Anchorage School Board Candidate Questionnaires
Eagle Forum Alaska sent the same questionnaire to all 8 certified School Board Candidates:
SEAT E
Macon Roberts (Incumbent treasurer)
Charles Rushing
Cynthia Kott
SEAT F
Jeff Friedman (Incumbent president)
Thomas Lamb
SEAT G
Crystal Kennedy (Incumbent vice president)
Ray Metcalfe
Mike Layne
Responses will be posted as they are returned.
Cynthia Kott:
Hi Debbie,
Thanks for the questionairre. Resoundingly and overwhelmingly, I answered a definite yes on all of the issues. Your questionairre targets everything I believe as a school board member. It is my hope to use this list as a foundation to building a better school system that enhances the lives of children. The only question that was left out, was my belief that evolution is simply a minority position that needs to be combated with Truth. Creation theory needs to be applied to scientific learning if evolution is to remain, especially in light of the fact that we are in the majority.
ACADEMICS
1. Do you believe schools should give primary emphasis to teaching basic skills (e.g. reading, grammar, spelling, arithmetic) rather than social or psychological matters?
Yes
2. Do you support the use of intensive, systematic phonics to teach first-grade children how to read?
Yes
3. Do you support the goal that children should be able to read by the end of the first grade?
Yes
4. Do you support the teaching of abstinence as the norm for unmarried teenagers and as the only truly effective way to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases?
Yes
5. Do you believe the topics of homosexuality and alternative lifestyles should be excluded from the classroom?
Yes
6. Do you support teaching that the use of illegal drugs and the unlawful use of alcohol are "wrong"?
Yes
7. Do you reject classroom instruction that downgrades American sovereignty, limited constitutional government, or private enterprise?
Yes
POLICY
8. Do you support local control of education, with accountability through the local school board, rather than federal control exercised through federal and state bureaucracies and business partnerships?
Yes
9. Do you reject federal control of curriculum through the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work laws?
Yes
10. Do you oppose the establishment of school-based health clinics, which may perform examinations, provide immunizations and medications, and dispense birth control devices and abortion referrals, without parental consent or knowledge?
Yes
11. Do you oppose the collection and maintenance of data on student health, performance, attitudes, behavior, and family, as well as academics, in computerized databases?
Yes
12. Do you oppose allowing the school district to deduct money from the paychecks of school employees and forward it to political funds without the annual written consent of each employee?
Yes
PARENTS' RIGHTS
13. Do you believe in the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children?
Yes
14. Do you support a school board policy allowing parents the right to inspect and review instructional materials and methods?
Yes
15. Do you support a school board policy forbidding psychological evaluations, testing, treatment, or physical examinations of students without prior written parental consent?
Yes
16. Do you believe parental consent should be required prior to giving information and care to students regarding sexuality and reproductive health?
Yes
17. Do you oppose requiring students to answer nosy questionnaires about sex, drugs, suicide, and family behavior without prior written parental consent?
Yes
18. Do you support the right of parents to homeschool their children?
Yes
It is my priveledge, to answer these questions with heartfelt and careful consideration. I strongly believe abstinence should be taught in schools. I teach my children to honor and respect their bodies and the bodies of others. Public school curriculum details too much with sex education that starts at an early age. From a biological perspective, the actual science of reproduction being taught to a mature audience (high school) could be conducted without the overt homosexual or socialogical pressures and promotion. Our children may be prepared physically to engage in intamacy, but psychologically may not be ready. Children need to be children again.
Bonds issues have been difficult. I typically support streamlined and efficient government that doesn't overburden property owners with increased taxes and bond debt. As such, I will support some of the bonds, and certainly not all. Some of the bonds that I support deal directly with saftey and structure of schooling. Needless to say, the city must keep facilities safe for students, while not overburdening property owners. Although I believe that the ASD administration must budget better, with hesitation, I will probably vote for the schooling bonds. Most of the schools have problems (roof falling in, wavy walls damaged by water, etc..) that needs addressing. I will support the bonds primarily to facilitate the safety of are children. Some of the other bond issues are pretty rediculous and I won't vote for them.
Finally, I will support and promote the idea of Intelligent Design. Just because a minority of people have positional authority to render Judeo-Christianity obsolete and useless, does not consititute truth and factualness. In fact, a vast majority of Americans, across all spectrum of society, believes wholeheartly that God exists. It is hard to fathom the idea that matter simply "wished or happened" itself into existence, without the help and aid of an alternate source or divinity. I don't think matter can be created from nothing, and therefore, by logical conclusion there must be an alternate source or Creator to have generated molecules, atoms, etc...
