Meet the Roseville School Board Candidates

Editor’s note: The Roseville Patch invited each of the six candidates for District 623 School Board to respond to a brief questionnaire listing their qualifications for the job and priorities for the district.  Today we feature Mike Boguszewski, who is seeking his first term on the school board.

Roseville Patch: Where do you work?

Mike Boguszewski: I am the director of strategy and growth for Park Nicollet Health Services.  My work life has been in health care planning and strategy.  I also serve on the Roseville Planning Commission.

Roseville Patch: What are your qualifications for the position you seek?

Boguszewski: In my professional career, I have dealt with the same kinds of decisions the school board will make, and needs to do: budget assessment and prioritization; proposing and helping to assess new ideas and then doing what is necessary to implement them; leading and facilitating staff and parents in exploring ways to make the district better.

For the last nine or 10 years, I have been an extremely active member of the site council of our children’s schools, and I have a pretty deep understanding of the logistics of how schools operate – policy issues, funding formulas, curriculum and grade structure, etc. – and the challenges that we will be facing.

I’m also qualified from the point of view of how I will approach the role.  I don’t think it’s the job of the school board to micromanage, but board members should be active advocates for kids, because we really are their elected representatives.  We must ensure that every child is enabled to perform to the best of his or her ability, and graduates out of the Roseville system prepared to succeed in a world that every day is more complex and diverse.  I have the will and commitment to put in the time, working with other board members and the administration, to make the system the best it can be.

Roseville Patch: What are the most important issues facing District 623?

Boguszewski: I don’t know if there’s any one single most important issue. Several will crop up.  At or near the top is budget. Given what’s happening at the state level and what we may be seeing in terms of increasing reluctance of taxpayers to dig deeper in their pockets, we will have to make some decisions about how to prioritize within the school system. We must make sure we are creative in meeting our kids’ needs in a way that is cost-effective.  Am I prepared to say that there is a particular thing we need to look at in terms of reducing costs?  No – but those questions may come up, and as a board, we’ll need to be prepared to face what may be a hard reality.

Second, we need to look at the overall pattern of Roseville schools, which have changed a lot demographically in the past five to 10 years. We have a much more diverse student population.  We want to make sure we are reaching all kids, and, more importantly, the families of kids, to ensure that all of us are empowered to play an active part in our newer, more diverse communities.  I’d like to see the board be active, open and welcoming – doing whatever we can to help develop family and community leaders.

A third issue is related to standards.  I totally agree with the federal education secretary and appreciate his pushing through the waiver on the No Child Left Behind Act.  The mission of NCLB has been a good one, but the law itself tended to micromanage in terms of process. Our challenge will be working with the state and broader organizations to make sure we do not lose the focus on standards and making sure our kids have positive outcomes. We must do it in a way that is intelligent, not ham-handed. We want to enable all teachers to be more creative than they thought they could be under NCLB.