Four candidates are seeking to claim three soon-to-be vacant seats in the Brooklyn Center District 286 School Board. The incumbent members are Janelle Collier, Cheryl Jechorek, Jeff Palm, John Solomon, Jan Thielsen and Jack Wiborg. Of the incumbents, the members whose terms are about to expire are Palm, Wiborg and Collier. A term on the board lasts four years. Of the four candidates, Palm is the only current member seeking re-election.
Ruthie M. Dallas
Address: 6419 Emerson Ave.
Age: 65
Family: Two adult children; six grandchildren
Education: B.A. in psychology from FAMU; graduate coursework at Hamline University
Occupation: Project director, Trauma Informed Care Collaborative/State Planner Principal – Women services lead at MN DHS Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division
Years living in Brooklyn Center: 39 years
Community/civic organizations involvement: African-American Leadership Forum, MN DFL African American Caucus, Local 2101 – MAPE (Minnesota Association of Professional Employees) Women’s Committee; Senate District 40 Central Committee – Outreach & Inclusiveness/Affirmative Action Director; Member of Congressional District 5; African-American Babies Coalition; Healthy Start CAN (Community Action Network); MN Department of Education Healthcare Provider Outreach Workgroup; MN Organization for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum (MOFAS) Speakers Bureau; Art of Hosting trained facilitator; and NW Community Engagement Coalition.
Information: ruthiedallas73@gmail.com or 612-743-8895
Q. Why are you running for a seat in the Brooklyn Center School Board?
I am excited about working with our school district that operates schools that are truly proving to be full service community schools. This type of work is my passion – building and strengthening relationships and partnerships. By having schools as a place with an integrated focus on academics, health and social services, youth and community development and family/community engagement is quite appealing to me. This is what leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. I am a collaborative and servant leader. I want to be an asset to the board as they move towards implementing their 5-year 2020 Strategic Plan in “preparing students in a changing community for a changing world.” I want to help make a difference in improving the quality of education provided to the students within the school district. I want to help to ensure that the school district adopts a culturally-responsive framework in order to create an ongoing collaborative process of continuous improvement. As an equity advocate, I want to help ensure access to equal opportunity and equity exists throughout all systems designed to enhance and shape the learning outcomes for all students, especially for students of color. I believe in inclusivity of people from all diverse cultural, racial-ethnic backgrounds – social justice and equality in all systems, specifically in the educational system. My main reason is to help build strong family, school, and community partnerships; and, end the discipline disparities in public education that exist in our school district.
Q. If elected, what aspects of the Brooklyn Center School District would you want to primarily focus on?
Parent/family, student, and community engagement including strengthening outreach to targeted neighborhoods for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Africans, and other communities of color are areas that I would want to primarily focus on utilizing my expertise and skills as an Art of Hosting trained facilitator. This includes, with my experience as a project director for a DHS Trauma Informed Care Collaborative, ensuring a culturally responsive, trauma-informed care system of care throughout the workforce and student body for all schools within the school district. I am particularly interested in the workforce of the teaching/school personnel in ensuring that the appointment and employment of qualified teachers, administrators, and other district service workers reflect the respective students of color. As a state planner and grants manager, I would want to concentrate on helping to obtain additional funding resources for the school district that would help improve curricula development, training/technical assistance/consultation services, and the environment of the schools.
Q. Why do you think it’s important to hold district administrators accountable in their duties?
To ensure that all school district resources must benefit our children, and all existing programs and services are aligned with the school district’s core values and mission. Also, to hold firmly to the belief – “there will be no disposable children.”
Mary O’Connor
Address: 5429 Lyndale Ave.
Age: 69
Family: Husband
Education: Two years of college with a certificate in information systems from the University of Minnesota
Occupation: Landlady
Years living in Brooklyn Center: 17 years
Community/civic organizations involvement: I am a school volunteer and a member of the Charter Commission in Brooklyn Center.
Information: mary_oconnor08@hotmail.com or 763-561-8038
Q. Why are you running for a seat in the Brooklyn Center School Board?
Our school district needs to focus on academic classes for kindergarten to 12th grade students and eliminate most other programs and activities. We have good teachers, but they are overworked. We need to lessen the mandates on our teachers. Our school district has taken on many responsibilities, which belong to parents. These should be given back to parents.
Q. If elected, what aspects of the Brooklyn Center School District would you want to primarily focus on?
We need to spend our time and money teaching reading, math, history, science, civics, writing, music and art to our students. Gym or recess would still be an important part of the school day. Active children learn better.
