District 1: Grace Higginbotham
Q: Are you in favor of raising property taxes? Why or why not?
A: I am not currently in favor of raising property taxes for Pittsburgh Public residents. Many of our district residents are already facing economic hardships due to the pandemic, being out of work, and increased cost of living. Raising property taxes isn’t an immediate answer. I believe that we the district have to find a more innovative way to steward our resources and give our constituents more support and relief in areas that we can.
Q: Pittsburgh Public Schools is facing a systemic deficit of millions of dollars a year, how would you work to address the deficit in both the near future and the long term?
A: I don’t think that there is a simple answer to this question. Being that we are in a global pandemic and our region has been so deeply affected by COVID, we are going to have to make some difficult decisions. To address the near future of the deficit, I would like to see money being spent where there is immediate need. The district is going to have to prioritize its spending and simultaneously do belt tighten. The district has to continue to fund learning hubs in our city to support our 700 students that utilize them for both near future and long term. PPS has to critically strategize to increase enrollment back into the district, by placing strategic investments in district programs that make the district attractive to parents and families to enroll their children back in PPS schools, and we have to continue to look at reducing operational budget deficits without raising taxes.
Q: Do you think Pittsburgh Public Schools current physical footprint matches the needs of the students we serve? Why or why not?
A: At this time, I do not believe that PPS’s physical footprint matches the needs of the students that we serve. Pittsburgh Public Schools gathers information from the Census Bureau which conducts this every ten years. Based off this information, the district would then need to conduct a review of the physical footprint which would take approximately one to two years to begin to make needed changes. As of now, district hasn’t done a physical foot print during the time of the current superintendent and has just began this process with the Imagine PPS initiative. It will take about five years to conduct a substantial review of this process, the district is just in the preliminary phases of this process.
Q: Superintendent Dr. Hamlet has started a Student Advisory Panel to incorporate student voice into the administrations. How will you ensure student perspectives are heard and factored into board decisions?
A: I will work to ensure students perspectives are heard and integrated into the board decision making process. My objective is to create a platform for student voice, which will include teaching students about civic responsibility, servant leadership, and how to mobilize. Thus, I would like to have one student from each district, endorsed by their fellow student bodies, to be ambassadors of the larger student population. In doing this, the students will have an opportunity to present to the board ideally once a quarter, but no less than twice a year, their ideas, concerns, and potential solutions. To ensure progress and action, the school board will vote on concerns and resolve all matters.
Q: What are your top 3 priorities to improve the district?
A: 1. District driven curriculum, based on data proven practices 2. Creating a PPS educator platform, where there is strategic planning with our teachers and quarterly roundtables for relevant real-time feedback 3. Networking and relationship building, focused on responsible student voice, rebuilding community trust, and evaluating and fostering district relationships.
Q: What are 3 things you think the district is doing well and how will you support those initiatives?
A: I believe that the district is making positive progress, with the Super intendents Student Advisory Panel. As part of my platform in running for District 1, it is my desire to continue to elevate this initiative by teaching students about civic responsibility, servant leadership, and how to mobilize. The CTE programs that are offered in the district, provide students the exposure and opportunity to get directly involved in trade professions. I would like to continue to build on what the CTE programs currently have to offer, by providing CTE courses in every high school and lowering the enrollment grade from tenth to ninth grade. This will give our students the exposure they need so that they can have introductory course as freshman. Last but certainly not least, the Pittsburgh Promise, which has provided 10,114 students scholarships to utilize for higher learning opportunities. I think this is great! I would not only like to increase the dollar amounts given but also the number of scholarships provided.
Q: Teaching in Pittsburgh Public Schools is a great opportunity. As a board member how will you promote teaching in the district so that we attract high quality diverse teachers?
A: I think one of the first things we need to evaluate is the current culture of the teaching staff that we already have. As part of my platform, I would like to create a teacher panel, where they are active participants in providing real time feedback, in areas of curriculum, interventions, and best practices. We have to really cultivate the relationships that we have with our present educators! If they are happy to come to work everyday and feel supported, it creates a self-promotion that PPS not only values their employees, but is also actively working to make the district great. By doing this, we can go to the colleges and universities that are already in our area and utilize our teachers as ambassadors for the district based on their positive and collaborative work environments. If our teachers are happy, supported, and heard, we can utilize them to promote the district on our behalf.
Q: What is your vision of a community school? How will you as a board member work to create partnerships to strengthen our schools?
A: My vision of a community school is to have equitable academic and emotional supports for students inside of their school buildings. It consists of highly qualified teachers that are provided with supplies, resources and professional development opportunities that will benefit them as professionals as well as directly impact our students in a positive way. The community school, utilizing resources inside of the community, to volunteer inside of the school as well as outside, provide job placement and mentorship, as well as support and positive promotion. The students will be provided nutritionally sound meals, and will have access to state-of-the-art technology, and devices. It has a culture of collaboration, safety, and trust—and students eager to engage, parental involvement is high, and creativity, exploration, and high standards are its foundation. As a board member for district 1, I will work to eliminate the separate entities, that currently exist in our district. It is my goal to evaluate the current relationships and partnerships the district currently has, diligently work to rebuild the breach of trust that has unfortunately been created, and to provide a fresh prospective and set of eyes to do my part in moving my district and PPS schools forward in a productive and positive direction.
Q: What resources do you think schools need to better engage with families with limited English proficiency? How will you advocate for those resources?
