Mary Loveland, 58, lost her bid for a fifth four-year term in the 2003 election, finishing in seventh out of eight places. “I told myself a year ago that I had to think about it and maybe give it another try,” Loveland said. She said she had no agenda but would offer her experience with serving as a volunteer in education for more than 20 years.

justthefacts

To follow up on your answer about vouchers, would your answer be the same if all students, including members of minority races, were given the same $ amount to “spend” going to any school of their choice? How would that concept promote segregation? Wouldn’t it possibly allow poorer students to actually be able to afford to get into more expensive private schools?

justthefacts

An October 2006 report refutes claims that private schools are more segregated than public schools.
http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/news/2006-10-03.html

INDIANAPOLIS A new report from the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation finds that private schools participating in the Milwaukee, Cleveland and Washington D.C. voucher programs are much less segregated than public schools. In addition, the report finds that segregation levels in private schools generally are not substantially different from those in public schools.

This report follows up on two recent, original studies released by the Foundation, which found private schools participating in the Cleveland and Milwaukee voucher programs to be 18 and 13 points less segregated than their public school counterparts.

Moderator

Hello and welcome to our chat today with Mary Loveland, one of eight candidates running for four open seats on Lawrence’s school board in the April 3 election.
I’m Dave Toplikar, the education beat reporter for the Journal-World, and I’ll be serving as moderator today.
Welcome, Mary, and thanks for coming down to our offices. We already have a few questions, so let’s get started.

EmJones

Why all-day kindergarten? I don’t think all children are ready for all-day school at this age. I think we push them too hard, too soon, already.

No Child Left Behind has no fans among any of the teachers or parents that I know. Is there a chance Kansas will opt out of this deeply flawed program?

Mary Loveland

The main reason for all day kindergarten is to give students and teachers more time to cover a very full kindergarten curriculum. Topics, units, can be covered with more depth and , therefore, increase the opportunity for mastery of the lesson. Full day kindergarten is often optional in other districts, so parents have a choice as to whether or not they will take advantage.

I am not a fan of No Child Left Behind either, but if we opt out of participating I believe there is a resulting loss of federal funding.

multiagelearner

What are your feelings toward the district’s ELL endorsement requirements for all teachers at cluster and neighborhood sites?
Do you think other models could be implemented per the research that supports them?
Are you comfortable overturning a board policy if research and other models show to be more effective.

Mary Loveland

I am not totally comfortable with a requirement that all teachers acquire an ESL endorsement if they teach at new ESL cluster and neighborhood sites. A significant percentage of
the district’s teachers are approaching retirement and so the course requirement and years of additional teaching at the school post-endorsement can be a commitment they are unwilling to make. I do not know the rationale for requiring 100% faculty endorsement, especially since at least one special education professor has told me there is no research that supports such a requirement. But I would still encourage as many teachers as are willing to acquire the endorsement. Projections indicate that our ESL eligible student numbers will increase dramatically in the near future, so a number of new sites will need to be identified for ESL programs. It is always professionally beneficial for a teacher to expand their credential.

I am always willing to revisit a policy or decision. Changes should always be evaluated for their impact and effectiveness. But the newly elected board will not take office until July and that can be too late to make changes for a school year that starts the next month.

southernmiss

What do you believe that you can accomplish in this term that you didn’t do when you were on the school board before?

Mary Loveland

Since I did not file with a preset adgenda, I don’t have any accomplishments planned. I have a personal policy of not making any campaign promises other than that I will explore or study every issue as thoroughly as I can, examine the pros and cons of all potential decisions, and make a decision based on my conclusions as to what is best for the education of the school children of Lawrence Public Schools.

rhd99

How was it decided on which schools to close? There was so much talk about the Americans with Disabilities Act. when the decision to keep Cordley open & close Centennial created an uproar in our community. Why did you vote to close Centennial?

