We have partnered with the Lake Oswego Sustainability Network (LOSN) to create a questionnaire for the candidates in the May 20 school board election to see where they stand on issues of equity and sustainability. Katherine (Kate) Lupton’s answers are copied below, verbatim.
Remember to vote in the May 20 election!
Voters can use the Clackamas County Equity Coalition’s Equity Ratings Guide as a helpful tool for voting with an equity lens.
Candidate: Katherine (Kate) Lupton – Position 4
School Board Candidate Questions – Kate Lupton
1. The LOSD website states “the Board appoints advisory committees to consider matters of district-wide importance.” Beyond “consideration,” what, in your opinion, is the role of the advisory committees (SACs, strategic plan and academic advisory committees)? How would/do these committees help you in your role as a board member? What changes would you make to improve the effectiveness of these committees (structure, board interaction, recruitment, agenda-setting)?
One of my priorities as an LOSD School Board member is to empower the community to provide input to the Lake Oswego School Board. This can be achieved by increasing opportunities for students and families to connect with board members, in both formal and informal settings. Improved feedback can be gathered by seeking out and prioritizing feedback from teachers and staff in the district. And finally, we must partner with stakeholder groups such as Stand for Children, LOSN, Oswego Lake Watershed Council, Prep LO, LO for Love and Respond to Racism to incorporate neighborhood perspectives in School Board decisions.
2. During the February 24 School Board meeting, it was revealed that graduation rates for Hispanic students have dropped and that graduation rates for underserved students have dropped nearly 10%. Reading and math proficiency have also disproportionately dropped for Black elementary students in the district. How will you combat these disparities in education outcomes?
It is my priority to ensure that our School Board includes best practices and innovative research in every decision. We must create policies that adapt to current best practices and technologies. We must partner with teachers to develop more targeted training and support in current best practice reading and math techniques. We can provide training so that teachers can evolve with best practices and research, creating a teacher that is able to adapt and evolve with new innovations in our community and in our nation. We can lean on organizations such as Stand For Children (a group which endorsed me in this race), to guide us on best practices to life scores for reading proficiency.
As a student in Salem-Keizer Public Schools, I attended Englewood Elementary, Parrish Middle School, Waldo Middle School, and North Salem High School. By the end of my K-12 education, I had received the equivalent of a full school year less instructional time than students who completed their education other cities in our nation. This calculation is made by taking into account the number of instructional days provided for our students per year.
I believe all students in Oregon deserve a school year that includes 180 instructional days per year, on par with the majority of the states in our nation. We must give our students the opportunity to start their classes in August, which will in turn give them a fair chance at achieving high ranking scores on national Advanced Placement tests and standardized exams.
3. How do you envision the LOSD Board of Directors and the district engaging with community based sustainability and antiracism organizations? For example, the Coalition of Communities of Color’s “Cultivating Belonging in Clackamas County” report recommends dominant institutions partner with community based organizations and provides suggestions for effectively and ethically approaching those partnerships.
One of my priorities as an LOSD School Board member is to empower the community to provide input to the Lake Oswego School Board. Improved community feedback must be found by partnering with stakeholder groups such as Stand for Children, LOSN, Oswego Lake Watershed Council, Prep LO, LO for Love and Respond to Racism to incorporate sustainability and antiracism perspectives in School Board decisions. One way to do this would be to invite each of the organizations mentioned above to present to the School Board at least once per school year, providing their recommendations for best practices and ideas to improve our schools.
4. Teach and Practice Sustainability is a pillar in the current strategic plan. Do you support including sustainability in the next strategic plan? Why or why not? How would you like to see sustainable practices addressed by the district in the future?
I am a candidate greatly values sustainability, and has proven this in our Lake Oswego community through both my words and my actions. In 2021, I was endorsed by the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV), after an extensive endorsement process. This is because I am a candidate that values our native species, our tree canopy, and environmental best practices in our schools.
Some ideas for sustainable action include:
- Electrifying our fleet of school buses
- Focusing on green infrastructure throughout the school district- which is more than just planting trees! I have a Backyard Certified Habitat and know the true meaning of green infrastructure.
- Developing an actionable climate change plan for the district
- Banning gas powered blowers and lawn mowers and switch fully to electric options
5. We’ve heard from current and former students that taking Ethnic Studies helps them feel better prepared to work with people from diverse backgrounds. Will you support reinstating Ethnic Studies and making it mandatory? If so, how will you go about it? If not, why?
