School Board Candidate Profile: Doug Shaw Says Keep School Board Transparent, Focus on Children's Future

In just a few short weeks, Cedar Falls voters will be able to weigh in on three open seats on the school board.

The election will be held Sept. 10. All school board seats are at-large, meaning the entire school district will be able to vote for each seat.

Seven people - five newcomers and two current board members - are vying for the seats.

Patch is running profiles of each of the candidates. Today, meet Doug Shaw, a newcomer who says the Cedar Falls School Board needs to be more transparent and that the town should focus on the future of Cedar Falls - its children.

Read more candidate profiles.

Name, age:

Doug Shaw, 49

Background:

Currently a Professor of Mathematics at University of Northern Iowa. My wife is named Laurel, and she is a top notch web designer. My daughter just started third grade at Lincoln Elementary. We really like Lincoln.

Education:

BS in Computer Engineering – University of Illinois

MS in Applied Mathematics – University of Illinois

MA in Mathematics – University of Michigan

Ph.D. in Mathematics – University of Michigan

Professional:

Systems Engineer at GE, working with nuclear submarines.

Author of pre-calculus textbook.

Author of widely used instructor’s guides for teachers on subjects including Calculus, Algebra, Linear Algebra, etc.

Winner of teaching awards at four Midwestern universities.

Invited to teach outside of the math department at UNI, including a theater course, a writing course, and a combined writing/oral communication/first year experience course.

Why did you decide to run for the school board?

I have dedicated my life to public education, because I believe that if the education we provide is top-notch, transcending the latest state-imposed fads and marketing, our students succeed, and Cedar Falls thrives in the long term. If not, Cedar Falls fails in the long term, regardless of what roads we fix up and enterprise zones we create. Look at what cities, which states, and which countries win in the long run – it’s all about educating our students.

I have been attending school board meetings for close to two years, and have been frustrated with how difficult it is to know what in happening in Cedar Falls K-12 education without physically attending the meetings, and how little effort is being made to really listen to parents, teachers, support staff, coaches, and other stakeholders in the process.

I want to repeat that – the long term fate of our community is dependent on how we educate our students. I was seeing buzzwords and fads. I wanted to see a school board where input is sought from the people who know our students best; not just sought, but valued. And I looked at my life, my experiences, and realized that I could do a lot with a seat on the board.

What do you see as key issues the Cedar Falls School District needs to address? How should we start?

- Transparency: Before school board meetings the agenda needs to be made public, the real agenda, not a letter-of-the-law general document. Any presentation or report that the taxpayers have paid for needs to be easily available, prior to the meeting. Our current distinction as one of the few school boards not to televise meetings is not an honorable one.

- Stakeholder involvement: You should be have plenty of opportunities to address the school board, knowing you will be respected and listened to. And your school board should be willing to send a member to you or your group if a detailed conversation is necessary. And they should be eager to do so.

- Languages: Español es el idioma principal que se habla en casa por casi 37 millones de personas de cinco años o más, una cifra de entre más del doble que en 1990. I do not know what the previous sentence means (I used Google Translate). But I want our children to be able to read it. The job market is getting tighter and tighter in an internet world – and being bilingual is going to be an immense advantage in that world. Our children (or their employers) will have potential clients, customers, and coworkers that will want to do business with Spanish speakers. Our responsibility is to prepare our students for the future reality. And (as you know if you tried to learn a language in college) the younger you start, the easier it is.

- A real education: Our schools need to have good test scores to avoid government penalties and punishment. And they are well above that bar. But we must not sacrifice our students’ education to try to get an extra tenth of percentage point, so the adults can boast. My most successful high-school friends are working in fields that did not exist back when we were in school. Our children will be in a job market where the best jobs will probably be doing things we can’t even conceive of. Being able to fill in bubbles on multiple choice tests isn’t going to help them. Being able to think creatively, communicate clearly, solve problems analytically, and finish projects thoroughly will put them in a great position whatever those jobs are. We should be freeing our teachers to spend more class time developing these skills, instead of shaving another three seconds off of their double-digit multiplication problems.

What is your feeling on the facilities issue the district is facing, especially regarding the high school?

I was at a board meeting recently where PowerPoint slides were presented on the screen showing demographic trends and predictions for the Cedar Valley. Once you see that report you realize that, at all levels, we aren’t going have enough seats. There is no way around that. Right now, the state government wants to give us money for preschoolers, and we have to turn it down because there is not enough space. So, yes, we need to have more space for high-school students, but it would be deceptive to imply that we can get by with just building a high school.

We can debate specifics – are computer labs really the way to go in a world where the trend is solidly against desktop computing? But overall, we are going to need to expand capacity.

This is a good thing, a great thing, it means our community is growing and thriving; that people want to move here. And (speaking personally now) one reason people want to move to Cedar Falls is because they have good teachers.

And... questions from our readers:

From Jill: If you had been on the board last year, would you have voted in favor of renewing Mike Wells contract?

Jill: It is hard to say for sure, because I have not been able to get full information as to why he was fired. So, GIVEN the information I have available to me now, I would have voted with the two members who wanted to renew his contract. I thought he was doing a good job.

From AJ: Do you believe that student representatives should continue serving as non-voting members to give points of view on the issues?

AJ: Absolutely. 100 percent. No brainer. I’d like to see the student representatives’ report earlier on the agenda, so it could shape the conversation.