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. Kasey Adler’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: Kasey Adler – Position 4
- 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)?
The most effective boards seek broad input from the community so they can make informed decisions. I’m currently serving on the Westridge SAC as well as the LO School Foundation Board, both of which engage with the district often, particularly around agenda-setting and prioritization. I would lean into these collaborations with our advisory committees. I will encourage the school board to invite all voices to be heard amidst the board’s deliberations.
Additionally, we should be intentional and focused in seeking broad representation from the community at large in our recruiting efforts. This school board will be most successful when intentionally seeking a diversity of perspectives and opinions.
- 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?
Those disparities are unacceptable. Everyone should graduate, and we should be working to deliver on that promise. We also need to recalibrate our performance metrics so we can more accurately identify where we must improve and where we must seek additional help and support for struggling students.
In our district’s next strategic plan, we should be asking thoughtful questions about how we can best serve all the communities in our district, particularly the underserved.
- 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.
Collaboration and partnering is incredibly important to our success as a district. We should be leaning into the collaborations with the culture of belonging committee, the long range facilities planning committee, as well as the city’s sustainability advisory board towards implementing the CCC’s recommendations wherever possible. This is about ongoing dialogue, as I believe these collaborations thus far have moved the needle in our district. For example, it’s been fantastic to see solar panels being installed at our schools, as well as seeing earthquake retrofitting as a priority in the district’s bond proposals. The schools we’ve been building in Lake Oswego are gold standard for recycling and sustainability – it’s wonderful we’re acting to take care of our environment. I believe that new capital projects in our district should have sustainability planning incorporated upstream in their development. Working hand in hand with our community-based organizations will be key to effective implementation of those plans.
- 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 100% support including sustainability in the next strategic plan. It has been prioritized within our bond strategy as well and the results so far have been great to see. Operationally, we can reinforce the importance of this subject through daily practices. For example, simple processes like how we handle our garbage and recycling at our schools can be impactful – always with the goal in mind of achieving a net zero effect on our environment. And we should continue to include sustainability within all of our capital improvement projects in the future.
- 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?
To go even broader, I believe Ethnic Studies should be incorporated into the whole fabric of our curriculum; embracing different cultures, how and why people are different, and how we can all support each other. We should consider a curriculum review and instructional roadmap, K-12, to see what gaps exist in these efforts, and work with the superintendent to ensure we’re addressing deficiencies. We should also invite feedback from teachers and students on how we can supplement these efforts, and get students involved in sustainability-related projects early and often, both inside the buildings and in the community.
- 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?
Emphasizing science curriculum at the elementary levels is a good place to start, followed by rigorous science course offerings at the middle/high school levels to reinforce a strong foundation in these subjects. Of all the hits to our students’ proficiency scores in Lake Oswego, science has been the most profound. Our 11th grade scores have dropped from 81% a decade ago to just 44% last year. If we want our children to be prepared to contribute to the health of our environment after graduation, we should reinvigorate our commitment to science in Lake Oswego, and get students involved in projects across the city.
- 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?
Issues like these are important to address early and often – everyone must be respectful to one another. Professional development training for our staff to be responsive to the needs of students of all backgrounds is essential. So is working with the culture of belonging to provide a continuous and consistent sounding board on these efforts, and constantly reinforcing them at our district cultural events and workshops throughout the year.
- 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.
The district should be partnering with local sustainability groups, local universities such as PSU, and allowing its advisory committee to weigh in on staff professional development. Further, reaching out and incorporating best practices from existing city vendors could be helpful. The board should mandate a review process for district vendors and require that they be sustainable in their practices and ensure that sustainability is prioritized in our capital improvement projects. The recent addition of gardens at our schools is another great opportunity to integrate these efforts into our curriculum.
- 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?
The buck stops with the school board on this issue. Trust in these reporting systems is essential. People want to know that when they take the step to report an incident, action will be taken and that they’ll be protected from retaliation.
The school board should direct the superintendent to ensure that secure communication channels are established for bias incident reporting and hold staff accountable in their implementation. Those channels must allow for anonymous submissions and must be investigated by the district in a transparent manner.
- 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?
To the extent the board has discretionary authority, one of my top priorities will be to protect our ability to deliver an individualized education in Lake Oswego. The education we offer can never become one-size-fits-all. Whether it be special education support, STEM, the arts, or advanced studies, we must prioritize protecting these offerings in the face of cost cutting pressures, or we risk losing much of what has made our school district so remarkable. Students engage with school in different ways – and the ability to pursue their passions and draw on specific supports to do so is a huge contributing factor to that sense of belonging we seek to create and sustain.
I would continue to prioritize equity, belonging, and sustainability within our budget planning, and support directing administration to center these initiatives amidst our upcoming strategic plan.