Kari Prokop seeks more access to school board, redirection toward academics
Kari Prokop is seeking one of four seats on the Stevens Point Area Public Board of Education.
Questions submitted by Metro Wire readers.
Q: There has been a lot of communication between candidates and members of the public on social media, particularly on Facebook, that is not available to the general public. Do you believe Facebook is the appropriate place for such communication, and if so, why?
Prokop: I believe Facebook is a tool in a toolbox for communication. it reaches a certain number of people in a certain population, but it’s just one tool. I have a website where people can read about my stances on things and who I am, I talk to people in groups and individually, and to newspapers. Again, it’s just one tool
Q: There are a lot of group pages on Facebook that contain labels like ‘Progressive’ or ‘conservative’ or some variation thereof. Do you think that could be furthering the division in our community—especially considering that none of these positions are partisan?
Prokop: I think it really depends on what those terms mean, so when people say they’re ‘Progressive,’ it could be a political ideology, but it could also mean that they’re forward-thinking. ‘Conservative’ can also be a political ideology, or that they’re conservative in values. Some of these terms simply need to be defined so people can accurately approach the conversation. It can further the division, but it doesn’t have to. It just really depends on how people approach it.
Q: You’ve been out in the community, shaking hands, and knocking on doors. Based on your communication with people in the community, do you have any ideas on how we can close that division?
Prokop: What first comes to mind is, we treat people as individuals with convictions and thoughts, and we listen to them. It’s a nonpartisan position, everyone is welcome to the table. I think that it would be really neat to see school board meetings allow people to speak on any topic, not just an agenda item, and welcome the community more to express whatever is on their mind pertaining to school issues. I think that’s one of the biggest things we can do.
Q: Can you define Critical Race Theory, and what is your position on it?
Prokop: It seems like everyone has a different definition of what Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is. So, instead of defining it, there’s a saying, ‘Something is as something does.’ In essence, that means you can kind of define a thing by how it plays out. So what I’d like to do is tell you a small story of how I’ve seen CRT play out in our district. I’m aware of some changes that have occurred in the secondary English curriculum over the last year or two. Traditional authors, like Walt Whitman and Shakespeare, are being removed because they are ‘dead white men.’ I have lots of stories similar to that, where something or someone is judged on skin color or group identity. That’s how CRT is playing out in one small section in our curriculum. I think we need to return to that ideal where curricula is judged by its academic quality and how well it prepares students for their academic futures, or their futures in general. Believe it or not, we have over 100 Shakespearan idioms in our culture: phrases like, ‘Break the ice,’ ‘in a pickle,’ and ‘caught a cold,’ but even beyond that, we need to return to the ideal where people are judged by the content of their character, where a person as valued as an individual with God-given uniqueness.
Q: Did you support the creation of EDI (Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity) positions in the school district, and do you support continuing to fund those positions?
Prokop: EDI is another one of those terms that is shifty; some people call it DEI, some call it DE&I, some have it moving into social and emotional learning…because of its shiftiness, people have a tendency to pick and chose what term they’ll use and how they’re going to define that terminology. As far as the programming in our district, I am opposed to it for two reasons: first, the way the two positions were created and hired. During the last couple of years, I think everybody knows we’ve had academic learning loss. Seventh and eighth graders, on the FORWARD exam, scored 15-25 percent ‘proficient’ or ‘advanced.’ What that means is, 75-85 percent of seventh and eighth graders are not scoring at a proficient level. So when I say that students are experiencing profound academic loss, it is quantifiable. Furthermore, we have record numbers of employees leaving the district—to the extent that this year has been deemed, ‘the Great Resignation.’ So here we have profound learning loss, a record number of employees leaving, and what does the school board do: They go into closed session, they create two new high-paying positions, and fill them, in the same fell swoop. They did not publicly post them, they did not seek community input. At the very least, I think that that is a bad PR move and imprudent spending. At the worst, it is a district-wide, agenda-driven transformational restructuring of education. So that brings up the second reason that I’m opposed to it, is that agenda. I’d like to quote from a gentleman by the name of Dr. James Lindsay. He is an atheist and a liberal, one of the foremost authorities of DEI/EDI. I have it posted on my website and I urge people to watch it. It’s about two hours long and it’s pretty heavy, but it’s really good. This is what he says: the programming is created to separate one generation from the next. To get kids to say to their parents, ‘You don’t understand. You’re a white supremacist. You’re a racist. You don’t know what it’s like to be non-binary. You don’t know what it’s like to be demi-sexual, and lith-romantic. The key…If you want to have a culture continue and not get replaced by another culture…is that you want continuity from one generation to the next, where there’s a transmission of values…You say it in the abstract, and then you bring it to reality: that’s your kids learning to hate you…That’s the point of the program in schools.’ I do not want that for our parents, for children, for our society. It would be really nice if we could bring back civil discourse.
Q: Where do you think parental authority ends and school authority begins?
Prokop: Parental authority never ends. Parents always have authority over their children. Parents contract with schools for a period of time, roughly five days a week, to deliver very specific services. I believe schools need to understand their boundaries and stay within them. And I believe parents need more access to what’s happening in schools, mainly curriculum transparency. Parents should have access to the scope and sequence, and materials that are being used for each class, so that when their child comes home from that contracted service, parents can discuss what was happening in school.
Q: How should the school board balance the need for providing quality education with the need to respond to taxpayers’ concerns about the budget?
Prokop: I pay taxes in this community, and personally, I think our taxes are high. I can’t figure out why compensation for teachers isn’t better. Compensation is one of the biggest factors in why we are struggling to attract and retain teachers. The district’s annual budget is over $100 million. I want to know where the money goes. I want to find the waste, find the overlapping expenses. I think the money is there to accomplish both things: not raise taxes or go to referendum, and compensate our teachers better. If I get on the school board, poor Tom (Owens, director of business services)…I am going to be a nuisance because I want to understand the budget so I can work toward those goals.
Q: Because of social media, there’s a lot of fake news out there, rumors, etc., that different groups seem to believe, and some people seem to stick with those groups for news, so there’s some “group-think” out there. Some groups in the community have become quite vocal and local government meetings. Based on that, what would you say to people who believe that the district is “indoctrinating” children with certain controversial topics?
Prokop: I know entering into hard conversations can be scary, can be difficult. I would encourage parents to politely but boldly talk to their school administrators, talk to the curriculum directors, talk to the superintendent, and talk to the board. Whether it’s sending email, or talking in person…parents need to be heard. If they are concerned about something, that’s what these people are there for, to serve parents and children. They need to know what parents and children want.