Candidate name: Dr. Ron Watson

Part affiliation: Democrat

Place of residence: Upper Marlboro

Date of birth: April 30, 1966

Place of birth: Washington D.C.

Current occupation: Business and IT Management Consultant

Education: PhD,Binghamton University, Systems Engineering; MBA, George Washington University, Business Administration; MS, Binghamton University, Advanced Technology; BS, Morgan State University, Electrical Engineering; US Army, Command & General Staff College

Community associations, involvement: Lifetime Member, African American Democratic Club of Prince George's County; Greater Marlboro Democratic Club; NAACP, Prince George's County

Professional associations: National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) ; American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE); Society of American Military Engineers ; Executive Member, American Management Association; Philippine Association of Metropolitan Washington Engineers (PAMWE)

Family: Single, one daughter

Campaign office address and telephone: Committee to Elect Ron Watson, P.O. Box 7404, Largo, Maryland 20792-7404

(301) 633-9163

Link to candidate's Web site: www.WatsonOnBoard.com

Link to state Board of Elections campaign finance database

1. Creating ‘‘school parity”, that is evaluating the ‘‘functional equivalence” of all schools to support a quality education and ‘‘leveling the playing field” to reduce school overcrowding, lack of resources, and other inhibitors to the learning environment.

2. Enforcement of school discipline through parent accountability, tough truancy laws, and the re-introduction of ‘‘values” back into the classrooms.

3. Increasing School-Community partnerships via PTAs, civic groups, homeowners associations, community watch groups and local businesses.

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

I rate the performance of the current school board as good in that they have stabilized the educational system through challenges with prior superintendents, hired a visionary CEO, and helped to successfully fully fund the educational budget. The task at hand is to utilize these hard fought resources to move the school system forward and address those issues which are currently of concern.

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

Current funding for schools is about right based on the issues and initiatives outlined by the current board members. However, with new leadership, fresh perspectives, and innovative approaches to school improvement we may find that additional funds are required. One avenue for additional funds is make local businesses ‘‘partners” of the school system. When new development begins in the county, the impact to neighboring schools must be assessed. This entails estimating the increase in the number of students in schools in the surrounding areas, additional capacity needed, and the number of additional teachers required. Businesses should then be required to subsidize the expansion, renovation, and⁄or development of additional schools. Balance must be maintained between the county’s economic development and the evolving needs of the school system through collaborative efforts between the business community, the school board, and our legislators. This will ensure that our school system can support the growth currently being experienced in Prince George’s County.

What should the school system do to raise student achievement?

Remove inhibitors to teaching such as overcrowded classrooms, especially in grades K-8, and the lack of resources. Ensure that each school can retain high-quality teachers who are skilled in teaching the subject content, as well as sustain an environment conducive to providing a quality education. Leverage county resources and after-school programs which have been proven to be successful in other jurisdictions. Encourage more parent-teacher involvement through initiatives like providing teachers with conference call capabilities which allow teachers to connect with parents who cannot attend PTA meetings. Provide parenting workshops. Mandate local field trips which serve to reinforce classroom learning. Advertise and promote the use of mentor programs to strengthen learning in core subject areas, and finally, recognize that in addition to the school system seeking to produce academically prepared students, it should also seek to instill character values which assists in the development of the ‘‘whole” child.

What would you do to recruit and retain quality teachers?

First, I would ensure that the school system offers competitive wages. While wages can attract quality teachers, wages alone will not serve to retain them. Retention is a function of work environment, access to resources, the ability to be creative and innovative, and the removal of those inhibitors which impede a teacher’s ability to provide quality instruction. This includes the establishment of firm and enforceable policies to encourage classroom discipline and to sustain an orderly environment, the establishment of incentives, and other methods to reward performance.

What would you do to reduce student truancy?

Truancy continues to be a problem that plagues our school system and is one factor which serves to bring down test averages. I support tough truancy laws to handle this issue and total community involvement. The Businesses Against Truancy (BAT) program is one initiative that I would encourage all local businesses to adopt. Businesses engaged in this initiative refuse to serve young adults under a specific age during school hours. They also clearly display signage indicating this fact. As I have traveled throughout the county I have spoken to many retirees who indicate their willingness to “give back“. These individuals could be used to conduct “sweeps“, help identify students, and report them to the authorities.

It is important to understand that many times a student is not truant merely because they choose to “take a day off“. Often time’s truancy is the result of complex issues that a student is facing. With this in mind, I would propose that the first instance of truancy, the parent is contacted. The second instance would result in a crisis counselor being assigned. This individual would determine if any student or family services and⁄or referrals are warranted to handle the specific needs of the student. On the third instance the parent receives a summons to court.