Again, thank you for the e-mail. If you have any further questions, please call me (230-1569).
With Warm Regards,
Cynthia
Charles Rushing:
Thank you Eagle Forum. I said a strong "yes" to every question.
I am an ordained evangelical minister in the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. I am also the candidate endorsed by Jack Frost forseat E.
ACADEMICS
1. Do you believe schools should give primary emphasis to teaching basic skills (e.g. reading, grammar, spelling, arithmetic) rather than social or psychological matters?
Yes
2. Do you support the use of intensive, systematic phonics to teach first-grade children how to read?
Yes
3. Do you support the goal that children should be able to read by the end of the first grade?
Yes
4. Do you support the teaching of abstinence as the norm for unmarried teenagers and as the only truly effective way to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases?
Yes
5. Do you believe the topics of homosexuality and alternative lifestyles should be excluded from the classroom?
Yes
6. Do you support teaching that the use of illegal drugs and the unlawful use of alcohol are "wrong"?
Yes
7. Do you reject classroom instruction that downgrades American sovereignty, limited constitutional government, or private enterprise?
Yes
POLICY
8. Do you support local control of education, with accountability through the local school board, rather than federal control exercised through federal and state bureaucracies and business partnerships?
Yes
9. Do you reject federal control of curriculum through the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work laws?
Yes
10. Do you oppose the establishment of school-based health clinics, which may perform examinations, provide immunizations and medications, and dispense birth control devices and abortion referrals, without parental consent or knowledge?
Yes
1. Do you oppose the collection and maintenance of data on student health, performance, attitudes, behavior, and family, as well as academics, in computerized databases?
Yes
12. Do you oppose allowing the school district to deduct money from the paychecks of school employees and forward it to political funds without the annual written consent of each employee?
Yes
PARENTS' RIGHTS
13. Do you believe in the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children?
Yes
14. Do you support a school board policy allowing parents the right to inspect and review instructional materials and methods?
Yes
15. Do you support a school board policy forbidding psychological evaluations, testing, treatment, or physical examinations of students without prior written parental consent?
Yes
16. Do you believe parental consent should be required prior to giving information and care to students regarding sexuality and reproductive health?
Yes
17. Do you oppose requiring students to answer nosy questionnaires about sex, drugs, suicide, and family behavior without prior written parental consent?
Yes
18. Do you support the right of parents to homeschool their children?
Yes
Jeff Friedman:
Thank you for taking the time to help inform the public about the positions of each candidate.
ACADEMICS
1. Do you believe schools should give primary emphasis to teaching basic skills (e.g. reading, grammar, spelling, arithmetic) rather than social or psychological matters?
Yes. I think other material is also important, but students need a firm grounding in the basics to succeed.
2. Do you support the use of intensive, systematic phonics to teach first-grade children how to read?
I believe this is what our new Houghton-Mifflin curriculum is doing, and my observation of it is that it is working very well. Teachers need to have some flexibility to use other methods if this does not work for a particular child, but this seems like a good starting place.
3. Do you support the goal that children should be able to read by the end of the first grade?
Yes, I think that is a good goal. I did not learn to read until second grade, so I realize that some children may not read by the end of first grade, but if we don’t set that as a goal, then many children who could learn to read sooner, won’t.
4. Do you support the teaching of abstinence as the norm for unmarried teenagers and as the only truly effective way to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases?
Yes, I believe that is an important part of the health curriculum.
5. Do you believe the topics of homosexuality and alternative lifestyles should be excluded from the classroom?
No. I don’t like the idea of excluding any topic. Controversial topics do need to be discussed at an age appropriate level, and care must be taken not to push any particular agenda.
6. Do you support teaching that the use of illegal drugs and the unlawful use of alcohol are "wrong"?
Yes
7. Do you reject classroom instruction that downgrades American sovereignty, limited constitutional government, or private enterprise?
I’m not sure what this question means. I think it is important to teach children the benefits of our system of government, but it is also important for them to learn that government and private business are run by humans, and humans occasionally make mistakes. That doesn’t make the system bad, it just means we have to watch and be careful.
POLICY
8. Do you support local control of education, with accountability through the local school board, rather than federal control exercised through federal and state bureaucracies and business partnerships?
Yes.
9. Do you reject federal control of curriculum through the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work laws?
