Oregon Candidate Questionnaire
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Disclaimer: The Abigail Adams Project provides candidate information and does not endorse candidates. Completion of the Abigail Adams Project Questionnaire does not constitute an endorsement.
| Candidate Name: | Michael Summers |
| Office Candidate is running for: | Redmond School Board position 2 |
| Campaign Website: | michaelsummersschoolboard.com |
| # | ISSUE | ANSWER |
| School Board and Administration Responsibilities | ||
| As a School Board member, indicate how likely you would be to vote for or be in agreement with the following statements. Using the drop-down box, select on a 1-5 scale where 5 means strongly agree and 1 means completely disagree. (Education bills in parenthesis are being considered in the 2021 legislative session on the subject in the question.) | ||
| 1 | Giving hiring preference to applicants that help the school district meet educator workforce diversity requirements. (SB 232) | 2 Disagree |
| I believe in merit based hiring practices. Oregon should recruit and hire the best teachers available. | ||
| 2 | Open communication between the community and the board by encouraging public comments at board meetings and/or providing a method to submit public testimony online. | 5 Strongly Agree |
| Board members are the voice of the people. They need to know what the community is saying! | ||
| 3 | Returning the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction from governor appointed position to a statewide elected office. (SB 601, SB 224) | 5 Strongly Agree |
| Return local control to the school board. Each district has unique challenges, philosophy's, and needs. | ||
| 4 | Class size being an additional factor when teachers unions negotiate teachers pay scale. (HB 2270 & SB 580) | 2 Disagree |
| like most jobs, a teachers pay should be a result of competence, results, attitude and growth. | ||
| 5 | Requiring school board to receive training on promoting inclusion, eliminating racism, and achieving equitable academic outcomes. (SB 334) | 1 Strongly Disagee |
| I believe in equality of opportunity, support and acceptance for all students. Equality of outcomes comes at the cost of all. | ||
| Financial | ||
| 6 | Taxing Oregon corporations, which increases the cost of living, as a way to increase funding for Oregon schools. | 2 Disagree |
| 7 | School district should be held liable when students are victims of harassment, discrimination or intimidation. (HB 2937) | 2 Disagree |
| I believe in individual responsibility and due process. | ||
| 8 | One school employee being assigned, trained, and compensated for every 250 students to act as disciplinary mediator. (HB 2504) | 4 Agree |
| School Choice | ||
| 9 | More students being allowed to enroll in non-district virtual public charter schools without school district approval. (HB 2023, HB 2716 SB 518 & SB 657) | 4 Agree |
| 10 | Expanding the availability of charter schools within the public school system. | 5 Strongly Agree |
| 11 | Allowing a student to attend any public school in the state. (SB 659, 2021) | 4 Agree |
| 12 | School board support for including homeschooled students in extracurricular activities such as sporting events, music concerts, school clubs, etc. (SB 223) | 5 Strongly Agree |
| Student Learning-Curriculum/Testing | ||
| 13 | Developing a curriculum that teaches constitutional principles, limited government and maximized individual liberties upon which the U.S. was founded. | 5 Strongly Agree |
| 14 | Students in grades K-12 receiving at least half of a semester of instruction on civics. (HB 2299, SB 26) | 5 Strongly Agree |
| 15 | A balanced curriculum that includes equal time studying the various perspectives on topics such as historic events, environmental theories, scientific assumptions and main religions. | 4 Agree |
| 16 | School districts being required to provide instruction on racist history of this country and state. (SB 683) | 1 Strongly Disagree |
| I strongly appose SB 683 and do not approve of the distortion of American history for divisive purposes. | ||
| 17 | Excluding political views, sexual orientation, and religious (or anti-religious) topics from the classroom. | 4 Agree |
| 18 | School board supporting programs that utilize volunteers from local businesses, churches and civic groups that provide mentoring, internships and other real life education. | 5 Strongly Agree |
| 19 | When English is a second language, promote student integration into regular school programs. | 4 Agree |
| 20 | Eliminating requirement that instruction in all subjects must be conducted in English, providing communication in a student's primary language. (HB 2056) | Decline |
| 21 | Permiting a parent to excuse student from taking statewide standardized assessment tests. (SB 678) | 4 Agree |
| 22 | Allowing schools to implement nationally recognized high school assessments in mathematics, science or English. (HB 2960) | 4 Agree |
| 23 | Prohibiting commercially developed and scored assessment tests for preschool through second grade. (SB 596) | Decline |
| 24 | Evaluating the instructional needs of each student as a result of school closure due to COVID-19 and report summary to the Department of Education. (HB 2962) | 4 Agree |
| School Environment and Safety | ||
| 25 | Holding an open discussion with students on why students are dropping out of school. | 4 Agree |
| 26 | Conducting staff awareness training to identify early signs of harassment, intimidation, bullying and cyberbullying. | 5 Strongly Agree |
| 27 | Dress codes that do not overly limit freedom of choice and speech. (HB 2052) | 4 Agree |
| 28 | A low student-teacher ratio increases success in the classroom. | Decline |
| 29 | Students of any age being allowed to prevent parental notification when student has been a victim of harassment. (HB 2631) | Decline |
| 30 | Implementing a statewide education plan specifically for LGBTQ and other gender identity students. (SB 52) | 2 Disagree |
| We need to come together, not continue to split children into smaller, and smaller groups. | ||
| 31 | Armed security in every school. (SB 238) | 5 Strongly Agree |
| 32 | Requiring schools to provide students that have been suspended or expelled with assigned classwork and meals the student may have received if not suspended or expelled. (HB 2945) | 4 Agree |
| 33 | Prohibiting school district board from authorizing or using certain monitoring software related to students' computer usage. (SB 594) | Decline |