Meet The Candidate: Joanna Tobin Runs For Board Of Education

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — The presidential election gets the most attention, but Anne Arundel County has several local races as well. Three Board of Education seats are up for grabs in the general election.

It's time to get to know one of the candidates. Meet Joanna Bache Tobin, a candidate for District 6 on the school board.

Tobin is running against India L. Ochs. More information about Ochs can be found here.

Before we meet Tobin, you have to know what district you live in. Follow the instructions below to see if Tobin is running in your town.

What District Am I In?

Your County Council district determines who represents you on the Board of Education. Punch in your address at this website to see what district you live in.

Candidate Name

Joanna Bache Tobin

Age (as of Election Day)

57

Town/City of Residence

Annapolis

Office Sought

County School Board

If you are a congressional candidate, please indicate for which district (District 1, District 3, etc.)

Party Affiliation

Democratic

Family

Steven Tobin, 55; Diana Tobin, 19; Mary-Frances Bache, 87 (my mother who lives with us)

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

B.A. Wellesley College; M.A. St. John's College; Ph.D. Georgetown University

Occupation

Independent Consultant, 15 years; Academic

Campaign website

www.jbtforboe2020.com

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

None

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single biggest issue facing District 6 is an inequitable distribution of resources relative to other areas of the county. This inequity has manifested in overcrowded classrooms, under staffing, and lack of safe, reliable bus transportation. In turn it has led to the widening opportunity gap, high levels of truancy, and less favorable outcomes for many children moving through Annapolis schools. District 6 has a severe concentration of poverty, and it is not by accident. All Anne Arundel County public housing is concentrated in Annapolis, resulting in Annapolis having one of the highest per capita proportions of public housing residents of any city in the country. Virtually all children who live in public housing in Anne Arundel County eventually attend one school—Annapolis High School. District 6 also has a very diverse population; many students are English Language Learners (ELL). At Tyler Heights Elementary School, for example, approximately 95 percent of students are Latinx. High poverty and high levels of ELL students require additional counseling, social work and psychological staff, as well as more experienced teachers, and smaller class sizes to support the students, families, and teachers.

Following the upcoming BOE election, District 6 families and teachers will, for the first time in years, have a BOE representative who actually lives in their district and is directly accountable to them. If elected, I pledge to be a strong voice for District 6, along with all county residents, to get our schools the resources they so badly need.

I will advocate for equity throughout the system and for incentives that ensure AACPS will attract and retain the best, most experienced teachers. I will advocate for reduced class sizes, and more counselors, social workers, psychological staff and bilingual facilitators. This advocacy will include working for updated, adequate facilities. Finally, I will advocate for safe, reliable, efficient bus transportation; after-school activity buses for at least 2 days a week for all Annapolis schools; and flexible transportation policy that recognizes the difference between asking children to walk within the designated bus radius in a high-traffic, congested, and sometimes dangerous urban environment, as opposed to other more suburban and rural parts of the county.

Do you support Black Lives Matter and what are your thoughts on the demonstrations held since the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake?

I support the Black Lives Matter statement passed unanimously by the AAC Board of Education early in the summer. I believe that racism has no place in our schools, or anywhere in our society, and that all our students need to learn, through the example of the adults around them, and in their education, what it means to be an anti-racist. I believe one of the most important jobs of a leader is to speak out against racism wherever it emerges. That is why I wrote a letter to the Capital Gazette editor, which appeared in early summer, in support of Superintendent Kane of Queen Anne's County Schools in her efforts to bring the discussion around systemic racism to the community in her school district.

What are your thoughts on the campaign to "defund" the police?

This is an issue involving law enforcement that does not directly affect education. However, one aspect of the discussion around re-conceiving the police and how policing functions does connect to education--School Resource Officers (SROs), who are county police officers in our schools. At Annapolis High School, for example, there are two SROs and only one social worker for almost 2,200 students. I believe we need to think carefully about whether it makes sense to have twice as many police in that school as social workers. Again, it is a matter of proactive vs. reactive resources. Social work staff is proactive, often helping students and families before problems escalate. Calling in the police is reactive, and inherently less effective in the long run.

What are your thoughts on the state and national response to the coronavirus pandemic? Do you favor such measures as limiting operation of non-essential businesses or restricting indoor/outdoor dining? And do you favor a nationwide mask mandate?

I believe we should follow the best science. As I am focused on education in particular, I am very concerned about limiting the spread of infection in the surrounding community as that is the single most important factor in determining whether schools can open for in-person learning safely. I believe that if we consider schools to be a priority, then we may have to consider closing other non-essential businesses, such as bars for example, to ensure that we limit the infection rates. These are hard decisions. But, as adults, we are charged with making decisions in the best interest of our children. And that may require us to make our own sacrifices.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

I bring broader, deeper, and more relevant experience to this race than other candidates. In addition to being a parent of a 2020 graduate of Annapolis High School and Vice president of the PTSA there for 3 years, I also have been an educator who is experienced in providing oversight and governance. For the last decade, I have led accreditation teams that evaluate public charter programs around the country. I also have evaluated schools with a broad range of curricula, including International Baccalaureate, Expeditionary Learning, Classical Great Books, and more. For several years I was a faculty member at St. John’s College, Annapolis. Additionally, I have served on and chaired the board of a local, private school.

