Name as it appears on the ballot: Mike Williams
Age: 52
Party affiliation: UNA
Campaign website: docwmsone.com
Occupation & employer: NC Juvenile Justice Education Services
Years lived in the area: 18
- What are the three main issues that you believe the Wake County Public Schools Board of Education needs to address in the upcoming years?
- Money- ensuring that the district has the fiscal resources needed to meet the growing and diverse needs of our students
- Safety- ensuring that we have the tools and implements in place to protect our children and stakeholders
- Equity- to ensure that every student has access to a highly qualified teacher who is equipped with the resources needed to meet their sundry needs and prepare them to function in a global and digital environment
- Employee pay across the system has been a consistent concern, and while the board was able to raise wages for many workers this year, underfunding at the state level will likely persist. How can WCPSS remain competitive in terms of compensation, and how can the school system support its lowest paid workers who make less than $40,000/year on a 10-month pay schedule?
One of the ways our district can remain competitive is by partnering with housing providers, daycare providers, etc. to negotiate reduced rents, down payment assistance programs, mortgage incentives, reduced daycare cost to make the funds our workers receive stretch further. This would further invite and encourage emerging educators begin or continue their career within our district. In addition, while we offer the highest supplement of any district in the state, if we can provide an enhanced supplement for veteran staff with 16-25 years who no longer receive a step increase from the state during these years, adding/revisiting a county longevity pay bonus for staff with ten years or more with the district. These factors will impact staff across the spectrum and hopefully stabilize our workforce
- Do you support the Biden administration’s new federal Title IX rules that ban discrimination based on gender identity and expand protections for LGBTQ students? Please explain your position.
I agree with the intent of the bill to eliminate discrimination in any form. However, if the science is good enough to justify global warming, it must also be good enough to justify the biological and anatomical differences between boys and girls even if they believe that they are gender mis-assigned. I believe that children should be required to compete in the class of their birth gender until the science determines that DNA for gender mis-assigned persons correlate with their assumed gender not assigned gender.
- Do you support North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarships (otherwise known as vouchers for private schools)? Why or why not? How do you think they impact public schools?
There will never be enough private and/or charter public schools to accommodate all of the students being educated in public schools. The notion that these schools and the funding they are receiving is going to close public schools is ludicrous at best. I believe that competition will make the entire system better. On the back end, our schools should to administer an exit survey to ascertain why parents are removing the students from the traditional school. On the front end, our schools should administer an interest survey to determine the types of programs and/or curriculum enhancements parents are seeking to help shape its programming to meet the needs of our expanding and increasingly diverse population. We can then use this data to develop and/or expand programming to meet those needs. If we are meeting the needs and expectat6ions of our parents and students, they will be loyal to our schools regardless of the options available to them. ,
- WCPSS administrators just released the first draft of a new school reassignment plan for the 2025-26 school year that will populate four new schools in southern and southwestern Wake County. Do you support the draft plan? What, if anything, needs to change in the plan?
The plan was drafted on current student population and projections based upon trends. I support it as long as the data remains constant. We should continue to monitor egress within our region to ensure that the growth pattern is holding steady and the needs persists.
6) What is the role of School Resource Officers (SROs) in schools?
To protect our students and stakeholders from threats both internal (students and other staff members) and external (visitors and perpetrators from outside) based upon the policies of the district.
7) The ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ law seeks to give parents more control over their children’s education. How should WCPSS balance compliance with the law with students’ rights to privacy and teachers’ ability to provide a sound basic education?
Parents and teachers should be on the same team as it relates to providing for the education of their students. As an educator, I have found that communication with the parents on both the successes and challenges of their children helps ease the anxiety related to blurring those lines and achieves better outcomes for our students. Engaging the parents as team members, coming to a consensus on common goals, and collectively developing a strategy to reach those goals for their child helps each party understand their lane and stay within it.
8) How should WCPSS deal with efforts to ban books in schools?
There should be a book review panel comprised of persons across the philosophical spectrum of our district. When new books are being considered, this panel should vet the books and forward their recommendations to the board. If the vote is divided, the board will take their deliberations into consideration and deliberate on whether to include the book in the curriculum. Additionally, citizens should voice their concerns through their representative or at board meetings during the public session. Books should be selected based upon the needs of the district, objectives promulgated by standard course of study, and culture within the community.
9) Recently, Durham Public Schools implemented a Universal Free Lunch program that provides nutritious free breakfasts and lunches to all of the system’s students. The Wake County school board, on the other hand, voted to charge more for meals this academic year. Was this the right move? Should WCPSS follow DPS’s lead and find a way to provide free meals to the district’s students?
Universal free lunch should be offered for all students. However, to minimize any outlay to the district, parents should be given the opportunity to opt out. .
10) Research has shown an achievement gap for Wake County Schools students based on race and socioeconomic status. What specific policies would you support or what actions would you take to help close the gap so that race and socioeconomic status don’t persist as predictive factors?
Our district recently expedited an equity study which made a myriad of suggestions to address concerns in those areas. We should study those results and consider the recommendations. As research has proven that socio-economically challenged students typically do not have access to the pre school early/smart start resources that more affluent students receive. We must increase our investment in those programs to give our students the same opportunity as their colleagues. Additionally, we must invest in remediation and supplemental educational opportunities utilizing 21st century learning grant, Title 1, and other resources which are available to the district. These resources should be prioritized for students who attend schools with higher percentages of socio-economically challenged lower performing students.