Mary Loveland

For me, the basis of the decision to keep Clordley open and close Centennial had to do with the locations of the two schools. Decisions were made in the 50’s to build schools too close to other schools, a decision based partly on the fact that all or most children walked home to have lunch and then returned to school. Such a small boundary area does not provide enough housing to sustain a stable school enrollment number. By closing Centennial, you have a better dispersement of elementary schools. I studied maps and worked out distances to Schwegler, Broken Arrow, New York and Pinckney, from Cordley and Centennial and Cordley made more sense to me.

An elementary school needs a large enough boundary to sustain enrollment. The house 6 blocks from school that once sent 3 kids to elementary school may be occupied by empty-nesters now. When there are enough houses within the boundary, the now empty-nested house may be next to a house that didn’t have school age children but was sold last year to a young family, filling the void in school enrollment created by the house whose nest was emptied. I believe that in an ideal district picture, schools would have at least 2 or 3 sections per grades. It is a much better situation for controlling class size and for the staffing of the specialist educators that serve all grades in a school–music, art, counselors, etc.

Mary Loveland

For me, the basis of the decision to keep Clordley open and close Centennial had to do with the locations of the two schools. Decisions were made in the 50’s to build schools too close to other schools, a decision based partly on the fact that all or most children walked home to have lunch and then returned to school. Such a small boundary area does not provide enough housing to sustain a stable school enrollment number. By closing Centennial, you have a better dispersement of elementary schools. I studied maps and worked out distances to Schwegler, Broken Arrow, New York and Pinckney, from Cordley and Centennial and Cordley made more sense to me.

An elementary school needs a large enough boundary to sustain enrollment. The house 6 blocks from school that once sent 3 kids to elementary school may be occupied by empty-nesters now. When there are enough houses within the boundary, the now empty-nested house may be next to a house that didn’t have school age children but was sold last year to a young family, filling the void in school enrollment created by the house whose nest was emptied. I believe that in an ideal district picture, schools would have at least 2 or 3 sections per grades. It is a much better situation for controlling class size and for the staffing of the specialist educators that serve all grades in a school–music, art, counselors, etc.

justthefacts

What is your opinion on school vouchers; are you for or against the idea?

Mary Loveland

I am against school vouchers. I presume that some of the fans of school vouchers are unaware of the history of the concept.
My understanding is that school vouchers were conceptualized in the south after public schools were desegregated. One of the responses to desegregation was the establishment of many private, segregated schools. Vouchers were proposed as a way to send public funding into those schools. So the concept of vouchers for me always begs the question–what is the agenda?

Mary Loveland

I am against school vouchers. I presume that some of the fans of school vouchers are unaware of the history of the concept.
My understanding is that school vouchers were conceptualized in the south after public schools were desegregated. One of the responses to desegregation was the establishment of many private, segregated schools. Vouchers were proposed as a way to send public funding into those schools. So the concept of vouchers for me always begs the question–what is the agenda?

interestedparty

Your answer on the domestic partner registry was not clear to me. Do you support? Do you consider yourself friendly to “LGBT causes”?

Mary Loveland

I am not opposed to a domestic partner registry. I guess that I can best be described as a moderate politically. (I’m a lifelong Democrat is you want to know.) By moderate, I mean that I make decisions on causes one at a time. I guess that is a reflection of my independent nature.

Mary Loveland

I am not opposed to a domestic partner registry. I guess that I can best be described as a moderate politically. (I’m a lifelong Democrat is you want to know.) By moderate, I mean that I make decisions on causes one at a time. I guess that is a reflection of my independent nature.

Moderator

That will be our last question.
I’d like to thank Mary Loveland and our readers for participating in today’s chat.
Our next scheduled school board candidates’ chat will be at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday with Mike Machell.

Mary Loveland

Thank you for the opportunity. I must say that I talk much faster than I type (keyboard?), but I always enjoy talking about education and our schools. Educating today’s children is an important investment in the future of our community. I would appreciate your vote on April 3.