Not only have I had professional opportunities to develop a broad understanding of numerous, diverse education systems, but my childhood education was a springboard. As a child of a U.S. Foreign Service officer growing up overseas, I attended local public schools starting with preschool in Hong Kong and elementary through middle school in Zambia, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroon, where I began school in French hardly knowing the language. I attended high school in Pennsylvania. I went on to receive a B.A. degree from Wellesley College, a Masters’ from St. John's College, and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University.

In this time of education upheaval due to COVID, AACPS leadership needs to creatively re-imagine how our educational system is going to serve all our students with effective and culturally relevant instruction. My broad experience equips me to serve the BOE and District 6 in that work.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)

I am not a challenger.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

Three central areas of focus define my campaign platform:

1. Ensuring every student has the necessary resources for success. This includes addressing student mental health; smart, healthy school start times; reliable, safe transportation; and optimal class sizes.
2. Creating a workable structure for attracting and retaining the best teachers in Anne Arundel. This includes salaries that are aligned with surrounding counties, consistent, authentic and supportive mentorship for new teachers, and teacher-driven, high-quality professional development.
3. Holding the schools and the AACPS superintendent accountable for effectiveness and transparency. This includes addressing issues around inequity, quickly and efficiently addressing bias and hate crimes, effectively and transparently meeting special education needs fully and fairly through clear communication with families, and ensuring school facilities are safe, secure and equitably meet the needs of all.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

During my tenure as member and president of the Board of Trustees of Chesapeake Montessori School, I oversaw the development of the first Montessori middle-school program in Anne Arundel County. This included serveing on the committee that wrote the initial feasibility study and then as president overseeing the decision to buy property and move forward in building a second campus.

For the last 15 years, I have led seminars and training for leaders in diverse private and governmental sectors, at the middle and c-suite executive levels, including educational leaders and faculty. I have worked with educational leaders to build interdisciplinary courses and individual leaders in other sectors, such as government, NGOs and health to refine and align their leadership philosophy in concert with their organizational vision and goals.

If you win this position, what accomplishment would make your term in office as a success?

In addition to the equitable availability of resources discussed above, I would count a more efficient, effective, and collaborative AAC Board of Education, and a greater trust in our schools as a mark of a successful term. Specific initiatives I will promote for achieving success will include stronger, more transparent oversight of the superintendent, measurable targets for programs, and an implementation dashboard for consistent program updates and review. To achieve these efficiencies, Board of Education meetings must be restructured. I am in favor of a monthly Board workshop, in which there can be more wide ranging, informal discussion of issues, as well as a formal monthly meeting to focus solely on voting on action items. This change would lead to more efficient meetings and more carefully thought-through proposals and votes.

Why should voters trust you?

I have devoted most of my life to education. I am a first-time candidate at the age of 57, embarking on this journey for the sole purpose of bringing the best education to all our children, families, and teachers.

What are your views on fiscal policy, government spending and the use of taxpayer dollars in the office you are seeking?

Our AACPS system is going into a time of fiscal restraint as a result of the pandemic. It is critical that we be extremely careful and intentional about where every dollar is spent, and how effectively and efficiently resources are used. The best way to ensure effectiveness and efficiency, in my view, is to focus on proactive spending that will generate a solid return on investment versus reactive spending that tends to result in a lower return on investment. For example, when we invest in early interventions for children who are struggling in school, and pre-k for children whose families cannot afford it, we are more likely to see long-term returns than if such early investments are delayed and the focus is on reacting to problems that emerge later.

Is there any reason you would not serve your full term of office, other than those of health or family?

There is no reason I can conceive that would prevent me from fulfilling a BOE term.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

It is easy to know what you know. It is hard to know what you don’t know.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

My husband Steve and I celebrated our 30th anniversary earlier this year, and we have lived in Annapolis since 1999. I love this community, and we have formed deep roots here. I attend the Annapolis Friends Meeting (Quakers) and my husband attends Congregation Kol Shalom, also here in Annapolis. Our daughter, who graduated from Annapolis High School in 2020, has grown up participating in both faith traditions. In previous service to the county I chaired the Citizens Advisory Committee on Recycling, and was the lead author on the committee's final report that led to changes in trash and recycling collection that have extended the life of our county landfill and helped to protect our precious environment.

Because I love this community I am running to serve all the constituents of district 6 and Anne Arundel County. And I believe the best way I can do that is to bring my long experience in, and passion for, education to the Board of Education. That is because I also believe that you can't have a sound functioning society, let alone a sound functioning democracy, without good public education. Education touches everything. It is one of the foundational institutions of our society. When we work to deliver excellent, equitable education to all our children, we can make their futures better, and therefore our futures better. I determine my positions, and will make all my decisions, with that goal in mind.

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• Anne Arundel Voter Guide 2020: Candidates, How To Vote, Deadlines

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