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The three finalists from the Nebraska School Board were interviewed Thursday by the state school board. At a conference in Omaha, candidates were queried about gender identity in school, student performance, and balancing urban and rural needs.
Either Brian Maher, Summer Stephens or Melissa Poloncic will be the next Commissioner.
Summer Stephens has been superintendent of the Churchill County School District in Nevada for over four years. She won her 2023 State Director of the Year award.
Stevens said schools and the Department of Education can communicate how gender identity and critical race theory education is being conducted in schools. She says her goal is to show her parents where to look for those curricula to see what’s out there.
“We don’t show people how to do it, and that’s our job as educators,” Stevens said. “And that’s one of the things I lead in the department, making sure we tell the story and tell it to everyone and encourage the way people tell their stories.”
She said schools today are places where students can learn from many different perspectives.
Brian Maher is a member of the South Dakota Board of Regents. He was the first to be interviewed on Thursday and frequently mentioned his 20-year experience as superintendent of schools in Nebraska and South Dakota.
He said he wanted to convey the Board’s collective opinion on gender identity.
“I think the first thing you get from me is that I don’t overreact to those issues,” Maher said. I have a fair amount of self-discipline when it comes to working with.”
Maher said his past experience on the South Dakota board had forced him to make tough decisions about another, but equally controversial issue, the key race theory. said they chose to keep CRT as part of the law and other curricula. The experience could also help address gender identity in education, Maher said.
Melissa Poloncic is the Superintendent of Education at Douglas County West Community Schools in Valley, Nebraska, a role she has held for over eight years.
Poroncic said he believes educators should, first and foremost, teach students how to think.
“I believe that as educators, we have always been empowered to engage students in thinking, learning and growing,” said Poloncic.
She said that different age groups have different abilities to understand complex topics such as gender identity.
When talking about improving student performance, Stephens said that enabling teachers to educate each student individually improves their performance.
“Until we individualize our children’s education, it will be difficult to say with 100% certainty that every child’s needs are being met,” Stephen said. “And I think I can bring it.”
In speaking about the state’s current testing system, she drew an analogy from her experience with 4-H.
“Pig weight gain does not make a pig fat. It’s all about how you take care of them,” Stevens said. “Students are clearly not pigs, but I draw the analogy from a Nebraska kid and his teenage farm life.”
Stevens grew up in Utica, Nebraska, just west of Lincoln.
Maher says an old test system called MAP has worked well in his past experience.
“We have teacher feedback three times a year that we can use directly to influence teaching,” says Maher. “So that’s one of the things we want to do is continue to focus on MAP ratings.”
Students and teachers can also set goals and make plans around those tests, Maher said.
Poroncic said the strategic plan will include a new achievement process.
“The process of consensus on what we work on often comes from feedback, but it also comes from data,” says Poloncic.
She also said the current rating system has not met its goals.
All candidates said visiting as many Nebraska school districts as possible was a priority to understand the unique needs of rural and urban areas.
Poloncic said he realized that literacy, career education, technical education, and mental health needs were all important regardless of school size.
“There are indeed some common needs between metropolitan areas and rural environments,” said Poroncic. “Talking to people across the state, everyone is having a hard time in many of your big areas.”
She hopes to see these issues first and have the greatest impact.
Other candidates agree that communication with all districts is important. Stevens said a variety of feedback helps the department know what’s working and what’s not.
In addition to meeting with schools, Maher said he would particularly like to speak with superintendents statewide.
The state commission will make a decision on Friday, and a new commissioner will take office this summer.
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