Adams 12 School Board Candidates Respond to Questions from RMEQ

RMEQ invited all school board candidates in Adams 12 to complete a questionnaire to share their positions on issues important to our community. Two candidates provided responses:

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo (at-large)

Amira Assad-Lucas (at-large)

Read their responses below to ensure you are making informed decisions when you vote this November.

---

Why are you running for a seat on the school board, and what drives your commitment to public education?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

I have four children who have or are going through the Adams 12 School District and I would like to more actively serve my school district and my community especially during a time of financial, social emotional and equity and inclusion challenges our children, schools and community face.

Amira Assad-Lucas

I am running for re-election for Adams 12 school board to continue the work in supporting our students, educators, staff, families, and overall community. Public education is the last true equalizer in our current society. This is probably the exact reason it is under attack. It has always been my passion to fight for public education because our public schools are the only schools that serve ALL students. It is more important now, than ever, with the current administration withholding title funding to public education and openly attacking trans students, that we work in collaborative ways to ensure ALL our students receive the support they need, and deserve, to continue building our community in ways we all want.

What personal and professional experiences have prepared you to serve effectively on the school board?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

I have served one year on the Adams 12 DAC and am currently starting my second year and have taken over the role as secretary for the DAC, including the active attendance of SAC meetings with school administrators and parents as a way of gathering data on how the district is serving the community.

Amira Assad-Lucas

I have served on the board the past four years and as the Vice President the past two. I am a mental health therapist and understand the importance of supporting students in all ways to help them thrive within the classroom. I am a mother of four children, with one just graduating from Thornton High School and attending CU in the fall. My other three will be entering 7th, 4th and 1st. My children have attended Title I schools for the majority, if not all, of their educational experience. As a mental health therapist, I understand that our title schools educate some of our most vulnerable student populations.

How do you believe public schools should balance teaching accurate, standards-based information in subjects like history and social studies with responding to recent parental rights movements and efforts to ban or restrict books?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

Parents will and always should be active partners in shaping school curriculum. I do think this passion should work hand in hand with ensuring that we teach fact-based history and social studies that does not hide, white wash, or avoid our past achievements and failures but embraces both.

Amira Assad-Lucas

I sometimes don't always hold a popular opinion about this topic, but I believe we should educate our children according to standards. Standards adapt with knowledge and once we know, we should do better. I also support parental rights and with that, they have the right to enroll their children in a school that matches with their value and belief system. Colorado is a choice state, which allows parents choices. Our public schools are exactly that, public and serve a variety of students and families. Public schools should remain separate from religious doctrine (according to the constitution) and therefore, we teach according to standards.

Do you support school policies that respect how the students, staff, and administrators choose to be addressed including chosen names, pronouns, and honorifics? Why or why not?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

Yes I do because our community members feel valued when who there are is acknowledged and celebrated. To erase core parts of ourselves, whether names, pronouns, race/culture or religious affiliation contradicts our very human need to be seen.

Amira Assad-Lucas

Yes. I could add a lot of explanation to my answer, but the fact this has become a talking point is such a distraction from actual real concerns happening in the education realm and if a student wants to be referred to by a different name, pronouns, etc. then good on them advocating for themselves and why are the adults making this an issue? As a mental health therapist, especially one who works with adults who are offenders and then victims of sexual abuse and assault, I have a lot of opinions about why they are focusing on this nonsensical topic. If we want our students to be successful in the classroom, lets make the space for them to be themselves and comfortable.

What are your top priorities for ensuring schools are physically and emotionally safe for all students, including addressing bullying and harassment, which we know disproportionately affects historically excluded students, and how will you ensure that the school climate supports LGBT students in their academic success?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

Outreach to our communities and schools are key to ensuring schools provide safe environments to address bullying and harassment. This can be student led and administration supported. I do believe that this leadership best come from the top down in ensuring that expectations are defined and met.

Amira Assad-Lucas

ALL students should feel safe and secure in order to learn in the way we, as a system, are wanting from them. In order for this to happen, we have to ensure students' spaces (classrooms, bathrooms, playgrounds, lunch rooms, etc.) are safe from bullying and harassment. This can be facilitated by increasing mental health support, school counseling support and educating our educators and staff in what to look out for and who to seek support from for students, if this is occurring. We also need to implement more restorative justice practices for students who violate other students to increase their awareness of harm and impact of their behaviors to, not just the student they victimized, but to the community at large.

With Colorado’s school funding strained by TABOR restrictions and anticipated federal budget cuts to education, what principles would guide your budget priorities? What three areas, if any, would you consider reducing funding for? Where would you protect or increase investment?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

I would increase investment in anything related to 1) mental health & 2)social and emotional learning followed by any targeted increase to improve 3) academic performance. Reductions can come from streamlining/efficiency depending on spending survey data.

Amira Assad-Lucas

This is such a difficult topic. Adams 12 just had to cut 150 educational positions due to budget restraints. This significantly impacted our system. I am not in favor of cutting any educational funding. In fact, educational funding should be the top priority when balancing a budget. These are our children, our future community members, and we should be prioritizing their education and health if we truly want a better society. I will continue advocating for our legislators to prioritize public education funding. I will also continue supporting and advocating for federal funding this current administration is holding hostage to states and/or districts that embrace the philosophy and laws of public education.

Do you believe that all recipients of public education funding, including charter schools and voucher programs, should be required to comply with the same state standards, regulations, nondiscrimination laws, and structural accountability as traditional public schools? Why or why not?

Ike Anyanwu-Ebo

Yes, I support giving parents options and freedoms. The school options available should all be accountable to the exact same standards and requirements. Without common standards, performance management and improvement would not be possible.

Amira Assad-Lucas

Absolutely! Public dollars have to be accounted for with how they are being spent. It is problematic when we have many charter school in Colorado that accept students with disabilities and then after the October count, they then claim they cannot support their educational needs and these students have to come back to the district ran school, but the charter is allowed to keep the funding accounted for those students. Also, we have PUBLIC charter schools, receiving PUBLIC tax dollars, teaching religious doctrine that openly discriminates against student populations (LGBTQ), which is in direct violation of the law. There needs to be more restrictive policies of how charters are allowed to receive pubic funding and being accountable to other entities that receive public funding.