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Denver DPS Board Candidate Survey The survey has seven parts and should take you approximately 20-30 minutes to complete. You will not be able to exit the survey and save your answers so please plan accordingly. All responses and comments will be made public in their full form. If you have any questions or problems, please contact Liz Platz (liz@aplusdenver.org or 920-698-0848). Please submit the survey no later that 5pm on Monday, August 12. We will notify you when the survey is published. 1. Please enter your contact information below so we can keep you informed about the survey publication. Name: Meg Schomp

Part 1: Current Denver Public Schools Strategy and Goals 2. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree The districts reform efforts are on pace to meet the needs of most students X The districts reform efforts are moving in the right direction X Current leadership is moving the district in the right direction X 3. Choose one answer to complete the following statement: The districts academic achievement goals in reading, writing and math forecast 3.5% improvement per year per grade, these goals X Are about right Need to be raised Need to be lowered Should be raise for those students who are significantly below proficiency

 Part 2: Teaching and Learning 4. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree Teachers have the right to tenure after three years of effective teaching Tenure is currently too easy to obtain DPS is doing an effective job recruiting, supporting and retaining strong school leaders DPS should utilize outside, objective evaluators to determine what is and is not working (e.g. programs) relative to its achievement goals The districts literacy and math programs are effective 5. Choose one answer to complete the following statement: The primary factor in teacher pay and employment should be: Student success and achievement as measured by student outcomes X Experience and educational attainment Student achievement that carries nearly equal weight as teacher experience and educational attainment X X X

Part 3: Accountability 6. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree I support district and state level accountability measures that require schools to show academic achievement ACT and college remediation scores should be included in school and district accountability measures as long as the resources to do so are available All new school proposals, whether for charter, innovation or district- managed schools, should be held to the same standards 7. Do you support a change in the superintendent position at DPS? Yes No X X X

 Part 4: Interventions 8. Rate the following statement on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree When schools are failing most of their students, DPS must intervene more X quickly and boldly 9. If a school performs in the bottom 5% of schools in the district, it should be phased out or replaced (with new programming, leadership and/or governance model) after receiving additional supports for: 0-2 years X 3-5 years 5-7 years I dont believe schools should be phased out/replaced or closed

Part 5: School finance 10. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree. Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree I support Initiative 66 (School Finance Act) Innovation schools should have full control over their budgets, staffing, and programming I support a tool that shows both spending at the school level and achievement gains to show taxpayers the return on investment at the school level X X X

Part 6: School Type and Choice 11. Rate the following statements on a scale of 1-4, where 1=strongly disagree and 4=strongly agree.
Strongly Disagree

Strongly Agree

Charters should have equal access to district facilities Co-location of charters and district-managed schools is a good strategy for efficiently using resources as long as attention is paid to ensuring schools work well together and equitably share facilities

 The district should support a combination of high quality charter and district managed schools I support using Innovation status for schools that need extra tools to improve student success The current enrollment process is working as intended Students should almost always attend their closest boundary school We must put more resources into improving boundary schools Boundary schools should get more resources per student than district charter or innovation schools I would seriously consider a proposal to allow equal opportunities for students to attend any school in the district, regardless of their closest boundary school (e.g. Open some seats in all boundary schools for students living outside that neighborhood) X X X X X

Part 7: Free Response 12. What are your two highest priorities for education in DPS? I believe our first priority should be to quality schools in every neighborhood. Regardless of the type of school, no resident of Denver should be left without a quality school that is close to where they live. Another major focus is accountability for DPS administrators, teachers, and staff. Accountability should not only apply to teachers. 13. What do you believe is the most important role a school board member plays? The most important role of a board member is to represent the voices of their constituents. Too often, engaging the community is an afterthought to the decisions made by DPS. Without full buy-in and support of the changes that are made in a community, we will not be able to provide the best educational experience for the students in Denver. Collaboration is another important role for any board member. By coming to the table, ready to discuss differences and work toward common goals, we will create a world class public education system in Denver. This role can be eased by DPS Board Representatives receiving timely and complete information which is consistently disseminated by DPS administration and staff to all board members. Informed decisions are made more carefully when all board members can participate in discussions and a respectful process between each other, community members and stakeholders is established and followed. 14. What was the most important vote/decision made by the DPS School Board in 2012/2013 school year? Why? There were many decisions made in 2012-13 by the DPS Board that I believe were important academically and financially. While the refinancing of variable high-interest rate bonds to fund our pension was a significant vote for the board (hopefully making more money available for our classrooms); and further clarifying DPS teacher renewal and Do-not-Rehire practices to deal fairly with our experienced educators, these are not the most important decisions made this last academic year.

 The Modified Consent Decree (MCD) is the most important decision the board made in 2012-13, setting standards to improve services for the over 36,000 English-language learners in DPS. These standards will impact improving teacher certification in ELA (English Language Acquisition), allowing parents more involvement in placement and exiting strategies for their individual children in a timely manner, and independent oversight. This court mandated program clearly affects a large & diverse number of kids. 15. Please provide a short bio with some key information about yourself. I am a Denver native and DPS graduate (Moore, Byers, Smiley & East HS). My mother, Kay Schomp, served on the DPS Board from 1973-83. I graduated from CU at Boulder with a BA, majoring in Cultural Anthropology. I received a Masters of Social Work degree and Certificate in Gerontology from DU. I worked in Washington, DC for three years, as a political intern for Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, and for the Women's Campaign Fund. My professional background in social work includes working in community-based and long-term care facilities with seriously mentally ill young adults and seniors with dementia, for 18 years. Following this, I became a small business owner, opening a licensed drop-in child care center and preschool in Central Denver (Short Stop for Kids). I have been a volunteer in the classroom, as a parent leader in PTA/PTOs, CSCs, and school fundraising foundations, including DSA scholarship administration 15 years. You could say that public education is in my DNA. 16. What schools did/do your children attend? I have a 26 year-old daughter that graduated from Denver School of the Arts (a regional magnet school) in 2005. I have a 12 year-old son currently attending Denver Green School, an innovation school in my neighborhood which focuses on environmental sustainability. I also have a 12 year-old daughter currently attending DSA in video cinematography. 17. We welcome any comments or questions regarding this survey. Several answers were left blank because this survey does not allow for nuanced responses. Specifically,there is no teacher tenure in DPS, so I would need to know if you are looking for answers focused on teacher evaluation (SB 191 & LEAP) or questions regarding the earlier ProComp program. Furthermore, I do not believe question 7 (a change in the Superintendent's position) is appropriate for a school board candidate to determine. It is a decision that should not be made until a board member has time to fully review performance and make an informed decision. This due process is an expectation ALL district employees should have regarding their employment with DPS. I also believe questions about the direction of the district cannot be answered in a yes or no format. I would be happy to respond to these questions in detail if the space was allowed. If available, I would welcome the opportunity to go into greater detail on those questions I left blank.Thanks for the opportunity.