Campaign Issues
So many issues face Newark City Schools. Michael Wiley can tackle them and make our schools a better place.
My goal is to be the people’s board member. My goal is to hear from everybody and put the students, staff, and community first!
Accountability applies to everyone
It is important that ALL members of the district are accountable for their job performance.
School board members are elected by the community and have a duty to ensure that the district is being run in accordance to the community’s expectations.
The school board needs to ensure every person in the district is qualified, capable, and effective at their job. In order to do this, every person in the district, from the superintendent down to the support staff and classroom volunteers need to have their work reviewed annually. An annual review allows the district to asses an employee’s performance and their contributions to the district. The review process helps identify an employee’s strengths and weaknesses, set short and long term goals, share feedback, and ensure that adequate progress is being made in a timely manner.
We also need to ensure that the district is transparent about how the district is performing. Ensuring that the community understands what is happening within the district, that people know where and how funds are being spent, and that the district is upfront and honest about the current issues within the district.
It is important that community sees and hears about Newark City Schools more often and we all share in the education of students.
Our support staff deserve a living wage
Our support staff are the people who keep our schools running. These are the people who drive our kids school; who keep our classrooms clean, who feed our kids and care for them when they are sick.
Everyday, they give so much to our kids and get so little in return.
They are a vital part of our schools and yet they are often overlooked by the community. They deserve our recognition, our respect, and our support.
They deserve a fair, living wage. A wage that allows them to support their families and save for the future.
Our teachers deserve our support
Our teachers are the bedrock of our district.
They are the highly trained professionals that have the awesome responsibility of teaching our children; and preparing them for the future. They are also the people who spend the most time with our children.
Teachers are highly educated, many of them holding a master’s degree, some even have a PhD in education. They are highly motivated and passionate about the profession of teaching. They have to be. Being a teacher today is brutal.
Teachers must handle an ever increasing list of responsibilities. Often with little to no support from the district or the community. They must navigate an ever changing maze of rules about what they can teach, how they can teach it, and how many minutes they are allowed teach it. They are expected to fill out large amounts of paperwork that proves, what they are teaching, how they are teaching, and how much their students are learning.
Teachers are also expected to do so much more than teach. They are expected to be a nurse, a therapist, a counselor, a computer repair technician, a secretary, an event planner; and sometimes they are even asked to parent their students.
Teachers are also blamed for every problem in the school:
The expenses are too high. The teachers earn too much.
The building test scores are too low. Who receives the blame? The teachers.
Johnny didn’t turn in his homework? Blame the teacher.
Bobby acts out in class? He’s bored because the teacher isn’t challenging him.
Is it any wonder that we have a teacher shortage?