DISTRICT 4: YAEL SILK
2023 Vote School Board First! Candidate Questionnaire:
Q: What, in your view, is PPS doing very well? What needs course correction?
A: The K-2 suspension ban for nonviolent infractions is a good start and likely played a role in decreasing overall suspensions. However, Black students and students from low income households continue to make up a disproportionate percentage of suspensions. The suspension ban for nonviolent infractions needs to be expanded through 12th grade. Students must be in school to benefit from school. We cannot continue to uphold disciplinary policies that we apply discriminatorily.
The District has committed to integrating Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into instruction and made initial investments. This important SEL focus should be balanced with an equal emphasis on culturally responsive practices, an approach that acknowledges and celebrates the diversity of cultures and identities among our students and teachers. Changing instructional practice takes intensive professional learning and time. The School Board should ensure that funds and time are allocated to this effort and that there are not too many change initiatives running simultaneously.
Like much of the country, PPS is disproportionately failing our Black students through inequitable access to learning opportunities, exclusion from the gifted program, and higher suspension rates. Our per pupil spending is one of the highest in the Commonwealth, and yet many PPS students don’t have the resources they need and deserve. More rigorous budget allocation oversight is needed. We are surrounded by acclaimed universities, arts and culture organizations, tech companies, and more who want to partner with PPS, but cannot navigate their way in through the red tape. Our relatively new superintendent Dr. Walters has an opportunity to write a new chapter for PPS, but cannot do so without managing the fallout from our last superintendent’s failures and rebuilding trust with PPS families.
Q: What is the role of the school district in the success of the city? How will you partner with other governmental entities?
A: I believe that public education is a key ingredient to making a multiracial democracy possible. While we are far from living up to this ideal, there is so much potential to dramatically improve Pittsburgh’s schools for our children and our city. I am running for School Board Director because I know that powerful, personally relevant learning experiences help young people learn so much more than knowledge and skills across different disciplines. A compelling public education can help young people develop into the best versions of themselves, prepared for a range of possible futures beyond high school that we cannot yet imagine.
It is important for PPS School Board Directors to build on the recent collaborative efforts of Mayor Gainey and Dr. Walters and Pittsburgh City Council establishing a Pittsburgh City-School District Partnership focusing on issues such as safe walking routes to school, school safety, summer programs, and early childhood programs. At the county level, we are at a pivotal movement for our region as we prepare to elect a new County Executive. Two areas that the county government is well positioned to address are public transit routes for students and after school programs.
Q: What training/information do you think you will need to be successful in your role as a school board member?
A: I want to learn more about teacher and school staff mental health. It has been an extraordinary time to work in education and I’d like to know what kinds of support resources are already available to help and what more is needed. Our school adults need to be okay in order to successfully support our students. I also want to learn more about both the district budget and site based budget practices and the procedural mechanisms that control what the school board focuses on at any given time.
Q: What do you believe a school board member should know/be able to do relative to district operations?
A: Every school board member needs to understand how decisions are made in the district, what is the purview of the superintendent’s office, what is the purview of the school board, and how to work collaboratively for positive change.
Q: We know that the pandemic had a negative effect on school attendance. How will you fulfill your role to create and foster schools where kids want to be?
A: Students are engaged and motivated to learn when they feel seen, appreciated, and celebrated by their peers and adults. I will encourage investment in culturally responsive teaching practices that uplift the diverse identities of our school district community. Important steps include increasing available support services (e.g., school counselors), investing in school-level community building activities, listening to advocacy groups when developing policies to help students thrive, and ensuring that staff participate in effective professional learning.
Q: Given that nutrition is closely tied to student health and academic outcomes, what initiatives should PPS support to help promote healthy food access for PPS students?
A: I think that we need a collaborative approach to address healthy food access. As as a school board director, I will prioritize hearing from public health professionals and community members to co-create plans with our school staff, students, and their families.
Q: With enrollment declining in PPS, what is your vision for the future of the physical footprint of the district?
A: We will need to address the District’s footprint as a community in order to make viable decisions. I think it is important that the School Board sets up a process that shares digestible information with the public, offers different ways for community members to offer input, and communicates back to the public which suggestions can be implemented in the short term, which suggestions District leadership are committed to in the mid- to long-term, and which suggestions will not be implemented along with explanations.
Q: What are your plans to desegregate our school district?
A: I think that we need a collaborative approach to address desegregating our school district. As as a school board director, I will prioritize hearing from community organizers, elected officials, and researchers to co-create plans with our school staff, students, and their families.
Q: How do you plan on integrating student voice into your decisions? Are you aware of the existing channels of student voice to tap into?
A: I will work with the superintendent, principals, and student group advisors to make sure that students are aware of the board meeting schedule and the process for submitting testimony. I will continue to listen to PPS students so they regularly inform my perspective. I commit to sharing student stories and concerns early and often during school board meetings. Additionally, it is important that students are ultimately invited to participate in committees, working groups, and task forces. In cases where current bylaws do not allow this, I would advocate for bylaw review and revision.
Q: What role does the school board play in improving the learning environment for our students?
A: The school board’s role is to ensure the superintendent and cabinet have the resources they need to successfully lead the district. Ideally, this relationship includes oversight and strategic partnership working towards a set of shared goals that get us closer to our students having what they need to thrive.
Q: What do you think the proper role of a board member is to help foster positive school discipline and building a positive school climate?
A: The school board can pass community supported and research backed policies that foster positive school cultures and make sure that resources are distributed equitably. This can include setting minimum standards for school buildings around investments we know lead to positive school climate such as support staff, a strong arts program, and limiting the use of suspensions as a disciplinary tool.
Q: Superintendent Dr. Wayne Walters has put forward 5 priority goals, what are your thoughts on the goals and do you see yourself as a board member fitting into those goals?
A: I believe that Dr. Walters' priority goals are a good foundation for improving our schools. As a School Board Director, I will strongly advocate for integrating culturally responsive practices into all aspects of PPS and expanding partnerships, including reducing the red tape that makes utilizing such resources in our community difficult.
Q: A Commonwealth Court Judge recently ruled the way Pennsylvania funds education is unconstitutional, do you think PPS is funded sufficiently? (Please explain why or why not)
A: How our schools are funded is related to, but not the same as whether or not our district is sufficiently funded. The only way to know if we are sufficiently funded is to conduct a thorough audit. Regarding the funding formula, I think it is problematic to have public school funding tied to property taxes because it puts school districts serving high percentages of students from neighborhoods with lower home values at a disadvantage.
Q: What is your vision for using the existing budget?
A: I want to ensure we are using available funds to ensure we are offering a common minimum standard across all schools and then differentiating opportunities based the particular needs of specific schools based on the students in the building.
There is currently insufficient transparency and clarity around the PPS budget. An early step must be a comprehensive budget audit so district leaders can make more informed decisions while facing difficult choices. There is also an opportunity for the school board to work with the superintendent to make changes to the school-level budgeting process with two goals in mind. The first is to ensure that students and educators get the resources they need. The second is to make it easier for the community to understand how public dollars are being spent. It is essential for PPS staff and the community to understand how both the district and school site budgets work. I will work to share clear information with the public about current expenses, revenue sources, needs, and trade offs, and will invite community input.
Q: Many PPS families struggle with basic needs such as housing and food insecurity. How should the district be allocating resources to address these needs?
A: I think the district needs to partner with local government agencies and nonprofit organizations to help address a range of PPS family needs. The district is an important resource, but cannot do this work alone. Whether this happens through fully funded community schools or another mechanism, district leadership must coordinate services and funding at the city, county, and state levels.