This week, leading up to Plainview's school budget vote and school board election, Patch is running profiles of the candidates: All of the candidates were asked the same questions: Here is our second:
- Candidate: Emily Raphael Schulman; One term incumbent, seeking second term.
- Profession: Teacher, tutor.
- Other: Schulman, 52, has two children: Max in middle school and Miriam is at Plainview JFK High School.
Q1. Why are you running for the school board?
A. I want to make an impact; I care very much about education and the kids in this district, and I want to preserve and strengthen what we have. I also think that my background and qualifications have been very useful to the BOE in my three years on the Board. During these increasingly difficult times for education, I think my experience and knowledge have only become more valuable.
Q2. What are your primary qualifications that make you (or would make you) an asset to the board and the community at large?
A: I have experience and knowledge, having been a board member before and having a background in education. I grew up in Plainview and was graduated from Plainview schools, so I feel very connected to this community. I also have specific experiences that I think are useful for the Board, namely knowledge about special education, some of it learned during my 11 years of SEPTA involvement, and giftedness that help us consider the range of children in the district.
Q3. Although there are many, what do you see as the biggest issue confronting Plainview schools?
A: The current economic climate and stresses school boards labor under, including the tax levy limit and the national obsession with spurious quantifiable evaluations of both students and staff. These related issues are both symptomatic of the attempts to a) wrest away local decision-making and b) continue attacks on public education that are all too often brought about by people who have no knowledge of or investment in public education.
Q4. Standardized testing and unfunded mandates are hot-button issues: How would you work to address these issues?
A: First, I think the other members of the Board of Education and I have been addressing those issues (as have our unions and PTA): we have spoken about it repeatedly, and during our budget discussions we decided not to spend our money on technology dedicated specifically to future testing that the state has neither clarified nor funded. I think we will continue to make decisions based on what our children need educationally. And we will continue to lobby the state and Washington about the ruinous, cloudy decision-making that has been going on—I will be attending a rally on June 8 in Albany on this subject. I invite people to contact their legislators and let their voices be heard.
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