GET TO KNOW YOUR APS SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES

Alamogordo Sentinel sent 3 questions to each candidate running for the APS School Board. This was followed up by a text message to ensure receipt of questions and participation in our article. We received responses from all candidates with the exception of Judy Rabon, District 1, current President of APS School Board, and Amanda Jewell, District 3, current APS School Board member.

The responses are posted by their District and in the order of candidate registration per Otero County documents. The candidate responses will also be sectioned by each question for comparison purposes. These answers were provided by each candidate and maintains the wording submitted.

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QUESTION #1

Why did you decide to run for school board? If you are the incumbent, list improvements, accomplishments and future plans for the Alamogordo Public School district.

DISTRICT 1

JUDY RABON – President, APS School Board: No Response

CRAIG DANEKAS

I decided to run for school board because I have 3 grandchildren in APS schools and I’m extremely disappointed with the current leadership. The schools need to prioritize core subjects like reading, writing and math, ensure that teachers have the resources they need to excel in the classroom, and maintain high expectations for student achievement. The schools need to champion parental rights and ensure that parents have a voice in curriculum choices and school policies. The schools have a responsibility to be good stewards of the taxpayers hard-earned money. They need to scrutinize the budget, eliminate wasteful spending, and direct resources where they matter most – the classroom. The schools must ensure that decisions are made with transparency and that stakeholders are informed and engaged.

DISTRICT 3

MARIANNE JACKSON

I made the decision to run for school board shortly before resigning my position with APS.  I decided I might be in a better position to facilitate positive changes in the District from the outside. I know several educators and staff who left their positions with APS over the last few years because they became frustrated and dissatisfied with the Administration. They are quality educators and staff with decades who have would have remained with APS had Administrators handled situations differently. AMANDA JEWELL – APS School Board Member

AMANDA JEWELL – APS School Board Member: No Response

SHANNAN WRIGHT

Hello, my name is Shannan T Wright and I am a Red Blooded American and I served in the United States Air Force and was HONORABLY Discharged after my tour. I have been Involved in my Community for 45 years now and Have contributed in many of our Communities, Boards,  Honor Guard in the AF, as well as Coached in the Youth Sport’s Programs to help guide and encourage our youth to succeed along with the Business Community of ALAMOGORDO & OUR COUNTY, I decided to run for APS Board after attending and watching the Meetings and hearing things from people in the community that felt they were not being listened to. I Have a passion to give back and help be part of the Solution not the Problem in all matters.

SAFETY, SECURIYTY & BULLYING at all levels in our School System are a PRIORITY and at the forefront of topics to also ensure Confidence from our Constituents at HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE is shown and earned. Their INPUT and ideas are critical to SUCCESS in this matter.

DISTRICT 4

JOSIAH VESEY

I am a 2019 graduate of the school system, and my decision to run for the school board was based on my experiences going through public school, private school, and home schooling. When I was in school, my mother suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, leading to an unstable and unsupportive home life, which in turn led me to go from the honor roll to failing almost every class thanks to an inability to do home assignments. My school did nothing to help me, and I instead had to pull out to be homeschooled. No student should be treated that way. Although it seems very few young people hold school board seats throughout the USA (our school board doesn’t have a single member who attended public school in the 21st century), students attending school in the current century face a whole new set of issues than previous generations, and I think our nations’ school boards would benefit from including younger members.

BRANDY MURPHY

I am running for APS Board because I care about the children of this community, and they deserve better. My child struggled early on in APS and I fought hard to provide her with every avenue to be successful.  It wasn’t until COVID hit, that I decided to disenroll her from APS and enroll her in to BLS Learning.  She attended BLS for one year, and relearned the foundational elements that she was missing and has become an A/B honor roll student since then.  The lesson that came with this was that more needs to be done with in the public school system to help our children. Engaging parents in every aspect of their child’s education is key along with partnering with outside agencies that have data proven methods for improving children’s education outcomes. 

I am committed to the betterment of our school district, with a focus on transparency, inclusivity, safety, quality education, and teacher support.

CAROL TEWELEIT Secretary, APS School Board

I chose to run for the school board because I believe the board has started on the path of doing great things. I would like to continue what has been started.  We have helped to institute Telehealth, have begun or finished 6 new schools and passed a much for stringent discipline policy. The district is also making many security upgrades to our older schools and because of passing SB 33, we were able to be ahead of the pandemic since we had already equipped all students with a Chromebook. 

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QUESTION #2

With New Mexico listed as the 51st position behind Washington DC and the most money spent per student, how do you plan on improving scores on academic scores and improve our standing?

DISTRICT 1

JUDY RABON, – President, APS School Board: No Response

CRAIG DANEKAS

I plan to eliminate wasteful spending and re-direct those funds to the classroom. I plan for the school district to support successful teachers and use them to coach those that are less successful. I plan for the school district to use curriculum proven to raise test scores in those area where we fail to score well in relation to other schools. I plan to stop bullying, not only among students, but among staff and administrators as well. These plans if enacted by the school board and administration would raise our students standardized test scores and improve APS’s standing.

DISTRICT 3

MARIANNE JACKSON

I understand curriculum decisions are not made at the local level; however, that does not prevent us from reaching out to more successful school districts around the country and compare educational strategies then working with the State to implement changes. Clearly what we’ve been doing is not working; it’s time to find out what does. Also, I feel that too many times we teach all students the same – forgetting students learn differently. We need to ensure all students needs are met and test those who may struggle more than others for undiagnosed learning difficulties.

