mesa county

7/27/2019 Mesa County

1/5

Candidates running for Mesa 51 County School Board

Pat Kanda

Michael Lowenstein

Gregory Mikolai (Declined to complete questionnaire)

Thomas Parrish (Declined to complete questionnaire)

John SluderLonnie White (Declined to complete questionnaire)

John Williams (Declined to complete questionnaire)

Color Coded Answer Key

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

Questions Kanda Lowenstein Sluder

1 The districts reform efforts at present are not on pace to meet the needs of all of the students. Agree Strongly Agree Strongly Agree

2 The district is moving in the right direction with the districts current leadership. Disagree Strongly Disag ree Strongly Disagree

3 Too many students are not graduating with the skills they need to be successful. Strongly Agree Str ongly Agree St rongly Agree

4In determining teacher employment, student achievement (growth test scores, college and career

prep) should play a significant factor (roughly 50%).Agree Agree Agree

5In determining teacher pay, student achievement (growth test scores, college and career prep) should

play a significant factor (roughly 50%).Agree Agree Agree

6 Teacher pay should be based primarily upon years of experience and educational attainment. Disagree Strongly Disagree Disagree

7 The district needs more focus on measuring effectiveness of programs and spreading best practices. Strongly Agree Agree Agree

8The district results should be compared to results from districts around the world to assure our

students can compete in the global market.Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

9Turnaround interventions for struggling schools as well as the creation/establishment of charters and

other new schools are BOTH important strategies to improving student success. Agree Agree Agree

10Charter schools should receive bond and mill levy funding equal to other public schools (including

funding for facilities).Agree Neutral Agree


2/5


3/5

I believe that the most important role of a school board member is to hire a qualified superintendent and

establishing policies with high expectations that the student body must be able to achieve and

demonstrate competency.

If you have children who do or did attend schools in the district please list those schools. Please print

or type your response.

Central High School, Cornerstone Christian School

Do you support the nearly one billion dollar tax increase on the ballot this year? Why or why not?

No. I feel additional funding would be a benefit, but in the current economic climate I don't feel

additional taxes are the solution. If a constitutional amendment is going to be used to increase K-12

funding, maybe we should look at amending the allocations from lottery funds.

Were you endorsed by the union?

Unsure. Probably not.

School Board Candidate Name: Michael Lowenstein

Please rank what you believe are the most important areas of concentration for the district to raise

student achievement. AFP is listing their top 3.

1. Quality curriculum

2. Quality teachers

3. Meeting high standards

Please rank what you believe are the most important priorities for K-12 education in this district. AFP

is listing their top 3.

1. Provide better support for teachers

2. Redesign teacher evaluation and pay to retain the most effective teachers

3. Reward and hold educators responsible for student results

What do you believe is the most important role a school board member should play in ensuring all

students in the district receive the education they need and deserve?


4/5

The school board's role is to find ways to improved schools so that they provide students the education

they need for life and to find ways to provide teachers the tools that they need to make this school

improvement happen.



No response.


No response.


No response.

School Board Candidate Name: John Sluder

Please rank what you believe are the most important areas of concentration for the district to raise

student achievement. AFP is listing their top 3.

1. The school board that speaks with one voice.

2. Community involvement

3. District ensuring schools are accountable for performance

Please rank what you believe are the most important priorities for K-12 education in this district. AFP

is listing their top 3.

1. Revise collective bargaining agreements so that principals have more authority to hire and fire

2. Redesign teacher evaluation and pay to retain the most effective teachers

3. Ensure that the high school degree is aligned with college readiness

What do you believe is the most important role a school board member should play in ensuring all

students in the district receive the education they need and deserve?


5/5

The most important role is to ensure the viability of our District no matter the outcome of funding

initiatives. The key to education lies in the effectiveness of our great teachers. My role will be to assure

that policies and procedures support those teachers to do quality work. As a School Board Director, I will

direct the administration to account for every bit of taxpayer's money in both direct cost and the

unfunded mandates, which place a burden on school funding, while assuring that those reports are fully

communicated to the public. I also feel that just throwing more money at the problem is not the solution.

A role of the School Board is to be a good steward of the tax payer's money.



Taylor Elementary, daughter

Mount Garfield, Son - Daughter

Palisade High School - Son - Daughter

Orchard Avenue Elementary - Grand Children


I am personally opposed to raising taxes on individuals and families in a progressive model, especially

when so many in our state are struggling. Nevertheless, as a candidate for the Board of Education, my job

is not to lobby for fiscal policy. It is to ensure the viability of our District no matter the outcome of the

initiative. So, I am against Amendment 66, and the associated SB 213.


NO!

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