VOTER'S GUIDE
QUESTIONS POSED TO THE CANDIDATES
1) Do you agree with climate scientists that we are facing a climate emergency?
2) Do you agree with climate scientists that greenhouse gas emissions must be reversed by 2030 to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees and to avoid catastrophic runaway climate disruption?
3) If elected, what specific policies or actions will you initiate in your first year of service to begin transitioning our schools away from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy within the timeframe set by the world's leading scientists?
4) What are the current needs you see at APS or SFPS and how do you plan on addressing those issues if you are elected? What is your vision for the ideal relationship between communities and schools? elected, what specific policies will you initiate and support to transition our economy to a net zero carbon economy in the timeframe set by the world’s leading scientists?
5) What role do you believe education has in preparing students actively contribute as community members and to address the issues inherited and faced by each generation?
6) What are the pressing issues facing young people today?How can a student's race, class, and gender impact their education?
7)Do you plan on engaging students and families as a board member? How?
8) Describe your previous experience working on social/health/environmental justice issues, do you have experience working with impacted communities to co-develop solutions?
9) How will you use this experience to influence your position on the board?
10) Many schools are majority students of color, and if they were colleges would be considered Hispanic Serving Institutions. Recently, that term has been challenged and critics are now calling them Hispanic Enrolling institutions unless they can clearly show how they have been serving students, their families and their communities. The measures used include graduation rates, matriculation in the next level of education, success at the next level, equitable participation in Honors or AP classes and programs, a teaching staff that is representative of the students' cultural/national backgrounds, a governing board that is also representative, a curriculum that is reflective and representative of their histories, languages and experiences, equitable resource allocation in curricular and extra curricular areas, and meaningful engagement in decision making around policies and budgets. How is the district doing based on these measures and what are your plans for improving on each of these?
11) The role of public schools is currently very contested in the US, with corporations insisting that schools should prepare (and help stratify) future workers, and extremist groups like Moms for Liberty pushing the idea that schools should eliminate any critical discourse, ban books and punish un-Christian and anti-American behavior. There is another important, and growing school of thought that says schools should contribute to the "success" of the communities they serve. This thinking, which relates back the progressive schools movement as well as traditional and indigenous education practices, sees schools as a community asset rather than a corporate or ideological tool, and insists that all communities (and their children) can thrive through asset based work rather than just survive with the help of basic services. Which of these three roles do you support, and why, and what are your plans for enhancing the district's progress towards those goals?
12)There is another shift in demographics occurring, aside from the racial and ethnic base, that sees students concentrated in newer areas of the district and in overcrowded schools, and schools being underutilized in older neighborhoods. Districts are also losing students due to lower birthrates, displacement from gentrification, and the preference of middle and higher income families for public charter and private schools. As a result, districts are under pressure to close schools, consolidate enrollments, and sell off properties. All of these options have potential serious negative consequences. What do you see as those negative consequences and what do you propose instead?
13) What connections do you believe exist between our education system and environmental and climate impacts?
14) How will you work to ensure our education system our education system has a positive impact on environmental and climate justice if elected?
15) How do you see public schools playing a role in a just transition away from fossil fuels for NM? How will you help move this if you are elected?
16)Is it critical to include Indigenous and Traditional Land Base Knowledge when developing a curriculum around climate change?Define environmental racism in your own words and provide an example in NM
17) Do you believe climate action is an issue of intergenerational justice?
18) What is the responsibility of your generation to the youth and future generations? Explain.
19) How can pollution and contamination impact schools and students? Do you believe it is the fossil fuel industry and utility corporations' responsibility for clean up?
20) Do you support the State Land Office’s moratorium/prohibition on new oil and gas leasing on state trust lands within one mile of schools or other educational facilities?
21) What is your opinion on the fossil fuel divestment actions from different educational institutions throughout the country?
22) Have you accepted any donations from fossil fuel companies or utilities? Yes/No