TCAPS School Board Candidates Talk Motivation For Running, Strategic Plan Priorities

Eight candidates, four board seats: That’s the lay of the land in the race for the Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) Board of Education, which could see a majority turnover when local residents cast their ballots 25 days from now. The Ticker chats with all eight candidates about why they’re running for school board, how they’d grade the current board’s performance, and which of the 12 goals identified in the district’s recently-adopted strategic plan they consider their top priorities.

The Incumbents

Erica Moon Mohr
Motivation for running: After almost 12 years, TCAPS has a strategic plan that will guide our decision-making and allow us to stay laser-focused on what is most important: our kids. I want to be a part of that process.

Letter grade for current board: A-. We have done a lot of great things. For example: created a new strategic plan, rolled out an impressive safety plan, put funding resources toward mental health, restructured how our board meetings are run so they are more efficient and have more focus on transparency, built a state-of-the-art Montessori school, passed a resolution condemning racism and discrimination, renewed our contracts with our teachers and staff, kept our fund balance at or above our goals, and most of all, focused on our kids. We still have work to do, but I am really proud of the work we have done and hope to continue to do that work for the next four years.

Strategic plan priorities: Focus on preventing and addressing harassment and bullying to provide a safe and inclusive environment for all students. We have seen a lot of behavioral issues post-COVID. We have heard from our teachers that they are dealing with issues in the classroom that are distracting from teaching and learning. We need to figure out a way to teach our kids diversity, inclusion, empathy, and understanding all the while teaching our curriculum. These are crucial skills that will last their lifetime.

Andrew Raymond
Motivation for running: There is still work left to do. These are important seats, and we need leaders at the table who come without agenda, listen to all sides, and make decisions that will lead to the best outcomes for our students and staff.

Letter grade for current board: Given everything that the district has had to navigate over the past two years, I would give us a B+, with a bit of an ‘incomplete.’ While the pandemic did occupy quite a bit of the board’s time, I am proud of the district’s three-year strategic plan. That’s also the reason for my ‘incomplete.’ The plan will serve as a roadmap for the next three years, and I would be humbled and honored to continue serving on the board to see through the plan’s implementation.

Strategic plan priorities: Attract, recruit, and retain a diverse and robust employee workforce to provide a world-class learning environment. As a society, we should be putting more of an emphasis on those doing the critical task of educating our children. We need to work with our legislators to address school funding. The most recent statistics from the Michigan Department of Education show that TCAPS is the 18th largest out of 821 school districts in the state in terms of student population. However, we are ranked 575th in total fund revenues per student. This dichotomy puts the district at a recruitment and retention disadvantage.

The New Candidates

Misten Boysen
Motivation for running: I was mostly inspired to run for the school board by my two daughters that attend TCAPS. After attending board meetings as a representative for family, friends, patients, and others in the community, I witnessed the lack of transparency and support from the board. I felt compelled to run for school board to be an advocate and liaison for the community, and to help re-establish a sense of trust for our school board.

Letter grade for current board: C, based on lack of focus on prioritizing the children and their education, lack of transparency and engagement or communication with the families and community, and lack of financial responsibility and transparency.

Strategic plan priorities: Analyze and improve common systems to establish a culture of collaboration and transparency. I want to bring back more local, community-based engagement in our schools. We love our communities and our schools and want to be more involved in the decisions that will directly affect our future generations here.

Holly T. Bird
Motivation for running: I have been involved with education and children for most of my career. Whether working for the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education as a community-organization teacher, or as a guardian ad litem for children, the importance of providing our youth with impactful services, a good education, and a positive future has been at the forefront of my work. This year, I decided to run for TCAPS school board because I saw many of the challenges that were presented to the board and felt that I had skills to offer that would be helpful.

Letter grade for current board: B. The board has gone through many changes over the last five years and has done its best to work its way out of a very trying period, including the COVID pandemic. I feel that the work that has been done, in many aspects, has been positive – especially the new strategic plan. But there can be work done on other issues that are just touched on in the plan, including DEI, curriculum, school safety, and green ecology.

