Hicks: In 2008, Teachers demonstrated their commitment and dedication to the children and families of this county by agreeing to temporarily forgo raises until the economy got back on track. To date, the county executive has not offered a plan to compensate the teachers for that sacrifice. To retain and recruit qualified and effective teachers, step increases must be funded. The county must show that they respect and appreciate the invaluable work educators do for the development of young minds and the future of our community.

Hicks: In addition to hard security measures such as cameras, redesigning school entrances to limit direct access to the school, and increasing school resource officers, I think a majority of the funding should be spent on proactive measures to create safe and secure schools. Those strategies should include hiring an adequate number of counselors, psychologist, and other mental health professionals; reducing teacher-student and student-counselor ratios, implementing school-wide violence prevention programs, and implementing an anonymous reporting system.

Hicks: The board should address bullying by taking seriously all reports of bullying or harassing behaviors and they should work to quickly to address those violations. The board should also address bullying by expanding their anti-bullying policy to include strategies to influence positive student behavior and improve the school climate beyond discipline measures such as implementing character education programs. Other strategies include training for students, teachers, and staff on how to appropriately recognize and respond to reports of bullying or incidents. Efforts should be made to promote effective preventive and intervention approaches such as counseling and support services. Anonymous reporting systems have also shown to be effective in other districts. Furthermore, there should be a review of the current anti-bullying policy and procedure to determine its effectiveness and its ability to protect bullied students and their families.