Candidate name: Rosalind Johnson

Residence: Laurel

Date of birth: Sept. 16, 1944

Occupation: Retired Teacher

Education: Morgan State (College) University; University of Maryland, College Park; Hood College

Community associations: Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Redevelopment Authority representing Dist. 1; South Laurel Civic Federation

Professional associations: American Federation of Teachers, Retired Chapter

Family: One son

Candidate web site:http:⁄⁄homepage.mac.com⁄rjohn826771⁄SchoolBoard⁄

Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

My top 3 priorities for the next 4 years are:

a. Establishing a consistent flow of accurate information between the schools and parents of my district and the Board of Education and to ensure that the information flow leads to better understanding and collaboration for positive change.

b. Establishing continous interactive workshops for parents on school related issues that will teach and inform parents to help them to better understand what their children are learning and how well they are learning.

c. Building better collaboration between school personnel (teachers and principals and support staff) to make the school board a real working partner in how our schools are developing. The closer the school board is to the schools, the better it will be able to make correct policies for postive change.

How would you rate the performance of the current school board: excellent, good, fair or poor? Why?

Overall, the current appointed board has done a good job. They made our school system more fiscally stable and they have given a more professional atmosphere to the work process of the school board. But, the one area in which this board has not done a good job is in the area of community outreach. They have been too distant from the schools and they have not put out the Welcome sign to parents. They continual placed restrictions on who can speak and when someone may speak at board meetings that aloofness has negatively affected the attitudes of parents.

Is the county funding for schools too much, about right or too little? If too little, where would you find additional funds?

The funding for the school system is about right. A billion dollar budget is a tremendous amount of money. The success of schools is dependent upon a consisten stream of funds, but commitment by all stakeholders in the County is equally important. Money, alone, does not make a school sytem great. It takes hard work, trust, and a shared vision of what our school system should be and everyone must work together to reach that goal.

What should the school system do to raise student achievement?

Raising student achievement is the most difficult task. I will take more than these first 4 years to reach the desired goal that all of our students will be achieving at a high level. The Prince George’s County Community must be patient even though they are anxious for immediate results. We must start this climb from the bottom by building in excellence in our curricula and in our teaching practices. Knee-jerk programs will not do this. We must analyze what is causing our students to lag behind and we must be willing to do the tough job of rooting out those factors that keep our students from doing well. Some of the tough jobs are:

1. Dealing with parents who are not preparing their children to be successful students.

2.Teaching staff who are not adequately prepared for the subjects that they teach.

3. Administrators who are not effective in creating an inviting and exciting climate in the schools.

4. Making Prince George’s County ONE COMMUNITY together and not dividing itself into enclaves of distrusts based on where each is located.

What would you do to recruit and retain quality teachers?

Recruitment of teachers will require adequate professional level salaries and benefits and shared decision making. When teachers are valued as professionals, the school system will be improved because everyone will be working together to a reached our goal of a great school system.

Retention of teachers is a national problem. Prince George’s County mirrors other urban school districts. Difficult working conditions, unruly students, over dependence on standardized tests and preparation, massive paper work, too little time upgrade skills and a sense of disconnect from the board of education. Thus, Prince George’s County must change its old practices and develop new proactive strategies to make teachers want to stay and be productive in our schools.

What would you do to reduce student truancy?

Prince George’s County School, must work with family services agencies to create a better reporing system and cooperation when students are truants. For those students who are absent too frequently, but not categorized a truants (40 or more days per year), the schools need a consistent contact system to inform parents when their children are absent. Parents must be held accountable for sending the appropriate (legal) documentation when their child is absent. The schools must have accurate data on families (address, phone numbers, etc.) Too often, teachers and school personnel try to contact parents, and phones are disconnected and the addresses are not valid. Parents must be informed that the Prince George’s County Schools will report and pursue and assist in legal action against parents who consistently fail to respond to the school about a child’s absence. Children cannot learn and graduate, if they do not attend school. School is not an interruption in a student’s social life. It is preparation for life.

Would you support having more charter schools in Prince George’s County?

Charter Schools must not become a panacea for what ails our school system. I believe that Charter Schools like parochial do provide another option for some parents. But, a well run successful county school system is the key component to the future success of our entire county.

Do you think the current system for renovating and building schools is adequate or does it need changing?

This is one more of the really difficult tasks of the School Board and one of the most costly. Renovating or replacing older school facilities is very important. Air conditioning is a priority. Children cannot learn well in a building that is stifling in late spring and early summer months. Technology upgrades are not possible in some of our older facilities. I believe that our previous school boards have wrestled with this problem and have done a resonably good job in balancing fiscal responsibility with needs. Of course, when your area school is not on the list to be renovated, it appears that the board of education has failed. As an observer of the process, I believe that our school boards have tried to do this difficult task well. As a new board member, I will be asking for a very comprehensive review of all school facilities that are 15 years and older.

When this data comes back, the community needs to see this report and understand how the board will priortize it schedule for renovation or replacement.

Should the school system’s health curriculum include discussions of homosexuality and demonstrations of contraception use?