The importance of guidance counselors in the effort to combat truancy cannot be understated. I support ensuring each school having an adequate number of these highly trained individuals to assist in this area. I would also support the use of Student Advocacy Groups to help address student’s needs which impact their performance.

Lastly, parents can greatly assist in this effort by making education a priority in the family, monitoring their child’s attendance, regular participation in the PTA, rewarding their child for attendance, and emphasizing the connection between attendance and good grades.

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

As a parent, I want the ability to provide the best education possible for my child. Unfortunately, current Maryland charter school law does not adequately address funding and regulatory questions regarding charter schools. As a board member I would seek to raise all county public schools to a ‘‘quality level” so that parents have more options.

Do you think the current system for renovating and building schools is adequate or does it need changing? The year end Committee Report of the Board of Education indicates that approximately $

1.3B is required to complete all currently identified renovation projects. This would totally exhaust the current budget. With this in mind, the board’s current process of prioritizing and scheduling renovations is adequate based on budget constraints. The building of new schools could be enhanced to coincide with community development, as described above, where an ‘‘impact-analysis” to neighboring schools is conducted and businesses become part of the team to aid in the speedy development of additional schools. This is an area where the community can be bold and daring. For instance, how can churches become involved in the tax structure to assist toward financing our schools.

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

I believe these subjects are within the purview of parents to discuss with their children. The school system should instead seek to ‘‘model expected behavior”. The school system cannot espouse celibacy and then provide students with the method and means for having sex. This only serves to promote teen involvement and further inhibit the ‘‘character building” of our children. In addition to raising academic standards, the school system should seek to raise social standards. Our school system does not have to allow the dysfunctional behavior of society inside our classrooms and should promote the values that our community would like to see manifested in our children.

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

As in business, the new board will be elected by, and held accountable to the community. I view its role as one of inclusiveness and chartered to work with the citizens of the community, parents, and the CEO to create the Shared Vision. Through this vision, the Board establishes goals in the form of a plan, and evaluates outcomes. These outcomes become the tools used to make corrective action and to keep the community informed of progress made. The Board develops, adopts and evaluates policies which serve the interest of the students. The Board continuously communicates with the community ensuring their voices are heard, evaluates community recommendations, and places these recommendations into the plan as appropriate. The Board must be transparent in its operations. Activities the Board engages in should be ‘‘above board” and the intentions readily discernible to the public.

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

With respect to school system involvement, I believe the County Council currently holds as much oversight as any other group which represents community interest. Their voice in matters relating to education is indispensable, and as such provides valuable information for board members to consider when making decision and developing policy which impacts our students.

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

The school system, unlike private schools, continues to serve the needs of special education students, albeit students with special needs. Those students who are Talented and Gifted, handicapped, have communication and speech disorders, lack self care skills, suffer from social maladjustment and mental retardation, have behavior disorders, been institutionalized, are from dysfunctional families, etc, come under federal, state, and local regulation and guidelines. Certainly, the school system must remain alert for the Individual Education Plan preparation and follow-up to decrease the amount of time and money due to legal challenges, outside placement, and court advocacy hearings.

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

The Prince George’s County Schools are safe for students and school personnel. We can improve on the safety incidents by continuing to ‘‘Team” with our county resources, providing training to school personnel, training and communicating with students and parents, and permitting students to assist in the development of rules, procedures, mediation, and management policies for school governance. In addition, schools need to team with local civic groups to ensure school personnel are kept apprised of concerns happening in the community and to promote general community awareness.

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?

For years, the school system has sought to recruit teachers, instructors and aides who have knowledge of well over 50 different languages towards meeting the needs of students and parents for whom English is not the primary language. The school system has improved on its use of technology in conjunction with colleges and universities to develop grants and programs for this exciting and diverse population. Building administrators have been credited for many programmatic efforts and have received national and state accolades. These successes must be leveraged across the entire school system.

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

I support school uniforms and think this is something all PTAs should consider adopting. If students are going to compete, let them compete on educational performance, not who is the best dressed. Uniforms help to encourage cohesiveness among students, add a sense of community and improve student behavior.

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

As a former U.S. Army commander and current Business and IT Management Consultant with 20 years of experience, I am intimately familiar with the concept of a “TEAM“. I am confident that my leadership, experience in working with budgets, schedules and process improvement, working transparently in a collaborative environment, and my experience in developing policies to achieve goals and objectives can be leveraged by the school system to benefit the students of this county.

Candidate biography questions