Strategic plan priorities: Providing a safe and inclusive environment for all. This necessarily includes having a system in place that can deal appropriately with issues that we've had in the recent past, with a focus on teaching and restorative justice. It also requires us to ensure that all students have an equitable chance to learn.

Matthew Hanley
Motivation for running: I decided to run after the district’s difficult winter of facing intermittent school closures and lawsuits, and due to the opening of several seats on the board. As my family includes both TCAPS students and a teacher, public education is a priority for us. I wanted to offer more than criticism and to work on improving TCAPS for its students and staff.

Letter grade for current board: The board gets a passing grade, as I think we should all have some grace in judgment over the last two years. The board is preparing TCAPS for the future by developing a strategic plan, building school infrastructure, and leading the district through multiple leadership changes – all despite persistent criticism.

Strategic plan priorities: I will prioritize increased support for the mental and emotion health and social wellbeing of students, along with providing a safe and inclusive environment for all students. Students must have basic needs met before they can be expected to fulfill their potential. Hopefully, focusing on these issues will improve both the learning and working environments at TCAPS.

Beth Pack
Motivation for running: As a nurse, I have met a variety of folks who were often in very difficult situations and I have listened to and discussed challenging topics from many points of view. I have nurtured students, patients, and young professionals. I have assessed data, identified and analyzed problems, and planned care, always participating as an active team member. The success of TCAPS benefits the whole community, and I would welcome the opportunity to help nurture that success as a board member.

Letter grade for current board: Incomplete. The work of the school board is never done.

Strategic plan priorities: Each goal deserves attention, though I would prioritize three. First, continuous improvement of academic achievement to maximize each student’s success. This is the primary work of any public school system. Second, assess current conditions and identify areas of improvement related to safety and security to enhance a healthy and productive school environment. I apply this goal to both the physical and mental health attributes of students and staff, as well as attributes of the TCAPS facilities. Third, analyze and improve communication systems to establish a culture of collaboration and transparency. We need the trust and collaboration of both teachers and parents to optimize student success.

Nicholas Roster
Motivation for running: I was inspired to run when it seemed like the board was not being transparent in their decision-making process. I also have two children in TCAPS, and a wife that also works for TCAPS. I think all of these factors, plus my own work in educational research, have prompted me to run for the board.

Letter grade for current board: This is a tough question. I have been overall pleased with many of the decisions in the past two years. There have been some that I disagree with, which I think is normal. Overall, I think I would give the board a B: decent work, but room for improvement. I think the board has a lot of rebuilding relationships to do with the community.

Strategic plan priorities: What I want to focus on are our students and the learning environment, which actually covers eight of the goals within the strategic plan, at least to some degree. When we start talking about a "whole-brain classroom," many of the issues the strategic plan points to are covered in whole or in part by those conversations. Enhancing and improving the learning environment for all learners goes a long way to solving many issues outlined in the strategic plan.

Justin Van Rheenen
Motivation for running: My daughter. I have seen and been involved in confronting shortcomings of our board over the last four years [as part of the TCAPS Transparency movement] and I want my daughter to understand that if you want to see change, you need to a part of the change.

Letter grade for current board: A-. The board has made many great strides since the forced resignation of Ann Cardon. They’ve increased transparency by being more communicative with the community and including a second public comment during board meetings. They listened to the medical professionals in our community during the pandemic to keep our students safe. Lastly, they did the hard work to create a strategic plan. However, they’ve only been able to work on one thing at a time and have put off much-needed conversations regarding Central Grade School’s future. 

Strategic plan priorities: Develop and implement structures and systems of support to increase mental and emotional health and social well-being. Since the pandemic, nationwide, students with existing gaps in their education have seen those gaps widen, increasing anxiety and depression and losing community resources to get help. Recruiting mental health professionals and giving them the resources they need to aid families should be a high priority for the district.