ASEAN JOHNSON

Last week 9-year-old Asean Johnson became the latest YouTube sensation when he criticized Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for his decision to close 54 Chicago public schools. With more than 100,000 views, the video, uploaded May 21, was taken at a Chicago rally where Johnson led the crowd in chanting, “Rahm, let’s face it, your policies are racist.”

SYLVIA WILSON

With 62 percent of the vote, former Pittsburgh Public School District teacher Sylvia Wilson won both the Democratic and Republican nominations for the District 1 school board seat in last week’s primary election on May 21.

With six months remaining until Wilson will likely take office in December, she said the first thing she plans to tackle is the budget, not only because it is the first assignment the board is tasked with, but also because she believes it will be most important in determining the future of the district.

“Without the proper finances your programs get limited. Right now, it’s bare bones,” Wilson said in an interview with the New Pittsburgh Courier. “We need to be able to offer these children what they need. The financial situation is why it’s so difficult to offer programs in the areas we once did.”

The district’s 2013 budget included a $9.8 million deficit, significantly decreasing the district’s fund balance, which could be empty by 2015. Wilson said she would begin by taking a thorough look at the district’s financial picture in order to balance the district’s budget without taking vital resources away from schools.

“There’s loads of places where they need more resources. There have been a lot of cuts to teachers and administrators and I know they’re over worked,” Wilson said. “It’s difficult across the country. At the state level if the funding were where it once was, that would help, but I’m not saying it would fix everything.”

When asked how she would address the biggest problem in the Black community, the growing achievement gap between Black and White students, Wilson said strengthening school principals to provide strong leadership is key.

“Where schools have been the most successful is where you have good leadership in the building. Strong school leadership is possible and I’ve seen it.  I think with lots of changes over the past few years, we’ve seen that deteriorate,” said Wilson, adding she has seen achievement go down after a change in principal occurred. “I think what you need to have is that mutual respect between the administrator and the staff.”

As the longtime assistant to the president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, some speculated during the campaign about Wilson’s allegiances to the union. After Wilson takes office, she and the other new board members will be involved in renegotiating the terms of the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the PFT.

“My allegiance is to the school district,” Wilson said. “(The CBA is) an agreement between the employees and the school district. It’s not an us versus them thing. I think people look at the CBA in the wrong way.”

Last year, the district and PFT butted heads over a heavy round of teacher furloughs. The district wanted to base the furloughs on several factors including teacher effectiveness and seniority, but the PFT would not allow any factor beyond seniority to be taken into consideration and Wilson agrees.

In addition to being a retired PPS teacher and  working with the PFT president, Wilson also served as  a liaison to the district’s human resources department. Instead of seeing her background as a deterrent, Wilson sees it as a strength.

“Over the years, my knowledge of the people within the administration building, knowing the inner workings of the schools is valuable. I’ve been involved in the education system in Pittsburgh for such a long time and this allows me to continue working in the education arena,” Wilson said. “I’m pleased to be able to continue to do a job for a school district I believe in with the support of people who wanted me there.”

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