New teachers should be given mentors to help them teach academic classes to their students while keeping order in their classrooms. This will help them become successful teachers and will lessen the amount that leave the profession.
We must pay off our operating debt, which we have had for many years. We must reduce our spending and build up a reserve so we don’t get into debt again.
Brooklyn Center Academy should be closed. These older students can go to the high school in the evenings to get their degree or GED.
Students should not have to ride buses for up to 2.75 hours on cold winter days. I recommend we close school in December and March and keep school open during half of the summer. Students are less likely to forget what they learned over a shorter summer break.
Q. Why do you think it’s important to hold district administrators accountable in their duties?
The school board makes the decisions. The administrators must follow those decisions.
Jeff S. Palm
Address: 701 Bellvue Lane
Age: 50
Family: Wife and 23-year-old son
Education: Associate of Science degree in computer aided drafting and design
Occupation: Tool designer
Years living in Brooklyn Center: 25 years
Community/civic organizations involvement: Coached youth baseball for 13 years
Information: 651-789-9069 (work), 763-227-9045 (cell)
Q. Why are you running for a seat in the Brooklyn Center School Board?
I am currently on the board, and I feel my skill set fits into what the board needs.
I bring in the perspective from the private sector and never forget who I am working for, the taxpayers of the state of Minnesota.
I also enjoy the challenges that are completely different from my day job. I get to stretch an entirely different set of muscles, and I am learning something new all the time.
I work well within the group setting, and while the perspectives of other board members may be different on some issues, we find solutions that we can all agree on.
During my four years, we have brought in strong and committed leadership, and with our new five-year strategic plan, I believe we are headed in a good direction. Plus, it allows me the pleasure every spring of shaking the hand and congratulating 100-plus students, as they receive their diplomas.
Q. If elected, what aspects of the Brooklyn Center School District would you want to primarily focus on?
To continue the fiscal responsibility that we have shown the last five years, and to strengthen the programs that already exist. I work on teacher’s negotiations, the insurance committee, and I am the District 287 board representative.
As we strengthen our financial position, it will allow us to move away from grant funding. Grants are like borrowing your neighbor’s tools, they help you get the job done, but you have to return them when you are done.
Our transition from fully-insured to self-insured has given us greater control against some of the larger renewal percentages that you have seen in the industry the last few years. This saves the district, and our employees, money.
Our relationship with District 287 is very valuable. They serve the high needs of some of our students with a skill set that our small school district just can’t afford to do its own.
Since my private sector work is so technology heavy, I would like to help the district wisely invest in technology that helps the business of the district and entices our students towards its use while they learn.
Q. Why do you think it’s important to hold district administrators accountable in their duties?
We are custodians of the district, not the owners. The owners are the taxpayers of the Brooklyn Center School District, and the state of Minnesota. The current and future students deserve a district that will help guide them into a career path after graduation.
Erika Schulz
Address: 5913 Colfax Ave.
Age: 39
Family: James, husband of 15 years; two daughters, Chloe and Delphine, who both currently attend Earle Brown Elementary
Education: B.A. in Spanish and journalism from the University of St. Thomas
Occupation: Record keeping specialist at TASC
Years living in Brooklyn Center: 12 years
Community/civic organizations involvement: Participated on the 2014-2015 Strategic Planning Team and attends PTA meetings
Information: eespinasse@hotmail.com or 612-814-7220
Q. Why are you running for a seat in the Brooklyn Center School Board?
I recently participated in the strategic planning process along with 250 students, parents, staff and community members. We, together created a strategic plan for the Brooklyn Center Community Schools. I found the process very rewarding and was impressed with the effort that everyone invested throughout this process. Two members of our strategic team recommended that I run for a school board position, which I found out involved helping Superintendent Mark Bonine execute the new district’s strategic plan on transforming the system. This is the reason I am running for a seat on the Brooklyn Center School Board.
Q. If elected, what aspects of the Brooklyn Center School District would you want to primarily focus on?
My principal focus if elected would be to help guide all decisions regarding the district’s new strategic plan. It’s a changing world, and our students need to know that we are there to support them with the necessary education and life skills that they need to succeed.
Q. Why do you think it’s important to hold district administrators accountable in their duties?
It is important to hold district administrators accountable in their duties because it is our job to make sure that these students know and trust that we will have their best interests in mind. This certainly will not be an easy task, but I will give it 200 percent along with Superintendent Mark Bonine and my board member colleagues.