Website: CathyCarmichael.com

Ranked Choice:

I support programs that replace traditional and/or remedial courses with advanced and/or college level courses in our district.
Strongly Agree

I believe that the racial demographics of the school districts should equitably represent the population of Baton Rouge.
Strongly Agree

I support the creation of a separate school district for St. George.
Strongly Disagree

Family poverty levels affect student test scores, therefore we need a system that takes overall school poverty level into account in order to give a more accurate measure of student performance.
Strongly Agree

The school district should have the authority to mandate vaccines for children in public schools.
Strongly Agree

The school district should provide curriculum that is sensitive to race, gender, and culture.
Strongly Agree

Recess time should be required in both elementary AND middle schools.
Strongly Agree

Short Answer:

What is your relationship with the public school system? (Did you attend, did/are your children/grandchildren attend(ing)). Have you attended school board meetings in the past? How would your presence improve the board?
I attended public schools from kindergarten all the way through university. All three of my children are current EBR public school students. I served four terms as a PTO President, lead numerous fundraising efforts for new school equipment, and continue to serve as an active volunteer. I have attended most EBR school board meetings over the last two years. At those meetings, I make my voice heard during the public comment period.
I want to bring a different perspective to the School Board. I am a frontline stakeholder. I would improve the board by holding my fellow board members and the Superintendent accountable for actions that prevent our schoolchildren from thriving.

Do you support the creation of more charter schools in Baton Rouge? What criteria would you use to determine whether to approve them? What solution would you propose to address the growing budget deficits as charters receive more dedicated funds from the general budget?
Baton Rouge is super-saturated with charter schools that duplicate education environments already provided by traditional public schools. The growth of charters has undermined local public schools and communities without producing any overall increase in student learning and growth. Charter schools have opaque finances, making it hard to tell how our tax dollars are being spent. Most worryingly, charter schools are not accountable to the EBRPSS school board or Superintendent. If a parent or student has a serious problem with their charter school, they may not have a democratically elected official that they can call on for help.
I believe that any newly proposed charter school demonstrate two things: 1. that it is filling a unique educational niche that EBRPSS is ill-equipped to fill, and 2. that filling this niche will enhance educational outcomes for a group of currently underserved students.

What role does a school board member play in addressing the local challenges concerning teacher retention and hiring? How will you address the district’s teacher shortage?
The first thing we need to do is stop calling this crisis a “teacher shortage.” We do not have a “teacher shortage.” What we have is a shortage of respect, dignity, support, and pay for teachers. All the problems we have recruiting and retaining teachers flows from that. EBRPSS teacher pay has been appallingly low for decades. Even before the pandemic, they had a huge and stressful workload; then COVID forced them to re-make their entire profession over and over again and deal with a host of additional stressors. Teachers had to endure forced reassignment to different schools and divisive stipends that pitted teachers against support staff.
As a school board member I would advocate for reversing the Superintendent’s many mistakes that have led to an exodus of teachers. They need fair pay, support, resources and time for planning at a time of extraordinary educational needs in Baton Rouge.

The Industrial Tax Exemption Program gives exemption of property tax to industry. What is your criteria for approving or denying ITEP exemptions for the school board portion of the tax?
The EBR School Board has been stuck on a ridiculous ITEP merry-go-round for many years. A big business hints that if it doesn’t receive an ITEP exemption, it won’t go through with its proposed job-creating business enhancement, thus putting pressure on school boards to approve every exemption for the sake of job creation. Every time an ITEP exemption is granted, public schools lose out on the tax revenue that they need to function. Enough is enough. ITEP exemptions should not be an everyday occurrence. They should be exceptional, and should only be granted when the project is truly transformational. We need to start thinking in this kind of long-term fashion and get out of our narrow-minded, “jobs vs. schools” mentality currently governing individual ITEP requests.

Would you like to clarify any of your ranked choice responses?
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Website: GloriaWall.com

Ranked Choice:

I support programs that replace traditional and/or remedial courses with advanced and/or college level courses in our district.
Neutral

I believe that the racial demographics of the school districts should equitably represent the population of Baton Rouge.
Neutral

I support the creation of a separate school district for St. George.
Neutral

Family poverty levels affect student test scores, therefore we need a system that takes overall school poverty level into account in order to give a more accurate measure of student performance.
Neutral

The school district should have the authority to mandate vaccines for children in public schools.
Neutral

The school district should provide curriculum that is sensitive to race, gender, and culture.
Neutral

Recess time should be required in both elementary AND middle schools.
Strongly Agree

Short Answer:

What is your relationship with the public school system? (Did you attend, did/are your children/grandchildren attend(ing)). Have you attended school board meetings in the past? How would your presence improve the board?
I am from Mississippi, and I attended private school through 8th grade and public school for the remainder of my education. I graduated from Brookhaven High School in 1988. After completing physical therapy school in MN. I moved to Baton Rouge and my first job was with a contracting company that provided physical therapy in EBR schools. This was my first exposure to the public school system in EBRP. Additionally, I have 3 stepsons and each attended school in EBR utilizing both public schools and parochial schools throughout their educational career. I have also navigated the public school system on behalf of my grandchildren. They are now in the parochial system and Central public schools. This is not an uncommon trend in EBR and I want to see this change. I will advocate for all students, teachers, and parents while working with my fellow board members and administration to improve traditional public schools. EBR can and MUST do better!

