Moms for Liberty holds forum for Talbot school board candidates

 

A candidate forum for Talbot County Board of Education hopefuls was held Thursday by the local Moms for Liberty chapter.

Four candidates participated in the forum: Anne Rosen and incumbent vice president Amy Dodson for District 3, Mike Butler for District 4 and Lisa Hayes for District 7. District 7 candidate Kate Logan was also present, though she did not participate in the forum itself.Moms for Liberty is a national conservative political organization that describes itself as an organization defending “parental rights at all levels of government.” Nationwide, the group has sought to secure seats on school boards, according to The Associated Press.

Thursday’s forum was moderated by Jan Greenhawk, chair of the Talbot County chapter of Moms for Liberty.

Rosen, Butler and Hayes have each signed the Moms for Liberty parents’ pledge, which vows they will “advance policies that strengthen parental involvement and decision-making, increase transparency, defend against government overreach, and secure parental rights.”

The pledge also reads that its signing “does not constitute a personal or campaign endorsement by Moms for Liberty.”

The other three candidates — uncontested Xavier Rahim in District 1, incumbent president Emily Jackson in District 4 and Kate Logan in District 7 — did not participate in the forum.

Jackson said in a statement Tuesday she opted not to participate due to doubts that Moms for Liberty could serve as a “neutral host.” Jackson said she does “not share” the organization’s “vision and values.”

“With one exception, every candidate who participated had signed the Moms for Liberty pledge, and the local chapter chair, who moderated the forum, has been an outspoken critic of me throughout this election,” Jackson said. “I respect the other candidates’ decision to participate, just as I hope voters will respect my decision not to.”

Logan says she emailed Greenhawk on Sept. 8 “requesting the opportunity to participate in the forum” and did not receive a response.

“I attended the forum because I believe candidates should be willing to show up and listen, including in rooms where we may not agree,” Logan said in a statement Tuesday. “ … While I am selective about lending credibility to forums hosted by organizations with a particular political agenda, I have never been reluctant to speak. Hand me a microphone and I’ll generally take it.”

Rahim did not respond to a request for comment.

Thursday’s forum posed seven questions to its participants, asking the candidates to outline their stances on hot topics in the school system such as grading policy, disciplinary action and AI usage.

State test scores

One topic of contention during the election campaign so far has been the district’s state test scores.

Talbot County remains below the state average in English, math and science proficiency. The district did see improvements in proficiency rates across all categories and consistently ranks in the middle of the pack among counties on the Eastern Shore.

Rosen believes test scores will go up if the district works to emphasize foundational skills and implement consistent and clear expectations for students. She also advised that students need to be aware the skills they learn in school are applicable in all classes.

In Butler’s words, the district needs to work to close “persistent learning gaps” and address a “lack of specialized professional development.”

“I spoke with a couple of teachers this past week, and they said, ‘we have 75% of the learners in my class don’t speak English,’” Hayes said. “Imagine that. She’s trying to work with part of the class who’s struggling to understand her, while also trying to teach the other part of the class that does, and she has one (instructional assistant). She’s lucky she has one, not everybody gets one.”

Dodson, meanwhile, pointed to the fact that Talbot County did improve when compared to last year.

“While our test scores matter significantly, they do not define our district,” Dodson said. “ ... Our students and staff are not failures, and I’m going to give you a swimming metaphor because my children are swimmers. If you ask a swimmer to swim the length of a pool in 20 seconds and they get there in 24 seconds, can they not swim?”

Blueprint for Maryland’s Future

The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future — the state’s ambitious education funding initiative — passes down various mandates to counties in order to reform schools by 2031. The main points include a required minimum salary for teachers of $60,000, expanded access to free pre-K and the implementation of updated college and career readiness standards.

When candidates were asked their opinions of Blueprint, they cited a variety of positive and negative attributes moving forward.

Rosen advised that while she supports the goals of Blueprint, she believes it wrongly emphasizes college readiness over career readiness. She was wary of the “substantial commitment” the plan requires from the local board, saying the district should implement what will work for its students and “advocate for change where greater flexibility or a different approach is needed.”

Dodson pointed out flaws in the plan’s funding model that make Talbot County appear more affluent than the majority of its students realistically are. Yet, she recognized Blueprint as a “strong, well-intended plan” that the board needs to honor, lest it lose state funding.

Butler recognized two positives — higher pay scales and requests for more staff — and two negatives — unrealistic timelines and expectations — from the plan.

Hayes said in her opinion, Blueprint is an overreach by government officials.

“It puts a stress on the counties that does not need to exist, and I think that it’s allowing for the state government to try to override our local government,” Hayes said. “It’s too much overreach. I really believe we need to push back. It’s an unrealistic goal that they set.”

Student discipline

On the heels of a heated budget cycle where the county council withheld funding for alternative education due to disciplinary concerns, the ability of the district to enforce consequences on students who misbehave has come into the spotlight. The candidates weighed in Thursday.

“There should be mental health experts in our schools,” Butler said. “Teachers should not solely be responsible for mental health, especially when many kids are in crisis every day. Teachers deserve to teach, and kids deserve to learn without constant interruptions.”

Hayes urged the district to listen to teachers when they complain about discipline, as they do it “for a reason, not because they’d like to.” She voiced support for Friday night or Saturday schooling for poorly behaved students, perhaps even at the expense of parents whose children refuse to adhere to school rules.

“Children work best when they have parameters, I don’t care if they’re 2 or if they’re 16 or they’re 18,” Hayes said. “If you give them parameters, they’re going to bump them, but if you hold firm and you say ‘this is the line’ and you hold them to that standard, they’ll stay within it, and if not, there’s a consequence.”

“I believe discipline begins with clear expectations, consistent enforcement and reinforcement and meaningful consequences,” Rosen said. “Acceptable classroom behavior should be taught at the beginning of the year every year, and reinforced throughout the school year and throughout the schools.”

Rosen believes expectations should be posted throughout the schools and communicated clearly to both students and parents. Consequences, she said, should be meaningful and focused on correcting behavior, not merely punishing students.

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