As a student of Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University, we focused heavily on equity work, protecting vulnerable students, and supporting voices from all backgrounds and cultures. Both my degree and my experiences in Baltimore and in Salem prepared me well for classroom teaching and for leadership.
In our graduate work, we focused extensively on DEI and CRT best practices and techniques. After receiving my M.S.Ed. degree from Johns Hopkins University, I was able to apply the DEI and CRT practices from my degree program in my Baltimore classroom on a daily basis, to great success.
It is important that all children feel included and honored, and can see themselves reflected in their curriculum. I am passionate about the importance of such programs, and I feel they should be included in public school curriculums.
6. We have heard from our students that climate literacy is critical to be prepared for life after graduation. How would you ensure our students are learning about the climate crisis at all grade levels?
As a School Board member and environmentalist, I will always champion climate literacy in our LOSD public schools. I will prioritize climate literacy and ensure that students are learning about the climate crisis at all grade levels.
7. School administrations tend to be reactive rather than proactive when it comes to addressing the needs of BIPOC students. For example, students often have to come to their administrators with requests, and are rarely, if ever, asked what they need unprompted. What steps will you take to ensure that schools are more proactive in addressing the needs of BIPOC students? For example, one of the most common obstacles BIPOC students report is navigating microaggressions. How will you implement a district-wide approach for addressing microaggressions?
I am the proud product of an Oregon public school education, which is why I prioritize and champion inclusion and special education efforts, rigorous academic offerings throughout the district, quality curriculum design, and parent and student input. Nothing is more important to me providing an equitable education and providing opportunities for all of our students to succeed.
While living in Baltimore, I taught in the Baltimore City Public Schools and participated with my high school students in the “Advocacy Project”–a program I founded that partners students with diverse urban neighborhood groups. This program’s goal was to increase student awareness of BIPOC communities in Baltimore and to allow students to connect personally with community members who may have had different backgrounds and life experiences. I fully believe that there are ways to incorporate racial awareness into our curriculum, and I will always champion these efforts.
As a student of Education policy, I learned that the most effective policy is policy that is responsive to community needs. Policy is a living instrument that must be responsive, transparent, flexible, and accountable. This applies especially to school district policy.
I was bullied extensively as a student in the Salem-Keizer public schools, and I know that I will be able listen to and prioritize feedback from our BIPOC students. I look forward to hearing their ideas on how to best address the microaggresions that they face daily, and together we can develop solutions to best support our students.
8. How would you integrate sustainability into the existing curriculum and district operations? What role do you see professional development playing in support of teaching and practicing sustainability.
As a high school Spanish teacher, I participated with my high school students in the Advocacy Project–a program I founded that partners students with diverse urban neighborhood groups. This program’s goal was to increase student awareness of BIPOC communities and to allow students to connect personally with community members whose backgrounds and life experiences may have differed from their own. I fully believe that there are ways to incorporate racial awareness into our curriculum, and I will always champion these efforts. To learn more about The Advocacy Project, please visit www.theimmersiveclassroom.com.
9. How will you address students’ lack of trust in the bias reporting system? How can schools better protect students who file bias reports from peer and staff retaliation? How can you improve accountability from LOSD staff and administrators?
We could have administrators from the school district or school board members give presentations in middle and high school classrooms in Lake Oswego, educating students (and their teachers) about the bias reporting system. These yearly presentations at the start of the school year, to individual classrooms, would go a long way towards normalizing the bias reporting system.
The district could make a podcast on the subject, and send out notices in parent newsletters. We could also give presentations in elementary school classrooms, so that early on students are exposed to the bias reporting system, and it can be normalized for all students in our schools.
Another idea is to form a parent collation of volunteers who review all of the cases from the bias reporting system at least once a month, to ensure that LOSD staff and administrators are held accountable and decrease retaliation.
10. School board members oversee the district’s budget. For the sections of the budget over which the board has discretionary authority, how do you approach evaluating and prioritizing what should be included both generally and specifically with respect to equity and sustainability?
I have spent January, February, and March listening to Lake Oswego residents from many diverse backgrounds, at meetings, on school playgrounds, and often over a cup of hot coffee. I feel privileged to have the time to listen to our community’s concerns and hope for the future of our school system.
Throughout these winter months I met with parents from the elementary, middle, and high schools of Lake Oswego. I met with students, administrators and teachers throughout the district. I met with current and former school board members, city council members, and community leaders.
I am a listener. I gather perspectives and ideas to best promote the constituents that I represent, and I will always listen and ask questions before prioritizing discretionary funds, to make sure that I include the best solutions for both equity and sustainability in our district.