Fridley School Board
2009 FRIDLEY SCHOOL BOARD SURVEY
The Republican Party of
The Republican Party
is
pro-education. The Minnesota State Constitution in Article XIII, Section 1
states the following: "The stability of a republican form of government
depending mainly upon the intelligence of
the
people, it is the duty of the
legislature to establish a general and uniform system of public schools". To
summarize our Republic form of government cannot survive if our populace
is
stupid.
We want our School
Boards
to
focus
on the end product of an intelligent student population who will be able
to operate in our government and society successfully. These students must be taught about our
Constitutional
Republic as
well as the benefits of capitalism in order to maintain our way of life. We reject that the
answer to creating this end product is "more
funding". We expect
accountability
from our
teachers &
administration, students and parents equally as the
taxpayer always holds up his end of the bargain.
We support our local School
Boards to have as much control
over the mode and
content that students
receive
with minimal input from the State of
GRADES
Gordon Backlund:
A+
Gordon shows no significant deficiencies from conservative
principles.
Overall we have a very
positive view for Gordon and we ask that
our
body support Gordon Backlund by voting for him in the election.
Joseph Sturdevant: B
Joseph shows
significant support of conservative
principles especially in the area of fiscal responsibility and the defense of
the
taxpayer. There is concern regarding
the stance on No Child Left Behind as
well
as the position of how economics and government should be taught but is
not enough to cause major concern.
Overall we
have a positive view for
Joseph
and we ask that our body support Joseph
Sturdevant by voting for him in the
election.
Brad Richter: C+
Brad shows some support of conservative
stances especially
in his position on No Child Left Behind. A few red flags arise that
the
taxpayer was not
mentioned as a
factor in decision making as well as a low
belief that there are ways to
reduce spending. A neutral stance was taken
regarding how economics and government
should be taught. Overall we
take
no
position on Brad Richter we believe we can work with Brad if he is elected
and
ask that no vote be cast for the third selection in the
election.
Marcia Lindblad:
INC
We did not receive a response from Marcia. Overall
we
take a negative position on Marcia until a
survey response is received.
School Board Candidate ISD #14 (
QUESTIONS:
1.
What is your
name?
-Gordon Backlund
-Joseph Sturdevant
-Brad
Richter
2.
What is your occupation?
-Gordon Backlund: Contract
Administrator
-Joseph
Sturdevant: Police
Officer
-Brad Richter: Business Division Leader for Thrivent Financial for
Lutherans
3.
What is your
age?
-Gordon
Backlund:
68
-Joseph
Sturdevant: 39
-Brad Richter: 50
4.
Have you held office
previously?
-Gordon Backlund:
-Joseph Sturdevant: Elected
to two
terms to School Board in another district.
-Brad Richter:
Served on the Fridley School Board for 3 years.
RATE
YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE FOLLOWING
QUESTIONS
ON A 1 - 10 SCALE. 10 BEING THE MOST
AGREEABLE TO THE
STATEMENT.
5.
I believe the school board should only
consider
student(s) when making
any
decision.
-Gordon Backlund: 8 - Although the students
are the reason public education
exists, when making decisions it is important to
consider the whole
education
process.
That
includes the taxpayer, staff, and the academic
input.
-Joseph Sturdevant: 9 -
School boards
need to consider
everything in making a decision. Many factors
are involved in all decisions
such as state and
federal mandates.
School districts are often
forced by their funding to do things
one
way. It
would be a great state of
affairs if
decisions could be based on our districts students and their
educational
needs
-Brad Richter: 7 - The students
are the core and life of the
Fridley Schools;
however they are not the ONLY group to consider when making
decisions. Other
primary stakeholders are
parents, teachers, administrators and
community
members.
6.
I believe that the school board must always consider the
cost vs. value of
all
spending.
-Gordon Backlund: 9 - The major
exception is when implementing
state statute
and federal mandates where there is very little latitude in
implementation.
-Joseph
Sturdevant: 10
-Yes, every
decision should be made
with
value as well as the long term benefits. We need to keep in mind how
the money we
spend
today will help our district and students in five years as
well
-Brad Richter: 10
-
The board must always consider the cost of each
expenditure. As money
comes
from our taxpayers, our goal is to leverage all resources to get the
greatest value
possible with each dollar
spent.
7.
I believe
that the school board can reduce their spending.
-Gordon Backlund: 8 - The
question is when do you reduce school
related
spending? Is it due
to loss of students or is it due to
loss of expected
revenue? In each case you have to develop a plan for the reduction to make
sure
you maximize the results with the
monies you
have.
