Charmaine Wijeyesinghe
Delmar
Occupation: Consultant and author
Question: Why are you running for a seat on the Bethlehem School Board?
Answer: I am running for the Board of Education to help the District implement its goals and programs within a complex environment that includes increased state and federal regulation; changing student populations and needs; community expectations; and evolving visions and requirements of K-12 education. As a Board member for the past six years, I have been fortunate to work with school board colleagues, District staff, and community groups to meet the challenges facing education, and to offer an excellent academic and co-curricular program to our diverse student body. My experiences during each of my previous terms have given me knowledge, skills, and information that I would like to take forward as a continuing member of the Board. These tools will be useful in the next three years as the District moves into contract negotiations with its employee units, completes the current bond project, and continues to develop and expand curricular programs and technology. While addressing the tasks that lie ahead, the District faces the ongoing challenges of planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating its programs within a larger context of rapidly changing state and federal regulations that are sometimes unclear in their goals, parameters, or time frames for implementation. My skills, academic and professional background, and my experiences with the District thus far are resources that can serve the District as it addresses upcoming programmatic, financial, and operational requirements.
Q How will your experience serve you on the school board?
A My service as a Board of Education member and current Vice President of the Board provides me with the most relevant experience to assist the District over the next three years. During my six years on the Board, the District faced several changes and challenges. The Board adopted and the community supported budgets developed in economically and politically uncertain times. A new superintendent was hired. Various departments addressed mandated requirements related to curriculum, teacher evaluation, testing, and student services. Contracts for all bargaining units within the District were settled. Addressing each of these areas, as well as other issues related to the academic and co-curricular program have provided me with experience and information that will be useful as the District moves forward. I have served on various Board committees, including the Policy Audit Committees, Process Committees for the BCTA and BCUEA, and groups working on many aspects of Operations and Maintenance related to the most recent bond project. In addition, my professional background includes over 30 years of experience working with organizations and boards in areas of policy, strategic planning and adapting to change, and diversity. My skills as a published author and editor, and my extensive experience and training in group facilitation and conflict resolution are additional assets for the Board and District. Knowledge gained from being a parent of two children currently attending District schools and an 18 year resident of Bethlehem will also help me serve the District, our students and staff, and the larger community.
Q What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the district?
A The District’s ability to offer academic and co-curricular programs, develop budget and long term financial plans, and address increasing numbers of regulations is often affected by forces beyond its control. For example, District administration and the Board of Education began the development of next year’s school budget on Feb. 4. Discussions and presentations continued at each subsequent Board meeting; however, crucial information on the amount of state aid and funds from the reinstatement of the Gap Elimination Adjustment were not provided until March 30. As a result, over half of the meetings devoted to budget development did not include critical information from the state. Often times outside mandates do not include funds or resources needed to enact them, leaving to District to develop new programs in the absence of additional resources. The magnitude of this challenge increases when mandated programs or systems become enmeshed without thoughtful reflection and dialogue about the real impact and goals of creating these connections, as when, for example, release of state aid numbers for future budgets are made contingent upon achieving changes in mandated teacher evaluation programs. These situations can create confusion, misinformation, or conflict between constituents of the District, and splinter support for the District during times when it most needs collective advocacy. Achieving stability, clear direction on mandated programs and standards, and consistent financial support of resources for the District within a complex and sometimes unsupportive environment should be one of the major priorities of the Board of Education.
Q What are your ideas for addressing these challenges?
A The Board of Education has an important role in advocating for the district and creating opportunities for community engagement, as it supports the District in achieving its mission and goals. Educating our students, staff, residents, and legislators provides people with knowledge about critical issues that affecting the educational program at Bethlehem, and in some way, the lives of most community members. The Board can hold community education sessions on topics such as Common Core Standards, mandated testing, and outside pressures on school finances and budgets. In addition, Board member meetings with legislators allows state officials to know of programs and issues that may be unique to Bethlehem. Engaging these same groups through public forums and open discussion events provides the board and the district with feedback and ideas for addressing current and future challenges. Enacting programs and strategies that take into account the ideas of students, staff, and community members, where possible, can create a larger sense of partnership between the Board, the district, and the people all seek to serve. Such partnerships expand the level and nature of support for the District and its programs, illustrated, for example, by the advocacy nights held over the past years on the issue of state funding and elimination of the Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA). They can also create a greater sense of community awareness and responsibility for our educational mission.