Online Conversation with the Candidates

Welcome to an online conversation featuring the candidates for the Oshkosh Area School District Board of Education. This forum is sponsored by the Oshkosh Community News Network.

Because we believe that the restructuring plan is the most important issue before the board and that it will affect all of the other policy matters that the district faces, OCNN asked the four school board candidates (Dan Becker, Karen Bowen, Michelle Monte and Teresa Thiel) to engage in an extended discussion on this topic.

They have agreed to do so, and over the next month you will have an opportunity to have them explain their understanding of the restructuring process and its outcomes.
Like most complex issues, restructuring is not something that can be adequately addressed in sound bites or slogans. And that's why we have devised a new approach for this online forum.

We have divided restructuring into four sub-issues: the overall vision, tradeoffs, educational outcomes and finances. Each week of the online forum will focus on one of these issues, and each week a different candidate will have the responsibility for leading off the discussion by posting his or her views. The other candidates will respond later in the week.

The week of March 5 will focus on restructuring from a “big-picture” perspective. We asked Dan Becker to get things going by responding to the official vision statement for the district’s long-term facilities plan.

The following is what we asked him to discuss.

This is the stated vision for the facilities planning process: “By 2016, the Oshkosh Area School District shall align its schools with the district’s building and educational standards and the community-based values of equity, excellence and efficiency.” In your own words, what does this mean? You might address such things as current gaps as you perceive them, and the definition in your own mind of words like “equity, excellence and efficiency.” Can we support all three of those values equally? If not, which one(s) should be most important? Does this vision need to be modified?

Mr. Becker’s comments will appear in a separate post.

Please be sure to return to this site as this conversation develops, and don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, April 3.