-Joseph Sturdevant:
10 -
I believe
that
efficiencies in the district should be looked at every opportunity. An example of that would be streamlining
the
districts leadership positions.
We need
to analyze their roles and responsibilities as ensure that
they are
efficient.
-Brad
Richter: 3
-
The board has been diligent at being good stewards of
the
taxpayer funds. We
have analyzed each
of our decisions and
believe strongly that we run our
programs as efficiently and effectively as
possible.
8.
I
believe the school board must be
good stewards of taxpayer
money.
-Gordon
Backlund: 10 - Board
members serve
at the pleasure of the
electorate. It is their
job to be good stewards of
taxpayer money.
-Joseph Sturdevant: 10 - This is one of
the most important
rolls
the board has.
We have a responsibility to educate our
youth. In doing that we must spend
the funds
provided efficiently.
The board
must
keep the taxpayer informed as to why tax money is being
spent the way it is. Communicating
that information to the tax
paying
public is vital.
-Brad
Richter: 10 -
The Fridley
School Board acts as good
stewards by
closely monitoring spending
but we also leverage taxpayer funds to
attract other grant dollars available
for
education.
9.
I believe the
main reason
students do not succeed is because there is not
enough
funding.
-Gordon Backlund: 4 -
There will never be enough funding for
public education.
The key is in knowing how
to make
the best use of the monies you are given to
maximize the
students learning.
-Joseph
Sturdevant: 5 - Funding is
not
the only factor in student success.
Our
country spends more money on education then any other
country. I believe that
student success should not
be solely based
on standardized test scores. Student
success will always be based on the
individual's achievement.
-Brad Richter: 4 -
Funding is used to design, support and grow
our programs. Funding is
a
tool. Our
programs, families and community are all factors impacting
students'
success.
10.
I believe the
main reason students do not
succeed is
because their
parents/family are not involved enough in their education.
-Gordon Backlund: 5 - Family participation, culture, and economic
hardships are
reasons
students do
not succeed. However, a main contributing reason is student
motivation.
-Joseph Sturdevant: 5 -
Family involvement
in a student's life
is vital.
The more
involved family is with the student, the more successful the student
will be in
all aspects of their educational growth
-Brad
Richter: 5 -
Families are
students first and primary teachers. Involved parents are
one part of a team of
caring adults in
our
community working together to
prepare students for life.
11.
I believe the main reasons students do not succeed is because
the student
(for
whatever reason) has refused to participate in their
education.
-Gordon
Backlund: 2 - Very few students ever refuse to participate in their
education. One of the
responsibilities of educators is to identify these
instances so that
resources can be used to provide
direction and help with
student motivation.
-Joseph Sturdevant: 7 - We as a
community
need to support student success.
Every student learns different from the next
student. Our educational system
must provide
educational
material and information in a way that
inspires students to
participate, learn and be a contributing member of our
community.
-Brad Richter:
5 -
The student needs to
determine what role they want to
play in their education,
and take
responsibility for their destiny.
They need great programs and
leaders along with a supportive community to achieve their
goals.
12.
I
believe
that the purpose of education is to
educate children what to think.
-Gordon Backlund: 1 - Students are
taught
how to think, to approach and solve problems,
and make
decisions on
the validity of the
data.
-Joseph
Sturdevant: 2 -
While there
are societal norms,
students
should not be taught, "what to think". The purpose of
education is to
provide
skills
needed for the student to succeed in life so they can contribute to
our
community, as
the students are the future of our community.
-Brad Richter: 1 -
Education creates opportunities. The actual purpose
of education is
to
teach people to learn how to learn for life.
13.
I believe
that the purpose of education is to protect our society,
specifically
our Republic
form
of government.
-Gordon Backlund: 5 - That is one purpose. Other
purposes are to help
them
provide for themselves and their families, and to give
opportunity for
personal
growth.
-Joseph
Sturdevant:
1 - I believe the
purpose of education
is to
provide life skills needed to succeed in life in all
aspects of it.
-Brad Richter: 1 - I
disagree with this
statement.
14.
I believe that teachers should teach all economic &
government
systems
equally and fairly while providing no preference to
any
-Gordon Backlund: 1 -
Students need
to be taught what our economic &
government systems are, how
they were formed,
and why they are so successful.
Other systems should be
taught, but not by giving then equal time
and
intensity.
-Joseph Sturdevant:
10 -
I think
that
more curriculums in our
educational system could be spent on the day to day
personal,
life, economics. Teachers should provide all
educational
instruction
in a way that the student can
conclude their own opinions.
-Brad Richter: 6 -
I
believe teachers should provide accurate
and quality information for students
along with
encouragement to make their own independent choices
preferences
when
asked. Teachers should feel
comfortable sharing their preferences
and
process
of discernment.