I am not familiar with Goals 2000 or School to Work laws, but I believe curriculum should be a local decision.
10. Do you oppose the establishment of school-based health clinics, which may perform examinations, provide immunizations and medications, and dispense birth control devices and abortion referrals, without parental consent or knowledge?
I believe school based clinics can be beneficial, but parent consent is generally required for any medical treatment, and that should be no different for a school based clinic.
11. Do you oppose the collection and maintenance of data on student health, performance, attitudes, behavior, and family, as well as academics, in computerized databases?
No. We need to maintain some health and family records on these students such as immunization records and emergency contact information and home addresses. With a large district, these do need to be on computer databases. Discipline records are also kept on each student and they will cover behavior issues. Again, in a large district where children transfer between schools often, computerized records result in a large cost savings.
12. Do you oppose allowing the school district to deduct money from the paychecks of school employees and forward it to political funds without the annual written consent of each employee?
Undecided. It sounds reasonable to have annual reauthorization, but if an employee really wanted to make his or her authorization permanent until revoked, I am not sure why we would want to restrict that right.
PARENTS' RIGHTS
13. Do you believe in the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children?
Generally yes, but parenting is a responsibility as well as a right. Parents who have abused that responsibility may have that right restricted.
14. Do you support a school board policy allowing parents the right to inspect and review instructional materials and methods?
Yes
15. Do you support a school board policy forbidding psychological evaluations, testing, treatment, or physical examinations of students without prior written parental consent?
Yes
16. Do you believe parental consent should be required prior to giving information and care to students regarding sexuality and reproductive health?
If that information is being provided through the school, then parents should have the right to ask that their child not receive it.
17. Do you oppose requiring students to answer nosy questionnaires about sex, drugs, suicide, and family behavior without prior written parental consent?
Not if they are anonymous questionnaires. Yes if the student could be identified.
18. Do you support the right of parents to homeschool their children?
Yes, although I would like to see some form of state registration so we know those children are receiving some instruction.
Crystal Kennedy:
Thank you for the opportunity to participate with the questionnaire.
ACADEMICS
1. Do you believe schools should give primary emphasis to teaching basic skills (e.g. reading, grammar, spelling, arithmetic) rather than social or psychological matters?
Yes
2. Do you support the use of intensive, systematic phonics to teach first-grade children how to read?
Yes
3. Do you support the goal that children should be able to read by the end of the first grade?
No. I do support the goal for at least the end of third grade.
4. Do you support the teaching of abstinence as the norm for unmarried teenagers and as the only truly effective way to prevent sexually-transmitted diseases?
Yes
5. Do you believe the topics of homosexuality and alternative lifestyles should be excluded from the classroom?
Yes
6. Do you support teaching that the use of illegal drugs and the unlawful use of alcohol are "wrong"?
Yes
7. Do you reject classroom instruction that downgrades American sovereignty, limited constitutional government, or private enterprise?
Yes
POLICY
8. Do you support local control of education, with accountability through the local school board, rather than federal control exercised through federal and state bureaucracies and business partnerships?
Yes. I would like to qualify my answer though with the fact that I do belive the NCLB act is forcing us to re-evaluate our own educational practices.
9. Do you reject federal control of curriculum through the Goals 2000 and School-to-Work laws?
Yes
10. Do you oppose the establishment of school-based health clinics, which may perform examinations, provide immunizations and medications, and dispense birth control devices and abortion referrals, without parental consent or knowledge?
Yes
11. Do you oppose the collection and maintenance of data on student health, performance, attitudes, behavior, and family, as well as academics, in computerized databases?
No. Data for purposes of determining educational needs is important but access to that tata shoulc be limited.
12. Do you oppose allowing the school district to deduct money from the paychecks of school employees and forward it to political funds without the annual written consent of each employee?
Yes
PARENTS' RIGHTS
13. Do you believe in the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children?
Yes
14. Do you support a school board policy allowing parents the right to inspect and review instructional materials and methods?
Yes
15. Do you support a school board policy forbidding psychological evaluations, testing, treatment, or physical examinations of students without prior written parental consent?
Yes
16. Do you believe parental consent should be required prior to giving information and care to students regarding sexuality and reproductive health?
Yes
17. Do you oppose requiring students to answer nosy questionnaires about sex, drugs, suicide, and family behavior without prior written parental consent?
Yes
18. Do you support the right of parents to homeschool their children?
Yes
posted by Don Haase @ 6:25 PM
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