop we have. But that’s not what we’re talking about.”

When asked about attracting and maintaining a quality workforce, Stevens said, the school system has the advantage of a positive reputation.

“A lot of what attracts teachers and administrators to LCPS is our existing reputation for excellence,” he said. However, he also said the government’s employment system hasn’t kept up with modern reality.

“We have a 21st century workforce everywhere but in the government,” Stevens said, adding that teachers are still expected to work 35 years in one school system and then remain in the same state after retirement. Now teachers are moving from system to system, and often arrive in Loudoun with significant experience, but can’t qualify for the pay they may deserve.

“They started over again when they came to Loudoun County Public Schools,” he said. “We need a pay scale that reflects that kind of mobility in the workforce that we have.”

Rose said she “absolutely” supports competitive salaries and COLAs and step increases. She also supports the idea of bonuses for superior teachers and the elimination of those who perform poorly. She criticized the current school board and Stevens for voting to spend about $8 million in surplus money on technology instead of teachers. [Editor’s Note: The Loudoun Board of Supervisors had requested the school system set the money aside for payments into the Virginia Retirement System.]

“That money didn’t go to teachers. That money went to white boards and GPSs,” she said, adding that most school system drivers can figure out their routes.

Tagg-Murdock said part of the problem is “that we do have a housing issue in the county,” namely a lack of affordable housing that makes it difficult for teachers to get by.

“Teachers really are under the gun,” she said, particularly special education teachers are leaving field because they are being asked to do more for less. Most teachers “feel really overwhelmed. They need a greater support system.”

When asked about leveraging help from the business community, Tagg-Murdock said some business are receiving “the cold shoulder” when they approach the school system.

“Nobody can seem to crack that code in terms of partnering and teaming with the schools,” she said, adding that more connections should be made with businesses to help students learn about potential careers. “They never really talk with anybody about what they are good at and applying that.”

Rose agreed to some extend.

“We need more partnerships that will provide funds” for programs and facilities, she said. “Internships, obviously we need lots of those. We need more opportunities for business leaders to regularly teach in our classrooms. We don’t have enough opportunities for teachers in our schools to do new and inventive things.”

Stevens took exception to the notion that the school system did not have significant ties to the business community.

“In 90 seconds I don’t think I could list all the ways that LCPS works with the business community,” he said, naming a series of programs currently in place and close ties with the Loudoun Chamber. Comments were limited to 90 seconds each.