Portales school board candidate profiles

There is one contested race in Tuesday's Portales schooll board elections.

The Portales News-Tribune asked each candidate six questions. Here are their responses, which were edited for clarity and style.

POSITION 4

Incumbent Antonio R. Sanchez Jr., an engineering manager with Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, is vice president of the Portales School Board and a parent of three children enrolled in Portales schools.

Antonio Sanchez

Talk about one thing the district can do to save taxpayers money without compromising student education:

School funding is appropriated three ways: 90 percent from State Equalization Guarantee Distribution (SEG) used for our district's operational activity, federal programs — also known as title funds and taxpayer money.

Taxpayer money also known as SB-9 or "two-mill levy" is money acquired by the district through a public voting process. The maximum amount that can be acquired by this is two mills for a maximum of six years. There are restrictions on how this money can be used though. In order to save the taxpayers money, funds must be acquired in another way. Through the Public School Fund, money has been set aside by the state for "emergency" distributions. Acquiring money from this fund would provide another method of satisfying operational and capital outlay.

Talk about one area in which you'd like to see the district improve and how you would pay for it:

I would love to see the district improve on student attendance. Truancy has become an area of concern for the past several years. The key component in improving this area becomes parental involvement. Studies have shown that truant students tend to be poor academic performers and have a higher probability of dropping out of school entirely. Acquiring funding to motivate and educate parents in this area can be acquired through federal programs or the district's operational budget.

How should the district evaluate its teachers?

Multiple measures should be used in teacher evaluation. Periodic observation in the classroom by the principal will provide a measure of a teacher's performance as well as class participation; indicative of teacher/student interaction. Surveys by peer teachers is another method of assessment. Today's culture looks towards student achievement as a measure of how well a teacher is performing.

Could you support school staff carrying weapons on campus? Why or why not?

I could say with a feeling of comfort and honesty, and remember, I have three children who attend our public schools, I would be comfortable with selected staff being allowed to carry weapons on campus. I however would not be comfortable with just any staff member being allowed to do so. Adequately trained individuals who would be comfortable and willing to carry a weapon for protecting our youth and school employees from harm would have my support.

Name one thing the district could do to encourage parent participation in educating children:

If the district continues to support the Family Leadership Institute (FLI), I believe we will continue to close the gap in parental participation. FLI's main objective is to help teach parents and those who care for our children the art of building academic achievement. One of the goals of FLI is to increase involvement between a family and their children's education. This Institute offers tools in order to make our children successful in the academic world.

Why do you want to run for this district?

When my wife and I decided we wanted to become parents, we agreed that we would raise children that we would be proud of and support not only financially but spiritually and academically.

I am a first-generation college graduate who attended four universities over a period of 13 years. I understand the importance of a quality education as does my wife who is also a college graduate.

Although we both work full-time outside the home, we dedicate our home life to our children. From the minute we walk in the door, their first priority is to get their homework completed.

School is important to us because we understand the effect it will have on their lives and we strive to remain involved as much as possible in knowing what is going on in our children's school system.

Having been involved with our school board for more than two years has taught me so many things and opened my eyes to how many changes and challenges our district faces. I would like to continue to support our school superintendent and administration.

I understand that it takes a lot of time away from family and work to attend all the necessary training, various meetings and to sit on the various committees but I realize that I am doing so with my family's support.

Challenger Kathleen Cooper, a native of Philadelphia, has been in the local area since August. Cooper is a pediatric nurse.

Talk about one thing the district can do to save taxpayers money without compromising student education:

I think one way the district could save the taxpayers money without compromising student education is by considering more electronic communication. I realize that not everyone in the community has access to email, but so many do. Reducing the amount of printing and paper purchasing could produce significant savings as long as folks had the opportunity to elect to receive the papers if they needed.

Kathleen Cooper

Talk about one area in which you'd like to see the district improve and how you would pay for it:

One area I would really like to see the district improve is by offering Spanish to all children throughout their education. Americans of today, and certainly of the future, are going to need to be able to speak Spanish as well as English. I see New Mexico as leading the way. Of course every new addition to the curriculum requires funding. I would approach New Mexico businesses and international businesses for grant money. These are people who are well aware of the importance of Americans being bilingual, especially in Spanish. Not only is it easier for children to learn another language when they start at a young age, but research has shown that the mental flexibility that results carries over to better performance in other subjects as well.

How should the district evaluate its teachers?

Teacher evaluation is difficult. Standardized testing never tells the whole picture because so much more goes into student success than solely teacher performance such as parental participation and student effort, for example.

So, in addition to test results, I would like to see more subjective input from their peers and superiors at work.

Could you support school staff carrying weapons on campus? Why or why not?

I do not support school staff carrying weapons on campus. The goal is to reduce, not increase, the potential danger to our children.

As we all know, all the gun safety classes in the world do not remove the possibility of human error.

With that many people in one place, the majority of them children, it would be counterintuitive to throw weapons into the mix.

I would, however, like to see the doors locked from the outside, which would not compromise safety in case of a fire. Many schools and businesses have this in place already in complete compliance with fire safety regulations.

Name one thing the district could do to encourage parent participation in educating children:

The Portales School District has done a fabulous job at encouraging parent participation, it seems to me. The Leadership Institute, the Family Nights at school for younger children, and the information for parents sent home in English and Spanish are super steps. I think offering parents more opportunities to volunteer at the school may be one more inroad, but considering families' busy schedules the efforts that are in place are admirable.

Why do you want to run for this district?

When I saw the item in the newspaper that the position would be open, I thought, "I would be happy to help." I have spent my entire adult life as a pediatric nurse, 26 years. My husband and I were foster parents for the last two years.

Advocating for children is just always what I've done. I thought maybe it's time to reach beyond the children with whom I have direct contact, in my home or in my workday, but serve the whole community.

— Compiled by PNT senior writer Christina Calloway