Abdouramane Bila, candidate for Clear Creek Amana Community School Board District 4

Abdouramane Bila and Kara Prickett are running for the District 3 seat on the Clear Creek Amana Community School District Board. The Gazette has not yet received responses from Prickett. ► Get to know the other school board candidates

Name: Abdouramane Bila

Office sought: Clear Creek Amana Community School Board District 4 (incumbent)

Age: 40 (born Dec. 5, 1980)

Occupation: RF (radio frequency) test engineer at Skyworks Solutions

Campaign website: facebook.com/Bila4CCA

Email: bila4cca@gmail.com

Have you held office before? If so, what office did you hold?

My other community involvements include currently serving as a Director on the North Liberty Community Pantry Board, Director on the North Liberty and Coralville Baseball and Softball Board, chair of the North Liberty Tree and Storm Water Advisory Board, North Liberty West Lake’s Neighborhood Ambassador, and a North Liberty French Language Ambassador. When not serving on various boards, I can be found on many youth sports sidelines as a coach for soccer in Tiffin AYSO, softball coach for NLCBS, and helping coach my kids’ basketball teams.

Personal bio: Hello, my name is Abdouramane Bila. I was born and raised in the small French speaking West African country of Burkina Faso. I moved to the United States in 2002 and attended Kirkwood Community College where I obtained my AAS in Electronics Engineering Technology, then transferred to the University of Iowa in the Electrical Engineering program before finishing my B.S. Electronics Engineering Technology at Grantham University. I am a employed as a Test Engineer at a semiconductor engineering firm in Cedar Rapids for the last 14 years. My wife and I set our roots in the Johnson County in 2004, and we have been living in North Liberty for the last 9 years. My family has been active in all of the CCA school buildings our children attended, and my wife, Emily, served as co-president of the North Bend and Oak Hill Elementary Parent Teacher Groups (PTG) for many years. We have volunteered in various fun activities organized by the PTG to enrich students and staff experience in their buildings.

Why are you seeking a seat on the school board?

I am seeking reelection on the school board to build upon the progress our district has made over the last few months and years. Not long ago, the district was in the news for the wrong reasons. Since then we have made some progress and addressed some of the issues with staff hiring, community involvement and improved education. Being one of the fastest growing areas in the state brings challenges of its own; although growth is great, schools can be slow to react to it. We are on pace to outgrow a few of our attendance buildings (North Bend, Oak Hill, Tiffin Elementary and Oxford Elementary) within the next couple of years. It is imperative to have board members who have been working to address these issues to ensure that we have adequate class sizes, and hire and retain staff to support our enrollment growth. The board is currently working on hiring a full-time superintendent and proposing a bond issue for a new elementary to help address growing enrollment numbers.

How do you rate the district’s current performance? What areas are going well, and what could be improved?

Our district is doing better as far as general performance that covers students performance, community engagements and infrastructure rating. Some areas we are doing well are increasing enrollment, teaching and learning achievement metrics trending up given the attendance challenges of last year due to the pandemic, addressing diversity, equity and inclusion issues with the hiring of our first DEI Director. Areas we need to improve are addressing staff shortage across the board (teachers, support staff), reducing elementary class sizes, passing a bond issue to add on to our teaching facility capacity with a new to be announced elementary school, continued efforts to address bullying in the district, Student to student as well as student to teacher relationship improvement,

What are the three largest issues facing the school district and what will you do to address them?

1. Staff shortage: Retention in this health crisis had been hard on all districts. Current students and staffs are most impacted by this shortage as we see increased class sizes, staff being shuffled to address some of the shortcomings therefore making a challenge for them and administration. Ramp up our visibility not only across the state but across the country to attract new employees that are looking for a change and would want to give CCA CSD a try.

2. Capacity constraints: We have five elementary buildings that are at capacity. We need to address this by passing a bond issue next year for a new elementary school that should help alleviate this issue. The board should also get a better pulse on the community’s growth to be more proactive than reactive in planning for buildings given that we serve one of the fastest growing communities in the state. Engaging municipalities to foresee future developments and working with them to set aside land for education infrastructure plans.

3. Social citizenship: Encouraging students, staff to be the best they can be. Last year and a half has been challenging for all, we need to bring back civility not only among students and staff but the community at large. We are in this for the success of our students and to an extent, our community. Having truthful, healthy, respectful discussions and disagreement is a very important part of our democracy. Leading discussions in a civil, inclusive and open-minded way is my way of setting an example.

What level of local control do you think school boards should have?

The board should be afforded the ability to make local decisions that are in the best interest of all students. As a public entity, the board’s adopted policies should go toward affirming its stated mission of providing a safe environment that fosters quality lifelong learning for all.

Having local control on key aspects of education ensures that elected school board members are accountable to their voters, With some of the actions by the Iowa legislators, a few tools we could’ve used to navigate the current health crisis has been removed from the board arsenal, the use of virtual classes, alternating classes from in-person to virtual in case of high community spread events, etc.

What will you do to be responsive to concerns by parents, students and staff? What type of communications should they expect from you?

Being an elected board member means you do not choose who (parents, students and staff) want to listen to, we have to listen to everyone. We are elected to serve the needs of all students' education, decisions we make should reflect the uncompromised value we as a community put on the success of every single student in our district. When approached about any issue, parents, students and staff should expect truthful, respectful answers from any board member.

Should school districts be allowed to enact a mask requirement for students during the COVID-19 pandemic? If yes, what type of masking requirement would you want to see in place?

The school district should be allowed to use all means available within the framework of the law to address the current pandemic. This includes reduced class sizes if infrastructure allows for it, providing quality remote learning options, mask requirements, staggered school shifts or cohorting, all these should be temporary measures until conditions allow for full return to in person learning. The goal of these steps is to help our local health agencies slow the spread and reduce the strain on available health care resources. Based on available data and guidance from public health entities, the response would be locally tailored to minimize the impact on everyone’s quality of life but more importantly address the present health crisis.

If you were required to cut the district’s budget, what areas would you look to for savings and why?

School district budget is a very complex puzzle set governed not only by state but also federal laws. There are limitations on how much districts can borrow, how the debts are structured and how long it can be carried. In times of budget crisis, districts should look into refinancing old high interest debt, look at duplication of services for cuts, look at consolidating or sharing non-critical services personnel with neighboring districts in an effort to save money. The district financial health should not be a mystery to the community it serves, boards should have openness on where funds are being spent so when time comes to raise or lower levies, the community is involved from the get go and not surprised by financial moves.

Are there curriculum concerns that you have with the district? What are they? What process should the district use to address the concern?

I do not have curriculum concerns with the district, for those with issues, there is a process in place where the school entrusts professional staff to review and recommend curriculum to the superintendent who then brings it to the board for approval. When issues are found within an approved curriculum, a process in place allows for licensed staff to review issue subjects and recommend changes to the board through the superintendent. The district should have an open communication channel with concerned staff, parents or guardians when curriculum issues are identified and brought up.