School board president Ali Muldrow and write-in candidate David Blaska offered vastly different visions for what education should look like in Madison’s public schools during a candidate forum hosted by the Simpson Street Free Press March 17. The candidates fielded questions from reporters from Simpson Street, the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times and Isthmus and the debate was often tense as Muldrow largely defended the Madison school district’s current policies while Blaska levied broad criticism at the district’s focus on “creating anti-racist school culture and curriculum.”
“If we stopped telling people that Madison is racist, if we stopped teaching that some kids succeed all because of privilege, I think everyone would be better off,” Blaska said at the forum. “Because that's such a disempowering message to kids.”
Muldrow countered that the district isn’t doing enough to serve students of color.
“When a person says to me, ‘Hey, I'm really worried to send my kid to school because as an African American student, they are more likely to be arrested, they're more likely to be suspended, they are more likely to be sent out of their classroom than they are to learn how to read,’ I have to take that really seriously,” said Muldrow. “That's been going on since I was a kid. I graduated from East High School at a time when [only] 38 percent of African Americans were graduating [high school] from this district.” Muldrow graduated in 2005.
The forum did not include the candidates who are running for the only open school board seat on the ballot April 5: Laura Simkin and Shepherd Joyner. However, former district administrator Nichelle Nichols, who is running unopposed, was invited to participate.
Muldrow and Blaska disagreed sharply over the board’s 2020 decision to remove school resource officers from the district’s four big high schools. Muldrow expressed frustration with the “mythology that police in schools keep students safe.”
“The police were in our schools for 18 years…and over the course of 18 years we didn't see the elimination of violence in schools. We didn't see the elimination of sexual assault in schools. What we saw was a majority of students who were arrested, every single year, were African American. And that disparity is a trend that we can't be okay with,” said Muldrow. “We can't live in a community where students of color know that they're not going to have the same opportunity to feel safe at school, but they know they're more likely to be subjected to the harshest and most severe punishments.”
Blaska supports bringing back SROs to the district’s high schools and laced his argument with jabs like calling East High School, “Fight Club East.”
“I don't think the police criminalize those kids. I think the kids, through their own behavior, did…. Getting rid of the school resource officers, that was the capstone of a decade-long assault on school discipline,” said Blaska. “I would initiate a number of programs starting with returning the school resource police officers back to the schools. I would also jettison the Behavior Education Plan. Seven years in, it's not working.”
Nichols doesn’t want to reconsider the board’s decision on SROs but is open to revising the district’s Behavior Education Plan.
“I understand that there has been a rise in incidents. Guess what? That's not unique to Madison. I know that doesn't feel good. It doesn't. That doesn't make it okay. But there's been an escalation in lots of student incidents around the country,” said Nichols. “I think there's more to explore and more to invest in, [rather] than having to go back — right now — to SROs as the answer.”
On whether the school board needs to address the use of cellphones in the classroom, Blaska held up a paper grocery bag and said, “cell phones go in the bag and [students] can get them back afterwards.”
“This is a perfect example of how we're running headlong away from [holding] kids responsible. There used to be guardrails for kids called adults,” said Blaska. “And yes, it's in the kids' nature to test the limits. But we keep moving the guardrails farther and farther out when they test the limits and what is the result? We have almost daily fights now and not just at East High School.”
Muldrow dismissed concerns expressed by teachers and parents that cell phones are causing kids to check out while in class and may be contributing to online bullying that leads to high-profile fights that have made headlines all school year. The district already has a policy barring cellphones in the classroom if the devices are a distraction but, as Isthmus reported, enforcement of this policy is spotty.
“I found a lot of ways to not engage in class without ever having a cell phone…. I spent a great deal of time in class staring out the window because I knew I wasn't actually wanted or welcome in my classroom,” said Muldrow about her experience in Madison schools.“[Blaska] thinks he can force somebody to learn or that you can bully a kid into being attentive. And I think that that comes from a lack of working with our young people.”
Nichols said that student cell phone use underscores a broader issue about supporting teachers with classroom management.
“At the end of the day, I think policies have to turn into day-to-day practice. So why do educators feel like things are out of control? Why is a cell phone more engaging and almost like a competitor to classroom instruction? What's happening there?” asked Nichols. “How do we really figure out how to shift that and change the conditions so that it happens with less frequency?”
Earlier this year, district administrators “hit pause” on a plan slated to begin next semester to phase out standalone honors classes for 9th and 10th graders. The plan was to focus exclusively on the Earned Honors program, started in 2017, that allows students to earn honors credit by completing “predetermined criteria.” The district says it will seek more public input before transitioning away from standalone honors classes that any student can opt into and provide access to more advanced curriculum in core subject areas like biology, English and history.
Nichols didn’t take a firm stance on eliminating standalone honors but does believe offering more opportunities for advanced learning — like the Earned Honors program — is a positive step for the district.
“I completely understand why for many families in our district standalone honors is an attractive offering…. I understand that in those classrooms there are highly motivated students, probably with less distraction. And those conditions really help some of our students who are looking for more rigor, more challenge, to thrive, “ said Nichols. “The unfortunate thing is that oftentimes when you talk to students of color — and this is not to generalize — but when you do talk to students of color who are in those settings, they often feel very isolated by their peers. They feel that teachers generally don't help mitigate some of the issues that are happening in those classroom settings. And so to just rely on [standalone honors classes] is not going to get us more students of color accessing a more challenging curriculum.”
Muldrow is supportive of eventually eliminating standalone honors classes once the district has a more concrete plan in place.
“Honors and advanced learning programs have often catered to students who are affluent and students who are white,” said Muldrow. “We're pumping the brakes on making that transition to Earned Honors without standalone honors, because we want to do this work well, and we want to do it thoughtfully. And we want to do it in partnership with our community, our educators and our schools.”
Blaska said if elected, he would oppose the elimination of standalone honors classes.
“We can't keep dumbing down education. That doesn't serve anyone and it frustrates a lot of parents who are able to get their kids to study,” said Blaska.
Nichols did tend to agree with Muldrow, at least in spirit, on the issues. But she also seemed to recognize that Blaska is raising the same concerns as many parents, minus the conservative blogger’s flair for invective.
“As a board member, I'm going to talk honestly about our schools,” said Nichols, “without disparaging the students and the families who attend them.”