THE INDEPENDENT NEWS
Ed. — The following are responses to questions posed by The Independent News to candidates for the District 7 seat on the Virginia Beach School Board. Answers to our questions in this series generally are not edited, aside from obvious punctuation issues, spacing and formatting, or for clarity. The Sunday, Sept. 22, voter guide edition is still available on some of our secondary racks until Election Day.
Only voters who live within District 7 vote in this election.
NOAH W. MORELAND
Residence: Level Green
Age: 27
Occupation: Damage Prevention Technician
Education: B.S. in Criminal Justice from Old Dominion University
Website: vote4moreland.com
Phone: (804) 977-2347
Email: vote4moreland@gmail.com
Social Media: Vote4Moreland on Facebook
What are your specific qualifications for this office? I’ve lived in VB my entire life and was in VBCPS k-12 grade as were all 3 of my siblings. I’ve seen how the schools work from a student perspective and have the knowledge to address its weaknesses and make the system as great as it can be. As a youth leader I interact with these kids on a weekly basis and help them through the struggles and school life as well as their personal hopes and dreams.
I have the experience to speak for students as well as parents and teachers. I also have my TEFL (Teaching English as a foreign language) certification so I am a certified educator and know what it takes to teach younger and older students. I am invested in this city as my life long home and will continue to invest in it for the future, so it can be a school system I am proud to send my future children to.
What is the most important issue facing the city schools, and how will you address it in office? One of our primary goals as a school system should be regaining the ground lost due to the pandemic. To do this, we return to honoring and rewarding students who excel. Part of this means spotting and encouraging the strengths that each student has and catering towards this as best we can.
For some this means pushing for higher education, others apprenticeships, VOTEC and ATC. VOTEC in particular has hundreds of applicants per class but only about 20-30 students are accepted. I would work on expanding this to allow more students to be enrolled.
What are your three main policy priorities for Virginia Beach schools?
- Parental and community engagement: I believe is a pervasive sense of disrespect for parents and those that want to get involved in the education system. That should stop and it can change via a few ways. It starts with assuming parents have good intentions. When anyone reaches out, whether it be to do a FOIA request, email a board member or offer criticism we should respond in a way that assumes they have good intentions with what they are offering.
- Academic excellence/Reading improvement: While the city has made strides in improving this in the past year by providing tutors and reading resources I think a greater push is needed. I would love to see an initiative where the schools identify students specifically struggling with this subject and provide them with a dollar amount that they can use outside of our division from a center that is pre-approved. Along with pushing our students to always do their best and rewarding them when they do succeed.
- Fiscal responsibility: making sure our taxpayers dollars are spent wisely and not frivolous as well as prioritizing spending on what needs to be. Such as our millions of dollars in back maintenance for our schools that needs to be done.
How can the city schools address concerns about equality and inclusion? I believe all students should be treated with the respect they deserve as humans and children. As such I believe each student has needs and skills unique to them and it is our job as a school system to cater to those skills and provide pathways that best set them up for life after school. There is no place for discrimination and when these situations arise they should be addressed.
Is the district doing enough to address school security and discipline? No, it is not. The current system of discipline takes to much time addressing the problem and taking away from the students actually trying to learn. Teachers mention discipline as a huge problem that they do not have the tools to address. And the disruptive behavior causes safety issues for students as well as teachers. I believe working on getting parents integrally involved in their students school life would go a lot towards improving this as well as changing the current system of PBIS because it clearly is not the best way to deal with discipline issues.
How will you help the School Board prioritize the significant challenge of teacher retention and recruitment? I believe we should be adequately compensating our teachers for their work but part of the problem they face is they are often pushed to do work beyond the scope of their job. Teachers need to be respected for the job that they are hired to do, as their frustrations are mainly focused around an extreme workload that is placed upon them that is not always related to their job as teachers. They need support from the administration in order to do their jobs.
Do you support collective bargaining? As it stands in current discussions that have come up regarding it I do not. I believe it lumps all teachers into one group and expects them to all have the same needs, desires and wants and prevents them from negotiating themselves.
Arguably, the School Board has been more effected by district voting than the City Council, which has faced challenges in court this year. Do you support the 10-district voting system? Why? The 10 district system is what we currently have and as such I am perfectly fine running to represent my specific neighborhood as it is where live and the place in the city that I know best.
