Kiler: Evaluating and improving teacher salary is one of the top priorities. Based on MD DOE 2017 – 2018 Salary Schedules, Carroll is right in the middle for starting salary, slightly above average at 10 years, but above 75% of the other counties for maximum salary. We need to look at bumping up the starting salary and staying consistent with increases. A year ago we took a good step forward with teacher salaries. We need to continue to monitor that honor the steps. We need to responsibility manage the budget to meet these priorities while maintaining our current tax rates.

Kiler: Securing our facilities is an important issue. I do not feel that teachers should be armed. But, the school properties should not be “gun free zones.” Our local police should have a presence at our schools, supplemented by well trained, and armed, School Resource Officers. In past years, we had Crisis Counselors assigned to schools. To stay proactive, we need Behavior Specialists, at each school, who can work with both students and families.

Kiler: Since my children attended Carroll County schools in the 90’s, I have heard of many students having to take remedial math and English classes at college. In some ways, the curriculum may not be rigorous enough. But, we also need to guide students, who are planning to attend college, to take the correct courses to prepare. Unfortunately, some students do not pick that path until too late in high school. We also need to encourage more parental involvement. With family support and the correct guidance in school, I also know many CCPS graduates who tested out of freshman math and English at many colleges.

Kiler: I think we have good career and tech offerings. We do need to constantly evaluate them and stay current with technology. We need to make sure that the maximum number of students can take advantage of the options available. We do not need a new building. Many of the current classes could be in different buildings that are currently not being efficiently used. We need to use available classroom space at Westminster and also around the county at other high school facilities. This would free up space in the current Tech Center to expand capacity for the programs that are not functional in a traditional classroom space. We also need to look at how students can apply and be accepted into these programs. Traditional academic standards for acceptance do not always apply to the opportunities at the Career and Tech Center.

Kiler: PARCC and standardized testing are necessary evils. They do provide accurate measurements of student performance, to some extent. They are accountable, structured and objective. But, do they measure student progress and proficiency over time? Has testing grown to the point that it causes more stress and uses more classroom time than is justified? We need to understand that data from test results are great tools, but not the only tools. They do not measure social skills, work ethic or resourcefulness which are traits also needed to be successful. We need to constantly evaluate the classroom time and monies spend on testing versus the results gained. Much of the testing is worthwhile and useful. But, we cannot let it get out of hand.

Kiler: Improving the diversity of the CCPS workforce is very important. Adding qualified teachers of color to any school system is a plus. It is interesting that while the percentage of minorities in the CCPS workforce is only about one half the percentage in the county population, the percentage of minority students is much higher. The CCPS has improved the percentage of minority hires in three of the last five years. But, more needs to be done. Having worked in construction for many years and dealt with preset goals, I feel they are not effective. There are too many outside factors. But, CCPS does need to consistently grow the diversity of their workforce. Hiring managers need to expand their recruitment efforts to more schools that have a larger minority enrollment. We need to find more incentives for minority teachers to come here, possibly through extra-curricular opportunities or community programs.