SCHOOL BOARD VACANCY SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE
Candidate’s Name: Abramo C. Ottolenghi
Contact Address: 570 Hartford St., Worthington, Ohio 43085
Contact Telephone Number: 614-885-5817_____________________________________
Contact Email Address: ottolenghi.1@osu.edu
Please answer all questions and send a completed questionnaire by January
16 via email to:
A)
1976-1979 and
1982-1988: Member of the Worthington City Schools Board of Education. President 1978, 1984, 1988.
B)
1992-94: Member of the
Ohio's Model Competency-Based Science Program Statewide Science Education
Advisory-Committee, Ohio Department of Education.
C)
1999: Ohio Dept of
Education, Member of 12th grade Science competencies committee.
D)
2002-: Ohio Academy
of Sciences member of panel evaluating the Ohio Science Standard proposals.
E)
2002-: Worthington PCC Circle of Grandparents, Colonial Hills 6th
grades.
F)
23 year member of
the Dublin-Worthington Rotary Club
G)
Several years: Judge for Liberty Elementary
Science Fair and for Ohio Academy of Sciences State Science Fair.
H)
Presently: Legislative Liaison, Colonial Hills PTA.
2. What personal traits, skills, or experiences
would you bring to the position that you feel would make you an
effective board member?
A)
As a former Board member and
President, I have dealt with all aspects
of public school governance. Although
many conditions, laws, and practices have changed since my tenure, the
principles surrounding effective governance and oversight remain the same.
B)
As a candidate for the Legislature
in 2004 I have become more familiar with the political forces that impinge on
educational policy in Ohio.
C)
My experience in developing
curriculum (including computer-assisted instruction) at The Ohio State
University, together with my
participation in the development of the State’s Science standards, gives me the ability to view the process of
curriculum development as a whole, from conception to implementation.
D)
I believe (others are better judges
of this than I) that I have the ability to listen to and hear different
opinions and points of view, to collect pertinent information, and to modify
when appropriate my own views without
jeopardizing my principles.
3. What do you think
is the most pressing issue in the Worthington Schools?
Although there is no one issue
that stands by itself, developing an alternative program for the middle school program is the one that
requires the most immediate action .
Dealing with declining enrolment in the short term and planning for
continuity is essential. Plans based on
well-grounded assumptions must be developed for the academic side of the
endeavor as well as for the financial side
However, the implementation
of whatever is developed will succeed only if the conditions listed below are
fulfilled:
A stable and predictable
funding mechanism is needed.
Unfortunately the development of this depends in great part on actions
at the State level.
Local funding initiatives will in great part
depend on developing and maintaining the confidence of the public that the
activities of the District at all levels are transparent and conducted in a
“representative” way. Without the
confidence of the public none of the issues affecting the district can be
resolved efficiently and effectively.
4. If
it were necessary to make substantial cuts in the expenditures of the district,
what areas would you cut first, and what areas would you seek to preserve?
A) Cuts
in transportation to state minimums, with modifications for safety.
B) Cuts
in athletics by reducing the number of
teams, not necessarily the number
of sports.
C) Cuts
in the number of advisors authorized for non-sport co-curricular activities.
Since
I consider that academics (for example: foreign languages) have been cut in
previous rounds of cuts, and as I
consider that academic cuts are detrimental to the quality and to the
reputation of the district, I would seek to preserve all academic offerings in
the district, including some that might
have low attendance.
5. If it were possible to add new programs
to the district, what programs would you seek to add?
Foreign languages of national
security (both economic and political)
importance: new ones like. Arabic and
Chinese and resurrection of Russian
and, Japanese while continuing the
present Spanish and French and reinstating German. These would first be offered at the high
school level with some at the middle school level, others at the elementary
school level (again) as funds allow.
This is an expenditure that would fulfill Worthington’s obligation to support
the national interest.
At the elementary level add the traditional languages.
6. What do you see as the
impact of “No Child Left Behind” on the
Worthington Schools?
The NCLB legislation has
forced Worthington Schools (as well as all districts in the country) to pay
more attention to the needs of all students.
It has also forced more attention to be paid to those areas which are
tested by standardized tests, including care in the alignment of the district’s courses of study with the
State’s standards that govern the tests.
This can be considered both good
and a bad, for it promotes thoroughness
but possibly inhibits flexibility. An
important problem with NCLB is in its
“Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) provisions that can penalize an entire
district or individual school for the failure of even one or two students to
show year-to-year progress. Several
districts in Ohio that meet all 25 of 25 standards in the report card have
failed AYP.
What about the Ohio Core
legislation?
The
Worthington’s graduation requirements contemplate only three years of math for
graduation, while the Core legislation
requires a fourth year for a student to be able to attend some of the four year
State Universities.
With that exception Worthington’s curriculum,
graduation requirements, and offerings are in line and should require little
adjustment. There may be a need to
increase some sections in science and technology to accommodate a possible
increase in the number of students wishing to take such courses.
7. If selected, what do you see as your role in
influencing state education laws and policies that affect the Worthington
Schools?
Past
is prologue
.
In the past I have had many
contacts with legislators and there are two items in the ORC that were
suggested by me: 1) the ability (used recently, I believe) of cities and school
districts to form joint recreational districts and 2) the ability (used only once, by Kettering) for districts to ???
place incremental levies on the ballot.
At the time I made those suggestions, implementation would have been
useful.
More recently, I have
testified frequently before the Ohio Board of Education on matters affecting
the Science Standards. I would continue
to testify on curricular matters.
My foray into the electoral
field at the State level has given me the ability to view legislative actions
not only from the technical and operational side but also from the political
side.
I would expect to continue
those activities.
8. What do you see as the roles and responsibilities of a school
board member?
Within the governance of the
Worthington School Districts (and of all districts) a primary function of the
Board is to make policy and to oversee that such policy is implemented by the
administration. An equally important
function is to achieve and maintain the financial health of the District, while
preserving the quality that enables it to attract the parents, students, and
personnel needed to preserve its reputation for excellence.
To this end and within an
environment of limited fiscal resources,
a Board member should be a facilitator working within the Board to bring together the different and disparate
interests of the various stakeholders of the District. The common interest is
to have the best, most cost-effective and efficient educational endeavor in the
State. How that is achieved is the challenge not only for Board members, but also for the
administration, staff and community.
Board members should
articulate to the community at large the financial requirements of the District
and the means for fulfilling those requirements. Co-operative good faith is essential for
success.
Ethical behavior is a
personal responsibility of a Board member.
Clarity and completeness in pronouncements is essential. Avoidance of
even the appearance of impropriety is critical.
Advocacy must be tempered by the overarching needs of the District and
not be governed by the personal partisan political ambitions of the Board
member.
9.
What evidence do you believe shows
the Worthington Schools are adequately, or inadequately, preparing students for
their lives after graduation?
There is no hard evidence
available to answer this question.
Anecdotal evidence,
acceptance of graduates by elite and other colleges and universities, and the
return of graduates to live in the District when they have children of their
own, would lead one to believe that for the most part the District has been
successful in preparing most students for their lives after graduation. The success of the District also depends on
the caliber of students and parents it attracts.