MATTHEW “MATT” CUMMINGS
Residence: Salem Woods
Age: 40
Occupation: Healthcare, Training and Development
Education: B.A. Urban and Biblical Studies; M.A. Urban Studies and Community Development
Endorsements: Virginia Beach Education Association-PACE, Virginia Beach Democratic Committee and We the People for Education
Website: mattforvirginiabeachschoolboard.com
Email: mattfor7sb@gmail.com
Social Media: MattforVirginiaBeachSchoolBoardDistrictSeven on Facebook
What are your specific qualifications for this office? I have over 13 years of experience in education that includes three years of teaching English as a Second Language in Shanghai, China, five years of working in higher education with college access programs, and five years working as a Senior Leader in a vocational training program that taught formerly incarcerated individuals and distribution center workers how to code.
I would bring to our school board expertise in building inclusive environments, a background in data analytics and student intervention strategy, and experience in corporate organizational change and growth.
As a parent with two kids in our public school system at Salem Middle and Tallwood’s Global Language Academy I, and many other parents, have a direct investment in the security and strength of public education in Virginia Beach.
What is the most important issue facing the city schools, and how will you address it in office? Nationally, there is a teacher shortage affecting staffing levels. Locally, this shortage impacts everything from bus drivers to under-staffed classrooms, resulting in larger class sizes. This issue is significant because it directly affects the quality of education and the safety of our students.
I believe that to achieve the best possible outcomes for our students, we must start by competitively compensating educators and staff, as they are on the front lines of our children’s learning. Additionally, our physical school buildings need urgent attention, with new schools and upgrades to existing facilities being a critical need.
What are your three main policy priorities for Virginia Beach schools?
- I want to ensure that every student who comes through our doors has a plan for academic success to help unlock their future. First I would seek to address staffing needs in our schools and work to lower student to teacher ratios. Next I would seek to provide tutoring and after-school enrichment activities to address educational gaps.
- I have worked in the vocational training space and understand that not every high school graduate needs to go to college. We can partner with local academic institutions to offer dual-credit workforce readiness training programs based on regional economic needs, including IT, cybersecurity, and healthcare. I would look to create policy and staffing dedicated to enhancing training based on our regional needs.
- Finally, we need to address the infrastructure issues across our city. We have old buildings and I see photos of local teachers showing rooms with non-functioning AC units. I would look to work with our state leaders to address our infrastructure issues and to develop a plan to modernize our buildings.
How can the city schools address concerns about equality and inclusion? As a school system, we must champion equity and stand firm on the belief that every student, regardless of sexual orientation, socio-economic background, religious identity, gender, or racial identity, has the right to access education and a safe learning environment. First it starts with ensuring that our values are properly communicated and that all staff are allocated professional development time to training. Next, students and parents need a clear way to report incidents that have written process to address issues. Further, I would look at ways to measure student sentiment and achievement and have transparency on reporting these metrics to the public.
Is the district doing enough to address school security and discipline? As a School Board member, I would push our district to have a clear, consistent policy across all schools that is followed to ensure that each student has a congruent experience. Well written disciplinary policy gives the ability to stakeholders to do their job with bias reduction.
I would also like to see parents be more involved with our schools once disciplinary issues are identified. I would also continue exploring advanced emergency alert technology and establish publicly available safety audit KPIs. Finally, SROs play a vital role in keeping our kids safe, and I would encourage continued support and training for them. I believe these practices would contribute to security and structure in our schools.
How will you help the School Board prioritize the significant challenge of teacher retention and recruitment? I have professional experience in building, onboarding, and cultivating high performing teams. People feel valued at work when they are listened to, fairly compensated, and have a pathway of professional growth and development. In order to recruit and retain our best talent, I would advocate for Virginia Beach to have the best pay and benefit in the region. Our teachers work hard and often do more than expected. We need to let them focus on what they’re best at: preparing students for the future.
Do you support collective bargaining? I support collective bargaining. As a leader, I utilize research and data to inform my decision making. Research consistently shows institutions with collective bargaining have higher teacher retention, less stress, higher dismissal rates for underperforming teachers, and lower high school dropout rates.
When we take care of our workers, we foster stronger learning environments that benefit our kid’s learning.
Arguably, the School Board has been more effected by district voting than the City Council, which has faced challenges in court this year. Do you support the 10-district voting system? Why? I support district-based voting integrated with an at-large system for local governments because I believe it provides a stronger democratic voice to citizens through local representation. Communities have a variety of needs, and from my perspective, a district-based system empowers neighborhoods to elevate their concerns through direct accountability within their district.
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