League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
Hamilton County, OH November 8, 2005 Election
	Eileen Cooper Reed Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Cincinnati City School District

Questions & Answers

1. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)

Former Director of the Children's Defense Fund Extensive background in educational policymaking Directed citizen engagement in CPS building program Only community representative on CPS Redesign Team Extensive experience in Board/Executive roles and responsibilities Experience in budget development and management

2. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)

1. Achievement for all students - Align state and local standards, set high expectations for performance and bold annual goals for achievement, ensure expansion of early childhood programs, instill urgency regarding achievement, monitor closely
2. Teacher Quality - ensure hiring of competent teachers, promote strong and effective professional development programs, link evaluation to effective teaching
3. Fiscal Accountability - serious consideration of Mayor's Budget Task Force recommendations, adopt fiscal policies that comply with best practice, monitor budget alignment monthly and insist on explanation and redress of budget variations

Evaluate CPS administration based on these principles. Better engage parents and citizens in CPS.

3. What will you do as a Board of Education member to increase parental involvement in your school system? (100 word limit)

A proponent of strong parent AND community involvement at all levels of the district; ensure that the Board is open, transparent and accessible to parents and community Identify and develop multiple methods for engagement of parents and community; support the appropriate development of community learning centers and family friendly school environments; strengthen LSDMCs and promote training for them; review policies for engagement of both parents and community,strengthen them and enforce them; and, develop and use appropriate parent engagement evaluation criteria

4. What is the most pressing issue facing the Cincinnati Public Schools? (100 word limit)

I believe the most pressing issue facing Cincinnati Public Schools is student achievement. As a community, we have not developed the will to insure that the educational needs of all of our students are being met. We seem to get distracted by the needs of adults, inside and outside the system rather than placing children at the center of our policymaking and strategy development. As adults in the Cincinnati we have not held each other accountable for our respective roles in student achievement, nor have we found sufficient ways of supporting one another in the carrying out of those responsibilities. I believe that the task before us is developing an adult community - parents, teachers, administration, Board and community, dedicated to the achievement of all students, and the gathering of public and private resources necessary for that achievement.

5. Please describe what you consider the most important roles and responsibilities of a school board member. (100 word limit)

The role of the school board member is to: Contribute to the development and refinement of the vision and mission; establish clear standards of performance and to assess progress based on performance goals;be open, honest and accountable to the community;create the conditions by which excellent teaching and student learning and performance will take place;create a climate that is welcoming to parents and commmunity, supportive of administration and teachers, and has high expectations of students; develop collaborative relationships;be a good steward of public dollars, align to system goals and monitor their expenditure. The best interests of students must be the cornerstone of board decision-making.

6. How would you, as a school board member, improve student achievement for all students? What would you do to close the achievement gap? (100 word limit)

Because student achievement is my first priority, aligning state and local standards, setting high expectations for performance, aligning resources to achievement goals, expanding early childhood programs and continuous monitoring of outcomes are important to achievement for all students. Closing that gap would entail taking a good look at the disaggregated data, setting specific goals and strategies at the site level, the allocation of resources to the local strategies and the inclusion of bold goals in a new CPS strategic plan.

7. What would you do to ensure the district remains on solid financial footing? (100 word limit)

The CPS Board is the primary steward of public investment in the public system. Each year the Board approves a budget prepared by the administration. At least once a month, the Board should receive a fiscal report from the Treasurer, determine if there is a variance in the budget and require an explanation and/or plan for relieving such variance. The Board must also attend to the building program and insure that dramatic cost overruns are avoided. If there is a shortfall, the Board must address it expeditiously by considering alternative financing options, searching out other sources of funding, cautiously tapping into reserves or cutting back programs.