Q&A with Kurt Kastein, running for Poudre School District Board of Education District B
Name: Kurt Kastein
Race: Poudre School District Board of Education District B
Question: Why are you interested in running for a seat on the Board of Education and what are your qualifications?
Answer: 30,000 PSD students, their families, teachers and staff deserve our attention! These students are enabled for life by a high-quality education and will greatly impact our city and state. My wife, Andrea, and I have lived in Fort Collins for 29 years and have raised three great kids, each of whom attended PSD. As a BOE member, I'll draw on my leadership experience as a father, eight years as Fort Collins City councilmember and 12 years as a director of engineering. Our kids matter!
Q: What is the biggest issue facing the school district, and, if elected, how would you address it?
A: Our district has a trust issue. Parents of special needs children abused on a school bus say they're not being heard. Parents concerned about student surveys asking inappropriate questions say they're not being heard. Teachers annually raising concerns about extreme classroom temperatures say they're not being heard. There are parents who believe gender identity issues with their children have been hidden from them. A healthy school district can restore trust with open dialogue and transparency.
Q: How do you define parental rights as it pertains to public education? What level of input should parents/guardians have in curriculum selection and content?
A: We must respect parents’ rights to decide what is best for their children. Parents should be informed when challenges arise with their children and encouraged to step in as the persons who best understand the unique needs of their children. We should expect transparency, so that parents have a say in, and can easily understand, what is being taught. In that system, parents should have input when choosing new curriculum and be able to access curriculum already in use with their children.
Q: Learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools switched to remote and hybrid instruction, is significant across the nation. What should the school district be doing to close that gap?
A: The loss of face-to-face contact during the pandemic was devastating. Student mental health, as well as academic performance, was greatly impacted. PSD must have aggressive goals to advance student learning by focusing on academics. Resources should be redirected to offload teachers from tasks not related to teaching. Classroom distractions from cellphone usage should be eliminated. Increased budgets for mental health should be funneled to opportunities which embrace students plus parents.
Q: As our average temperatures in Colorado continue to rise, should all schools have central air-conditioning? If not why? If so, how should adding it to those without be funded?
A: We must consider more than the knee-jerk reaction to “raise more money.” Surveys and task forces to address the issue have been used in the past, and I’ve listened to teachers at recent board meetings who say they have creative solutions. Let’s surface those ideas and make a plan. Two possibilities are to shift the school calendar by a number of weeks and to develop a capital spending plan that prioritizes AC installs. But let’s get all the options on the table, then put our plan in place.
Q: We are in a high-growth area that will continue to require the building of new schools. What steps should the school district take to ensure equity among students in both old and new facilities?
A: Great teachers and sound academic improvement strategies are more important than facilities. Having said that, students and classrooms need good equipment. New buildings benefit from modern building standards aimed at enhanced teaching opportunities and will receive equipment to leverage those opportunities. Existing facilities receive new equipment to replace that which is nonfunctional or outdated. Properly managed, district budgets should equally meet the needs of old and new facilities.
Q: Given the rising cost of living in Northern Colorado, what steps should be taken to ensure the district is able to attract and retain the best teachers, administrators and district leaders?
A: Teachers want to focus on teaching and the needs of each child while developing their careers toward that end. Administrative staff positions for functions outside academics have increased as the district takes on responsibilities outside the core mission: academics. We should narrow the focus on academics and provide resources — paraprofessionals, improved classroom facilities, competitive pay — that benefit teachers and lessen the need for specialized administrative staff.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Q&A with Kurt Kastein, running for PSD Board of Education District B