 AMANDA JEWELL – APS School Board Member: No Response

SHANNAN WRIGHT

I do believe the $$ Should follow the children, If Parents do not feel that their child is getting the education they need and Private, Christian or Charter Schools are a better fit then let them, The Public schools should have to fight and earn that right to educate the students. That would put more pressure on our SCHOOL BOARD & ADMINISTRATION to earn their respect and keep them!

We are very Heavy on Salaries and benefits in our school system at the ADMINISTRATION LEVEL. Wages should be based on POSITIVE Performance.  

I would love to see MORE Parent involvement & say in their Childs Curriculum allowed at every age level.

FOCUSING On the basics like Reading, Writing, Mathematics, Science & History at or above Grade level, Not passing students unless they fully understanding and proficient are essential in my view. Preparing students for life Graduation and learning to BUDGET, SAVE, PAY BILLS, MANAGE CC AND BANKING EXPENDITURES IS SO IMPORTANT.

DISTRICT 4

JOSIAH VESEY

In my opinion, the number one change that can be made to improve test scores is to give teachers more manageable classroom sizes. Each student is an individual with an individual way of learning, and the more we do to account for this individuality, the better our students will perform on tests. To accomplish this, our district needs to attract more teachers, which will only happen if our administration listens to and solicits teacher feedback, and actively takes steps to implement the changes that teachers tell us they need.

BRANDY MURPHY

My plan is two-fold. First, 100% teacher engagement on what they are seeing in the classroom, where are our areas of opportunity.  They are the experts, and we should be working directly with them on a strategic plan on how we can improve academic outcomes. The second thing is to be an advocate at the State level for public education. I believe that we struggle as a state due to a lack of consistency.  We need to work together to implement bipartisan legislation that outlines public education standards that we can adhere to year over year. It is challenging now, as we cannot compare previous years scores being apples to apples with PED changing leadership year to year.  We need to implement a solid foundational standard and work from the ground up.

CAROL TEWELEITSecretary, APS School Board

There are many factors involving lower test scores. The board is now planning ways to get the students more engaged and excited about learning.  Parents play a role as well by making sure their students value education and understand why they need to learn.  We have excellent teachers and administration; together with the parents, I believe scores will rise and learning will increase.

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QUESTION #3

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) is touted as a benefit for students to reduce bullying, handle conflicts, and acceptance of lifestyles. Are you in favor of letting parents choose (opt-in) to allow their children to participate in this class instead of being required to state they choose to forego their child’s involvement (opt-out) in the class due to overlooked parental choice?

DISTRICT #1

JUDY RABON – President, APS School Board: No Response

CRAIG DANEKAS

I think that Social Emotional Learning should be a primary responsibility of children’s parents. In conjunction with honoring parental rights, I think that SEL classes should be elective classes that parents have a right to opt-in for their child after being fully informed as to the specific topics that will be taught.  I also think that Civics, New Mexico History, U.S. History (without CRT indoctrination), and World History should be required classes.

DISTRICT #3

MARIANNE JACKSON

Although I see the value in Social Emotional Learning, I believe parents should have the option to opt-in.  

AMANDA JEWELL – APS School Board Member: No Response

SHANNAN WRIGHT

I ABSOLUTELY believe every parent should know the Classes & Curriculum & HAVE THE CHOICE to decide for themselves and OPT/OUT if that class IS or ISN’T APPROPRIATE OR ESSENTIAL TO THEIR’s & the CHILD’S values. I feel as there are things being pushed that should be the parents responsibility to decide not the STATE or GOVERNMENT.

DISTRICT #4

JOSIAH VESEY

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is a term used inconsistently by different people to refer to radically different concepts. In one use, it can refer to methods of teaching that account for social and emotional issues that impact a students’ ability to learn, speaking to prevailing issues affecting students such as test anxiety. But other times, it has been used to describe very different concepts. Fox News and the NY Post reported in Montgomery County, MD, that the school district had used its SEL program to promote books by Ibram Kendi, an anti-interracial-adoption, anti-police commentator who openly advocates for racial discrimination, saying “The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.” It should go without saying that advocacy in favor of racial discrimination has no place in our, or any, school system.

The problem with the question of an opt-in or opt-out system when it comes to teaching SEL, is that we live in an era of language war where “teaching SEL” really tells us nothing about the content of the class. It’s critical to have transparency about what exactly is being taught in schools and make the individual content of the curriculum available to parents.

BRANDY MURPHY

I do not know enough about SEL curriculum to say if I would support opting in or out.   What I can speak of is that I believe we must come together as a community to find a solution for the bullying that is going on in our schools and community.  We can’t continue to sweep it under the rug and pretend that we are doing all we can to stop it. Children that are struggling with social and emotional skills and need extra help or education to overcome or better handle conflicts and bullying, need support.  This support should include 100% parent participation and engagement along with partnering with community agencies that specialize in this type of education.  I believe having a strong community support system is key to solving some of these challenges.

CAROL TEWELEIT – Secretary, APS School Board

Social Emotional Learning is seen as a benefit to students.  If parents are teaching these things (reducing bullying, how to handle conflicts peacefully, and acceptance of other people for who they are) at home, then they may want to opt-out, but it would only serve to reinforce what they are teaching their children.  However, if the parents do want to opt-out, that may be allowed.

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