The inclusion of discussions on homosexuality or the demonstations of contraception use are two of the ‘‘hot button” issues that get everyone excited. In today’s society, our children are bombarded by a host of conflicting and competing interests. Unfortunately, this conflict is placing our children’s health at risk. Therefore, I believe that our health curriculum must bring into the light, this discussion that is already raging in the locker rooms, and hallways, cafeterias of our schools. When health issues are discussed in a learning environment and discussed by professionals, who do not smirk or giggle, our children learn how to safeguard their health. We have too many students who are engaged in risky behavior, primarily because no one talks to them professionally and the mass media is glamorizing these behaviors and our children and society are paying a heavy price.

What do you think about the board’s relationship to the community?

The board’s relationship with the community is quite distant at this time. The current appointed board wanted to ensure that there was no public rancor and dissension that would be reported in the news media. The current board wanted to make sure that the Prince George’s Legislators would not see continual disharmony between the superintendent and the members of the board of education, thus they overbalanced and created a real disconnect between the citizens and the school board. Parents did not know who to call when they had problems that needed resolving. The Board meetings became pro forma with no sponteneity. The allotted time for citizens to speak was continually shortened to the point that it was impossible for citizzns to make their issues known and understood by the board. Citizens who signed up to speak to the board, received return calls asking them not to speak, but rather to send written statements or were told that their issues of concerned had already been discussed. This is not how the board should respond. While I do not look forward to board meeting that go on until the early morning hours like they did in the past, I am willing to do it. As an elected person, the citizen’s vote for you demands that you are available for however long it takes for them to be heard.

Does the County Council have too much, too little or not enough oversight of the school system?

I believe that the County Council has about the right balance of oversight of the school system. The school system accounts for the lion’s share of the county budget and oversight is required, but micromanaging the school system is not going to be necessary with the new board. I believe that we are going to work collaboratively with the County Council. We are going to ensure that all members of the Prince George’s Community are committed to the same goal and we will work together well.

Do you think the school system is doing enough to meet the needs of special education students?

First, I wish to state that there are too many children who are designated as ‘‘Special Needs Students”. We must review every child who is designated as in need of Special Education and determine if there has been any inappropriate placement. Once we have done that, we must look at the fiscal impact of Special Education and put into place the financial resources that will be needed to educate those students. Teaching children based on learning styles and class room environment are very important for children’s learning. Creative teachers and principals who understand how children learn are key factors in producing able students. We must pressure the Federal Government to live up to its responsibility to provide the promised revenue to educate children so that our school system does not have to make up the Federal shortfall.

Are the schools safe for students and school personnel? If not, what should be done?

Some of our schools are safer than others. In our ‘‘safe” schools there are fewer conflicts that hamper learning, but even they continually struggle with student conflicts that escalate into large fights. In all of our schools, especially the middle and high schools, the violent language of our students has become so common place that principals and teachers believe that nothing can be done about it. Students live in a culture that promotes violence and glorifies ‘‘get even” as a test of manhood or womanhood. Parents support ‘‘taking up for yourself” as a justification for fighting and cursing. Being ‘‘dissed” could be as minor as bumping into someone in a crowded hall. The last description is called ‘‘flash violence”. This is a situation when a minor incident leads to serious violent acts. Our students are showing these same behaviors in the school house that are playing out on the streets of our neighborhoods. The school system cannot solve these problems alone. The solutions will need everyone, citizens, churches, police, parents, teachers and principals and students working together.

Do you think the school system is doing enough to meet the needs of students and parents for whom English is not their primary language?

The school system is not doing enough to reach out to speakers of other languages. We do not have enough personnel in our school system who speak other languages. Those who have this skill are over burdened. The school system needs to reach out to churches and community resources who work with speakers of other languages to provide information brochures and assistance in our schools. The school system needs to hold workshops where non-English speakers can come and express their concerns and work with school officials to make education for their children more easily understood. As a speaker of two languages other than English, I will be using my skills to reach out the parents who are non English speaking.

With uniforms becoming the norm at many county schools, would you want a countywide policy established?

No, I do not advocate an enforced county-wide uniform policy even though, I like seeing school uniforms. Uniforms do take away the over emphasis on clothing styles, but again, uniforms are not a panacea for solving all of our school problems. I support any school that has a community consensus for establishing a uniform policy. What I would rather see is that our school adopt a policy of clothing that is not revealing and provocative. As a retired teacher from the Prince George’s County Schools, I have seen clothing and styles that are truly inappropriate: Tee Shirts with pictures and writing that are lewd; midrifts and underwear on display, jewelry that is disruptive, body piercings that are shocking. I would like to see a more professional look among our students, but that can be achieved without having to go to uniforms for everyone.

What qualifications do you possess that make you a worthy candidate?

My qualifications for school board are:

a. Success teacher for 30- plus years in the Prince George’s School System.

b. President of the Prince George’s County Federation of Teachers for 12 years.

c. Speaker of Spanish and French.

d. National and Internation Trainer of teachers.

e. Community Activist and Organizer and Consensus Builder