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In the Race
Now, here, you see, it takes all the blogging I can do to keep in the same place. If I want to get somewhere else, I must blog twice as fast as that! You see, I'm in the Red Queen's Race...
David Works - Getting to Know Your School Board Candidates
By Janet Evans
Thursday, Jan 24 2008, 11:55 AM
 David A. Works
(414)529-6857
david.works@pw.utc.com
David Works has been a Franklin resident for 21 years.
He and his wife Beverly have a nine year old daughter who attends Ben Franklin Elementary School.
David has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Metallurgy from Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s Degree in Business Management from Cambridge College.
He has been employed at United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division for 22 years and is the Midwest region Metallurgical Specialist.
David is PTA president at Ben Franklin Elementary School, American Society for Metals past Chairman, American Foundry man’s Society member, and member of the Waukesha Elks Lodge.
A member of the Franklin Public Schools Superintendent’s Key Communicator Committee, David was a also a member of the Franklin School District Strategic Plan Committee and the Citizen Superintendent Search Advisory Committee.
He has been a regular parent volunteer at Ben Franklin Elementary School for the past five years and has actively pursued areas of opportunity where the educational process could be improved. David applied for, and was awarded grant funds from companies and organizations to finance these efforts. He worked and continues to support the staff members responsible for the creation of the “Discovery Laboratory,” which enhances the classroom instruction with innovative hands-on learning instruction unlike anything else in SE Wisconsin.
He is a former paid-on-call Firefighter for the Franklin Fire Department. He actively worked with other concerned Franklin citizens to keep a sex offender home out of our community.
David is a man compassionate about our schools and children. This is evidenced by his involvement in Ben Franklin’s PTA as President, and his work and successes in helping to improve the educational experience at that school through the financial results of grant writing and many hours of volunteer work. David conveyed to me he has a strong passion for “educational excellence” and, if elected to the position for School Board member, he would want to work to improve our standards whenever possible, to prepare our students for the future.
As a School Board member, he would be there to represent the best interests of every student and taxpayer, and do so in a professional and ethical manner, establishing better trust and communication within the school district. David also thinks it is essential to exercise sound financial judgment, only after the review of convincing data, also in a professional manner.
Some items of importance to David that he would like to see accomplished as a member of the Franklin Board are:
- Scheduling regular listening sessions (perhaps on a monthly basis) at the Franklin Public Library.
- Discuss with city officials, about having an outdoor Community Calendar with key dates and events. One possible location for this would be at the intersection of Drexel and Loomis Ave.
- Have a Board representative attend organization meetings in Franklin (such as PTA/PTO, Lions, Women's Club) at least once during the year.
- Have an information table at the Civic Celebration to meet and discuss questions from residents.
- Treat all constituents with respect and address their concerns in an honest manner.
David believes Student Achievement is important for Franklin School district students and currently rates our district at 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 5. He measures achievement by Standard test score comparisons from similar school districts. Possible avenues to increase achievement might be found by accessing the current methods and determining what immediate improvements could be made. He used an example from Ben Franklin, where the PTA helped to initiate the increased use of hands-on learning aids with the creation of the “Discovery Laboratory”. The cost of this was funded by a combination of PTA funds, grant money and budgeted school funding and it is expected some improvement on State Achievement tests, on an annual basis, will be the result of these efforts.
Discovery Lab Overview à read here
David said the No Child Left Behind Act (NLCB) is a federally mandated program that requires schools to ensure that all students achieve set minimum standards for each grade level. He believes it is a matter of debate as to whether NCLB is effective and, if he had the ability, he would demand that the Federal and State governments provide the funding that was deemed necessary for the success of the program. He would do this by lobbying with the State Legislature and Senate.
While student achievement is one of the greatest needs to address, David believes the Board must also gain the trust of the community in order to be effective. Improving communications is a must. Also, there are some changes in the organizational structure of the administration involving personnel and specific responsibilities that could greatly improve the effectiveness of the district.
On matters of accountability, David feels that the Superintendent is the chief managing figure in the district. He must ensure that his direct reports provide the necessary due diligence for their decisions. David would measure the Superintendent’s effectiveness by how well he manages his staff to fulfill the district educational goals.
David is very adamant regarding ethics and believes the Board should agree on a “code of ethics.” Board members should be held accountable for their actions.
When asked how he would handle comments from the community that might question his statements or actions, David said he would address them to the best of his abilities, noting that it would be unrealistic to believe that 100% of the community will agree with you 100% of the time. But, rational people can have rational dialog if both parties really have that desire.
He feels the current communication between the district and the community has been below average and can certainly be improved, as evidenced by last year’s failed referendum and other district issues. David believes community input is essential to his decision-making processes. He said the taxpayer’s viewpoint must be respected because they are the ones who elect the Board into office, and he has confidence in the judgment of the citizens of Franklin.
Regarding fiscal issues within the Franklin School district, David believes there may be areas of opportunity where savings may be made. Spending could possibly be reduced by the use of “Lean techniques” that demand efficiency. Administration structure and designated responsibilities should be evaluated to ensure that the most effective structure is used, without redundancy. This could be done without affecting student achievement. David thinks that the "zero based" budgeting approach will be a progressive move in the right direction. Requiring a comprehensive review of all expenditures will help identify areas of cost reduction and potential cuts. By revisiting and justifying each department's expenses that are actually needed on an annual basis, each area will have to establish a legitimate need for the expense.
When questioned which curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities, contribute to student achievement, and which he felt could be eliminated, David responded that the core subjects, such as math and reading are essential for the success of other subjects. A well balanced education, with such subjects as art, music, and physical education is important because it enhances creativity and confidence in the student. He would not recommend any eliminations at this time.
When I asked whether it would be fair to charge parents of students who are participating in these types of activities extra fees to maintain these types of programs, if it became a necessity, David responded that if it meant that funds might be taken away from core educational needs, then yes, he would consider charging for these activities as a last resort.
Finally, I asked the candidates a few questions that they were not required to answer. David was forthright in his responses.
When asked how he felt about the current situation with the School Board, specifically, the issue with the Vote Yes flyers and the Senior assembly during the referendum, and the possibility that there could be a recall, David said, from what he knows about the situation, he felt some type of public apology should have been made.
When asked if elected, are you willing to be an independent thinker and vocally express your opinions to other Board members, David said, absolutely, he would follow his own better judgment regarding what substantiation is required for any issue at large.
David believes that he is a good team participant and one who sets his goals towards the desired results and maintains the focus on them. Many of the recent issues in the District can be attributed to poor communication and lack of cooperation between Board, Administration, and staff members.
We have many personality types in our community, and the ability to work effectively with them will determine our success or failure.
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