A: The resources that need to be provided for our limited English proficiency students and families are translators that can bridge communications, all written communications given to families in their native tongue, and much needed family advocates to assist in transitioning into the community and school environment.
Q: In general how do you think the district has handled the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: I would first say that our generation hasn’t had to experience a global shut down. It has been extremely difficult for everyone to make adjustments, produce new norms, and even maintain productivity in the same ways as prior to Covid. With that being said, I can say that I don’t feel that the district handled the logistics of maintaining academic programing well. It took 6-8 week for the students to get laptop computers, many of the students didn’t have access to internet or have consistent internet access. The pandemic shined a glaring light on all the gapping holes that are present with Pittsburgh Public and it touched just about every resident in the district from the heavily involved to the inactive community member. I can’t speak to what the internal plan was for instruction and district preparedness, but having our children not engaged in academic instruction for such a long period of time, will have lasting consequences. We all including the school board, superintendent, administrators, teachers, students (who have been severely impacted), and parents are going to have to unify to find an effective, equitable, and innovative solution.
Q: How are you going to deal with the drop in grades and catching students up both near term and for the long haul?
A: My plan short term as well as long term goal is to immerse our students into environments of recitations (reteaching), while providing our teachers with more classroom aides that will promote differentiated instruction and small group learning. We also have to encourage tutoring and the utilization of learning hubs on nights and weekends for additional support for our students and families. In addition to the academic supports, we must be intentional in providing district wide professional counseling and mental health services, to support our children and the community in and outside of the classroom.
Q: How can you as a board member support increased literacy? What specific programs would you support/ advocate for?
A: As a board member I will advocate and push for district wide literacy programs and strategic interventions. These programs will be data specific that will focus on reading proficiency for PSSA/Keystones, phonics and phonemic awareness, and the increase to incentivize leisure reading (student interest), and book club discussions.
Q: Will you ensure that non-Christian Students are allowed the same time off from school for major religious/cultural dates such as Yom Kippur/Rosh Ha’Shanah/Passover, Eid, Diwali, etc.
A: I will work diligently to support the religious diversity in the district as much as possible. By doing this, it will also create teachable moments in our schools to learn about different cultures, religious traditions and produce culturally competent students.
Q: The Jewish community is concerned with rising Antisemitism and a record-low baseline education about the Holocaust; what will you do to ensure that these issues are adequately taught in school?
A: It is my goal to ensure that the district provides culturally competent curriculum, staff, as well as student body. We all have to work together to educate all schools, on accurate historical facts and information on all cultures. By providing our students with opportunities to learn about the Jewish community, we will learn more extensively about cultural struggles, and create electives with strategic partnerships that will include local synagogues and Rabbi’s here in the City of Pittsburgh.
Q: Locally - and nationwide - enrollment numbers in early childhood programs and kindergarten are down due to the pandemic. As a school board member, how will you provide leadership and support for enrollment in district early childhood programs and kindergarten? How can the district provide support for increased outreach and engagement to Pittsburgh families with young children?
A: As a board member, I believe that we are going to have to work on multiple platforms to ensure parents that our schools are safe and sanitary. I believe that by providing families/parents the opportunity to have virtual tours of early childhood classrooms, along with teacher interviews, and virtual program overviews, it will assist parents in getting a real time experience and feel of what the district has to offer. I would like to work on strategic partnerships, that will focus on community outreach to organizations that work with our targeted population, as well as have street teams and volunteers to interface with families directly in compliance with CDC/COVID guidelines.
Q: What role do you think high-quality early learning plays in providing the educational foundation for children to succeed? As a school board director and local leader, how will you work with state elected officials and other leaders to ensure more children continue to receive access to pre-k?
A: I believe that high-quality early learning plays a crucial role in the educational foundation of our children. Research has shown that students that engage in content in deeper ways while also developing conceptual understanding are more inclined to develop skills in areas such as language and math. Since we know that children learn best through play, we have to continue to work to curate and provide rich educational experiences that weave in teachable moments for all subject matters. As a school director/leader, I will continue to work to present data that proves the need for pre-k programs, showing its effectiveness among the student body and school readiness, while petitioning for funding to ensure that early childhood resources remain equitable and affordable for all.
Q: The 2020 A+ Schools Report to the Community highlighted the joyful learning happening in PPS early childhood education programs. The article focused on the importance of a whole child approach including play-based learning and social and emotional development. How will you support educators and administrators to implement developmentally appropriate, play-based learning in school reopening plans? Additionally, what considerations do you feel need to be made in supporting the mental health, social-emotional development, and physical activity of students during remote learning and as they return to school?
A: I will continue to build on what the administrators and teachers already have in place while simultaneously encouraging them to continue to tap into to their creativity to push innovative practices on an ever-evolving classroom environments during a global pandemic. The considerations that need to be made for remote learning students would be therapy as needed via telehealth, community support groups that they can access, learning hubs that also offer various forms of therapeutic supports yoga, meditation, art therapy, etc.
Q: How can the Board be more transparent with COVID and schools reopening?
A: The board can increase transparency by taking accountability where they have dropped the ball during the pandemic. The school board needs to present a plan to the district of what policies and procedures will be put into place moving forward, proper sanitation of all buildings and offices, virtual tours to give insight to families of what the new environment and daily schedules are going to look like, and over all how student’s health and wellness will remain the districts primary concern.