15.
I believe
it is
important to incorporate people in the
community without
teaching degrees to assist teachers in
educating students about their
expertise. For example; local police on law, and local business
people
on
entrepreneurship.
-Gordon Backlund: 10 - Bring in leaders and experts on
selected topics. No
teacher can know all information on a specific
subject.
-Joseph Sturdevant: 10 -
I do feel that
there is a great opportunity in our school system for that and
we
should
promote that aspect of education.
Also,
there is a gap in
student
learning as far as the life predictable application
of what they are learning and how
it may
be applied to every day life.
Bringing in someone in the
community that
can
show the students how what they learned can assist them in a career would be
of
great benefit
in the educational process.
-Brad Richter: 10 -
A
community works together to create
programs and opportunities
for
students. We all have
qualities to contribute to our schools to enhance
learning
experiences.
16.
I believe
students must maintain
their individualism as they go through
school.
-Gordon Backlund: 5 - Students
need to learn how to succeed and flourish
in
society. That takes commitment to
values, sense of
ethics, and team
participation. There has to
be some guidance during education
process.
-Joseph
Sturdevant: 9 - I do
believe that
students should
maintain their individualism while learning about
others individualism as well. A person's
individualism
shouldn't interfere with
another's educational journey.
-Brad Richter: 10 - Students
should maintain and define who they are as
individuals while respecting the
differences in others.
17.
I
believe that the No Child Left Behind law is Constitutional and good for
our
students.
-Gordon Backlund: 2 - Education is delegated to the states because it is not
articulated
in
the US Constitution.
-Joseph
Sturdevant: 6 - No Child Left
Behind
is the law that the majority of our Congress has set up. I believe that there are some
very
good
aspects of it where every student
across the country is getting the
same
standard of education measure. However,
every state in the nation has different
funding
formulas as well as many other
factors
that may create a situation
where
No Child Left Behind is not the only, best way to educate our
children.
-Brad
Richter:
1 - I
disagree with this
statement.
18.
I believe that the individual school
district
should be allowed total control
without the interference of the federal and state
government over the content
and the mode that
students are educated.
Gordon Backlund: 9
- If you
mean that school boards should have control of the
content and mode that
students
are educated, I agree. School board
members
represent the voters and education should be a local issue.
Joseph Sturdevant: 9 -
While there
should be much more local
control over the content and mode the
students are
educated, it is important to keep the entire county at the same
level. A good scenario may be that the
federal
government provide and support a model
education curriculum. In doing so, allowing local
districts
total
control as to how educate their children as the local
districts are much more
familiar with how our
children learn.
Brad Richter: 1 -
Each student
is unique and has special learning requirements.
The
core program offers the
same opportunity for all students. The school
must
support
standards that have been established,
but how programs are
created and implemented is part of the
program that the administration
creates
and implements.
19.
I believe any parent
should be allowed to attend any class their child is in
regardless
of prior notice and
permission.
Gordon Backlund: 9 - Parents
should be
encouraged to visit classes to see
for
themselves the district educational process with proper notification
and
scheduling.
However, they should avoid disrupting and be courteous to
the
classroom
process. Any areas of suggestion
should be communicated outside the
classroom to the teacher or other
appropriate personnel.
Joseph
Sturdevant: 5 - This could be
on
situation by
situation
bases. A
parent should be involved in their student's education, however,
the parent has
a role, and
the teacher has a role.
Both
should
support the other. Having a
parent come in class without notice could be
disruptive to the
educational
environment of all students
in the
class.
More importantly, open lines of communication would be beneficial for
all involved.
Brad
Richter: 4 -
"Drivebys" can be disruptive to not only
the student, but
the
students and the
administration.
20.
I believe this is why people should vote for me.
Gordon Backlund: I
believe in public
education. I am the
product of public
education, my extended family
has been public educators and I have extensive
board experience. This also includes state legislative
experience as a
participant
in school
funding. The public school is the heart of a
community,
which helps all residents and taxpayers
Joseph Sturdevant: People should
vote for me
as I would
represent
them and the community fairly. I
have no agenda or special interest. I simply want to contribute in the education
of the
future
of our
community. I want
to make sure that we
are giving our students the best education we can. I am the only person on the ballot
that
is
not
currently on the Fridley Board of Education, there for; I am the
only
choice for fresh ideas and change.
Brad Richter: I want
to follow through on the
implementation of the International Baccalaureate
Program and make a difference for the students and families who
attend the
Fridley Schools and ensure they are prepared for real life
experiences.