Do you support the creation of more charter schools in Baton Rouge? What criteria would you use to determine whether to approve them? What solution would you propose to address the growing budget deficits as charters receive more dedicated funds from the general budget?
I am neither for them nor against them. I am FOR an EXCELLENT education for ALL children. Currently over ½ of our public schools are rated D/F. Several of our charter schools are filling the gap. New C.S. would: 1. Serve an area where EBR public schools are failing our students. 2. The C.S. would have a proven track record in a similar environment. 3. The C.S. would provide an equitable enrollment process. 4. The C.S. would provide a similar curriculum as the EBR public school in that area. 5. The C.S. would seek opportunities to involve students, parents, and the community in the development of the school.
Budget spending needs to be examined regardless of whether or not there are more C.S. EBR spending may not be properly aligned with the priorities needed to improve student/school performance. As a school board member, I will undertake an in-depth analysis of the budget to insure we are effectively spending our tax dollars.

What role does a school board member play in addressing the local challenges concerning teacher retention and hiring? How will you address the district’s teacher shortage?
Recruiting teachers to EBR which is currently loaded with D/F rated schools, increased truancy, and decreased literacy is definitely a challenge. I will support budget priorities to allow for sign on bonuses for teachers, provide competitive pay for teachers, and encourage fully funded continuing education and professional development for teachers. I will listen to the concerns of teachers and work on policy that provides classroom support for teachers, parents, and students.
I believe that teachers need to have trust in the school system, the board, and the administration and I feel this is best improved through transparency. I will support policies that allow transparency for teachers, parents, the community, and students.
Additionally, teachers need to know that when they go to work, they will be working in a safe and supportive environment. I will advocate for such policies for teachers and students.

The Industrial Tax Exemption Program gives exemption of property tax to industry. What is your criteria for approving or denying ITEP exemptions for the school board portion of the tax?
What company is requesting the ITEP? What is the projected financial benefit to the community? What goods/services will the company provide and to what area? (Parish, state, country, international??) How many jobs/families will it bring to the area and/or how many new jobs will be created. What is the current and/or projected financial status of the company? (1 year, 3 year, 5 year, 10 year etc.) And lastly, what are the connections, if there are any, to key personnel or board members?

Would you like to clarify any of your ranked choice responses?
My neutral response for questions 1-6 is solely because I think each of those topics require additional information and discussion. I am always happy to discuss further and can be contacted through my website.

Website: electmikegaudet.com

Ranked Choice:

I support programs that replace traditional and/or remedial courses with advanced and/or college level courses in our district.
Strongly Agree

I believe that the racial demographics of the school districts should equitably represent the population of Baton Rouge.
Agree

I support the creation of a separate school district for St. George.
Neutral

Family poverty levels affect student test scores, therefore we need a system that takes overall school poverty level into account in order to give a more accurate measure of student performance.
Strongly Disagree

The school district should have the authority to mandate vaccines for children in public schools.
Neutral

The school district should provide curriculum that is sensitive to race, gender, and culture.
Neutral

Recess time should be required in both elementary AND middle schools.
Neutral

Short Answer:

What is your relationship with the public school system? (Did you attend, did/are your children/grandchildren attend(ing)). Have you attended school board meetings in the past? How would your presence improve the board?
My wife and I attended public schools, my mother and father were pubic school teachers and my father was a public school principal. My children attended religious affiliated schools as do my grandchildren. I have been on the EBR School Board since 2017. I believe through my personal experience I have added a focus on strategic planning and execution.

Do you support the creation of more charter schools in Baton Rouge? What criteria would you use to determine whether to approve them? What solution would you propose to address the growing budget deficits as charters receive more dedicated funds from the general budget?
I support good schools for all students in Baton Rouge. A good operator with a solid record of achievement is my main criteria. Currently our budget is balanced and I intend to keep it that way. I believe in competition and I don’t think that it is inevitable that charter schools will always win student enrollment. I believe with our new Superintendent and a willingness to change and meet the needs of students, the EBRPS System can successfully compete with charter schools in the future.

What role does a school board member play in addressing the local challenges concerning teacher retention and hiring? How will you address the district’s teacher shortage?
I don’t think “one” strategy is sufficient to address this nationwide problem. Some of the actions we have taken as a Board are: incentive pay for service through the pandemic; new hire incentive pay; commissioned a full salary review of all positions within EBRPS;
committed to an 8% across the board salary increase (except high paid employees);
working with Southern University to establish a Focus Choice pathway or school for those wishing to enter the teaching profession, tentatively by next year; working on a similar program with LSU.
Other strategies under direct control of the Superintendent include more and better focused professional development for the staff, advisory committees of teachers and staff to provide feedback, improved communications to employees (and the public), improved customer service (both employees and public) by the district, etc.
Salaries are not the only areas that need improvement to increase hiring and retention.

The Industrial Tax Exemption Program gives exemption of property tax to industry. What is your criteria for approving or denying ITEP exemptions for the school board portion of the tax?
My main criteria is that the project contributes to the industrial base of our economy providing long term foundations for the viability of our city and district. That is the way to insure the long term financial stability of our school system.

Would you like to clarify any of your ranked choice responses?
#4. I strongly agree that poverty levels impact student achievement but I believe that we must view that as an obstacle to overcome instead of a reason for lower outcomes. A student deserves nothing less just because he/she is poor. I do strongly believe that student progress should be a major component of school performance scores.
#5. I believe that vaccines that have long term histories of safety and effectiveness should be mandatory (like measles, small pox, polio, etc.). While I strongly recommend (and have taken) Covid 19 vaccines, I don’t support making them mandatory at this time.
#6. While I generally support such curriculum, the details of a specific curriculum are very important. Also, reasonable people differ greatly on what is considered sensitive to race, gender, and culture.
#7. I believe recess time is necessary for elementary school. I believe free time is necessary for middle school, but that may differ from defined “recess” time.