Shawnee Barton Merriman, a parent and part-time art faculty member at CSU Long Beach, is running for the Coronado Unified School District board of trustees. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates running for school board in districts around San Diego County about their policies, plans and priorities. Here’s what Merriman told us about hers. Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? Our school board needs a humanizer — someone to prioritize familial-like care, respect and communication between parents, the board and teachers and staff. As a parent and educator, I empathize and appreciate many different points of view. Shawnee Barton Merriman (Courtesy Shawnee Barton Merriman) I am also running because I have precious skin in this race. We have four kids in CUSD schools, kindergarten to eighth grade, who will ensure every decision I make will be child-focused. Finally, it’s an exciting and historic time to have a big impact here! Who wouldn’t want to be a part of envisioning new programs, facilities and finally paying our amazing teachers what they deserve?  What is the most important issue currently facing your school district? Our district will be funded in a new way (basic aid) starting 2027. There are good times ahead! Until then, because we received way less state funding than expected, we are spending down our reserves, which is risky and scary. At the same time, our amazing teachers are asking for a raise that they deserve. So, from what I’ve been learning, we either get creative about finding additional outside funds for the teachers, make huge programing cuts to pay them or the district negotiates a raise less than what they want with the promise to do right by them come basic aid time. (Nothing can be in writing beyond two years, so this requires A LOT of trust on their behalf.) It’s a really tough situation. We all value our teachers, and our students already live the consequences of tough budget choices. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? Support and retain quality educators and administrators by getting the teachers the raise and support they deserve while not letting our reserves dip below 3 percent, and then prioritizing the replenishment of reserves once basic aid comes. Make second-language learning a foundational part of our curriculum so that every student who wants to be a dual-language learner has that opportunity without sacrificing other electives. Continue to welcome and support our vibrant and valued ESL community. Become a leader in mental health: Restore cut counselor positions, reduce electronics on campus, continue implementing social and emotional learning, redefine roles (celebrate assistant principals who excel at navigating complex emotions and conflicts rather than being punitive, for example), lure clinicians to our community and make sure teachers have trusted and experienced school leaders to depend on. What would your approach be to district budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? I have much to learn, but I see one exciting opportunity to pay our teachers AND avoid cutting student programs. That is to work hand in hand with the Coronado Schools Foundation, which supports things like enrichment programs and classroom needs. They could increase the percentage of their endowment they give the district for the next two years. Another option is they could prepay the district what they’ve committed for future years after 2027, since we won’t need as much support once basic aid comes. Here’s hoping that everyone who knows anyone at CSF will start sweet-talking to them ASAP! Secondly, we maybe can collaborate with the city, but that requires elected leaders who want to keep public schools funded. Lastly, our district owns property that we could liquidate. I hope it won’t come to that, but we cannot lose our teachers, so I suppose anything’s in play. How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? Moving away from birthdates and into a system that takes academic readiness into account would boost achievement. We have an excellent TK program. Kids arrive in kindergarten already reading or ready to read. But others have little or no alphabet exposure. Drastically varying starting lines are a challenge and an opportunity to provide more individualized learning. Our schools need to rethink technology usage and increase teacher autonomy. Last year, my middle-schooler did her in-class English mostly on a laptop, even though her teacher has a PhD. She craved actual books and human instruction and left liking reading less. In a budget crisis, we shouldn’t pay for both the program and the PhD. There is a place for technology, but in classes like English, I believe students will achieve more when they are in real life and taught by the highly qualified teachers in the room. Do you think anything currently offered in school curricula or libraries should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? I’m not aware of anything that needs to be removed. As a parent, I am generally a person who welcomes opportunities for discussion with my kids. This summer we traveled to Europe, and I had my two older kids read “Maus” and discuss it with me before we went to Anne Frank’s house, for example. That book, which I read in college and has been banned in some states, is also in their middle school curriculum, which I think speaks to the quality of education they are receiving. Public school librarians are credentialed employees who follow guidelines for adopting books. If parents don’t want their kids reading a book, they can submit a form to ensure their children won’t get it from the library.  What do you think is driving student absenteeism in your district, and what would you as a school board member do to reduce it? Families realized during the pandemic that there are educational opportunities out in the world and that slow time together matters. We also have a heightened knowledge of neurodiversity and that kids with greater mental health struggles may need some minor attendance flexibility.  My neurodiverse child needs a lot more rest than my other kids, for example. Students need to go to school. It’s hard for teachers to reach academic goals if they don’t, but our expectation of 100 percent attendance is antiquated, along with bodies-in-chairs district funding models. Our district, in part because we have a large military population, is more flexible. For example, teachers offer packets for trips over 10 days. My family hasn’t taken advantage of that, but I appreciate being in a district with flexibility. I hope other similar flex-learning days/options will be a part of our educational future. Do you think schools should notify parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation at school changes? Why or why not? Hard no. Outing people can be dangerous. Our LGTBQ students need to feel safe at school and at home. And as if that wasn’t reason enough, a state law was just passed against this. Our very own San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward introduced the legislation and said, “Although many LGBTQ youth have supportive families, some unfortunately continue to face rejection and are exposed to serious harm if pre-maturely forced to reveal their identity.”