Below The Ticker poses questions to the 10 Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) Board of Education candidates battling for five soon-to-be vacant seats on the board.

Matthew Anderson, 52, President at Global Marine Insurance Agency
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
B. TCAPS has been on a three-year trend of improving student achievement when measured by standardized testing, such as the SAT and M-STEP scores. When you look at the actual data, TCAPS is above the state average, near the top of our peer group, and well above the national average in those categories, all while receiving below-average per-pupil funding by the state of Michigan.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
B+. This administration has: 1) negotiated and achieved new three-year contracts with all six local bargaining units, representing the teachers, staff units, and administrators; 2) helped pass a local millage campaign to fund needed capital improvements; 3) opened a new, state-of-the-art Eastern Elementary school on time and under budget; and 4) obtained an 8.4 percent target fund balance in our budget, two years ahead of schedule.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
I’d like to maintain fiscal discipline.

Rhonda Busch, 65, Retired TCAPS Teacher
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
Strengths include the adoption and implementation of the current math program and the evidence of improved student growth and achievement as a result. Goals should include the implementation of the new ELA program, with consistency and fidelity throughout the district, and identification of new goals and standards for science and social studies.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration? 
Strengths include willingness to work hard and put student growth and achievement first, as well as responsiveness to all district association contracts. Our goals should be to require accountability at all levels of administration and to restore trust and transparency for all facets of the TCAPS community.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
The first task would be to develop guiding principles that would foster relationships between the board and the superintendent, and that would accomplish our common goal of what is in the best interest of all TCAPS students.

Pamela Forton, 64, Retired TCAPS Teacher
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
B+. As a teacher, I was frustrated for years about the continually changing focus of the administration. We never had time to absorb changes before moving on to something else. In the last few years, the decision was made to focus on mathematics and language arts curriculum, and to concentrate on student learning. The result is an upward trend in scores on standardized tests.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
I had five different superintendents in my 18 years as a teacher. The majority of them made no effort to visit buildings or get to know staff. We now have a superintendent who visits schools and classrooms on a regular basis. There are so many great things happening in TCAPS right now. It is unfortunate that just two percent of the entire TCAPS staff – a group of some administrators – have had such a large influence on public perception the last year or so.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
I would like to see more monies spent on intervention and supports for our neediest students at the pre-K and kindergarten level.

Patricia Henkel, 49, Manager of Digital Analytics and Marketing for Ford Motor Company North America
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
C+. While our teachers on the front line are outstanding, our students are performing at just above state average, with Michigan in the bottom third of all the states in this country. We can do better than this. We need to support our teachers on the front line, as they are our greatest assets. We need to do more to close the gap in the inequity of state funding.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration? 
F. The Board has been distracted from the single most important purpose of the Board of Education: teaching and learning. The current Board failed to recognize and address the district’s “culture crisis” and to do something about it.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
First, the Board should have a laser-focus on teaching and learning and should establish a detailed strategic plan with clear benchmarks for improvement.

Melissa Hogan, 49, Former Physician Assistant at Munson; Volunteer for TCAPS LEAP Program
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
C. For current college-bound and higher achieving students, the results have shown steady improvements. However, with early childhood literacy, we are clearly failing. A 50 percent literacy rate for third graders in TCAPS is heartbreaking.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
C, for the reasons noted above regarding student successes and failures, offset by a solid economic plan for TCAPS, but hindered by a year or more of costly interpersonal drama that should have been recognized, curtailed, and handled long before it became an embarrassing public issue.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS? 
I want TCAPS to take the lead to increase per-student funding for northern Michigan public schools.

Deyar Jamil, 49, Attorney and Former Federal Agent
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
B-, because our students are performing at average levels across Michigan, which performs below average across the country. We have pockets that do well, but we have too many students who fall between the cracks in terms of reaching their academic potential and being prepared for careers.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
D, because the administration and Board have refused to fix our broken culture. 26 out of 31 principals voted no confidence in our superintendent, which is shocking and unprecedented. Yet the current Board unanimously voted to renew the superintendent's contract for three years and give him a substantial raise.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
I would like to be part of a Board that acknowledges that TCAPS' organizational culture is broken, and actively works to fix the problem.

Sue Kelly, 64, Realtor at the Sue Kelly Group; Current TCAPS Board of Education Vice President
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness? 
B+. Positive is the commitment to invest in curriculum and professional development for our teachers, supporting the implementation of the new math and English curriculum. TCAPS student achievement is tracking above similar districts and markedly higher than state results. But there is still much to do.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
B. There has been much reporting surrounding recent disciplinary actions and unfounded allegations. Until all parties learn how to be a cohesive group with one focus – the education of children – they will continue to be judged in the public arena. The administration is in the process of learning how to work and act as a group to benefit all members, students, and the community as a whole.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS? 
Early childcare operations need to be upgraded and supported. I would like to see the Glen Loomis school rebuilt. I would like to see the Administration Building repurposed so it can be put to better use.

Jeff Leonhardt, 60, Retired TCAPS Teacher
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
With the relatively recent investments in curriculum, programming, and staff development, student performance is trending in the right direction. If the district continues to follow a plan, as well as invest in and fully support staff, I expect that trend to continue.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
I prefer to focus on the staff meeting students’ needs directly and on a day-to-day basis. I would say the front-line staff are doing an excellent job and always have – sometimes under very challenging circumstances.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
I’m not looking to make radical changes. Staff have had to endure many changes during my tenure in the district.

Cathy Meyer-Looze, 51, Educational Leadership Professor at Grand Valley State University
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
I believe TCAPS is improving in certain areas. We are improving in math, and there has been a renewed interest in focusing on curricular systems and processes. But we can do better. We need to set curricular review systems and processes, as well as milestones and benchmarks for where we wish to see our students achieve.

What letter grade would you give the current TCAPS administration?
The current board of education has not supported the district or current TCAPS building administrators in the way they should. It is the Board’s role and responsibility to set a vision for the district and expectations for administration, as well as provide for effective means of communication and collaboration with external and internal stakeholders.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS? 
I would like to bring the spirit of true collaboration and effective means of communication to TCAPS.

Erica Moon Mohr, 45, Licensed Realtor with Real Estate One
What letter grade would you give TCAPS for current student performance and preparedness?
B. TCAPS is slightly above average in the state of Michigan but at the bottom compared to the rest of the United States. Also, when you look at our third grade literacy rates, 50 percent of students are not at reading proficiency. This is not due to our outstanding teachers; it is due to our benchmarks not being clearly defined.

What letter grade would you give the TCAPS administration? 
D. This past year has been very difficult for our district. The investigation that looked into our superintendent absolutely proved that there is an issue with “management.” Because civil rights were not violated, the board unanimously exonerated the superintendent of any wrongdoing.

What specific changes would you like to bring to TCAPS?
First, we need a detailed strategic plan in place. Goals need to be clearly defined and then measurement tactics need to be followed. Second, we need to repair the culture within the district.

NOTE: Responses have been edited for length.

PICTURED (clockwise, l-r): Anderson, Busch, Forton, Henkel, Hogan, Jamil, Kelly, Leonhardt, Meyer-Looze, Mohr)