At-large candidate: Ann Rosenthal (incumbent)

In 1987, our family lived next to Trumball Elementary School in the city of Chicago. That fall, we experienced an educational system in turmoil. Teachers went on the longest strike in Chicago history and families were outraged.

When we moved back to Iowa, we had to adjust to the lack of diversity. But we noticed a growing trend: People were migrating from Chicago to Iowa. It is this new diverse, and oftentimes economically disadvantaged, part of our student population that poses the greatest challenge for our school district. It has more than doubled in the past decade.

How is student achievement best encouraged in this new student population? Early childhood education efforts are worthwhile if current priorities of K-12 and higher education can be met. But it alone will not solve the growing problem with academic achievement.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress had Iowa at the pinnacle of all state educational programs in 1992. (Prior international studies rated Iowa students' achievement higher than almost any other nation's educational system.) This is no longer the case.

What's the solution? Not money, even though consistent funding of educational services is essential. The film “Waiting for Superman” highlights the frustrations of reformers whose emphasis on innovation is often unheeded by the educational status quo treadmill of more and more money. Unfunded federal mandates are not the answer. Neither are state mandates that might actually slow academic progress, such as inhibiting our district's rapid growth in Advanced Placement (college) class enrollment!

One key ingredient for student success is competent teachers. Good teachers need to be rewarded. Multiple measurement tools need to be used to assess and reward teachers.

It has been a delight to get to know many of our excellent teachers and to expend my own time and money over the past 12 years to testify before the Iowa Legislature for better school buildings, lobby for greater openness on the part of school boards, and campaign for ballot issues that help our schools.

Empowering and involving parents in the education of their children is also essential. This is a struggle for many families because both parents are in the work force.

Empowering parents means letting them participate in a meaningful way in their children's education. The Cedar Rapids Education Association (teachers' union) is campaigning to replace current board members John Laverty, Mary Meisterling and me with a slate that would form a majority. This risks limiting parental input on the board in favor of initiatives more focused on the interests of just one shareholder group.

Stanford Professor Terry Moe has noted that teachers unions' primary focus is “job security, material benefits, and working conditions that teachers value,” whereas parents and taxpayers have a broader focus. (“Besieged: School boards and the future of education politics,” William Howell, editor, 2005)

School boards in Iowa need “home rule” powers, such as those held by cities and counties. Boards of education are entangled in a fierce web of mandates from every direction, and are allowed only limited flexibility in carrying out their mission.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, Chicago eventually turned to parents and community members for assistance in improving student achievement, after being compelled to do so by successive mayors. Strong executives with broad powers compelled schools to start to recover basic skills.

Home rule for school boards would give communities across Iowa a less autocratic avenue to accomplish the same tasks.

Ann Rosenthal, the mother of five children, has served on the Cedar Rapids school board since 1999. She is a mechanical engineer and Associate Director, Facilities Management, at the University of Iowa, with 27 years in facilities design, construction and maintenance. Comments: annericrosenthal@aol.com