Campaign email: dan@votenewberger.com
Website: www.votenewberger.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/votenewberger
Age: 48
Employment: Amazon Web Services, Government Regions Demand Manager
Education: Master in Public Policy (Harvard Kennedy School of Government) and Bachelor of Science (United States Naval Academy)
Why are you running for the school board?
In Howard County, we treasure our schools — they are key to our future. But our schools face big challenges right now. Only strong, compassionate leaders on the BOE can help our students recover from the pandemic’s effects on student learning, social skills, and mental health. We also need a real focus on recruiting, supporting and retaining the talented educators who will guide our schools into the future. I’ve spent my career helping complex organizations solve their toughest problems. I’m committed to the core HoCo values that are fundamental to our school district’s success, chief among them a deep belief that every child deserves the opportunities and support to reach their full potential.
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
I have the skills, experience, and values needed to help HCPSS tackle its toughest challenges. I have spent years as a practitioner of strategic planning, organization design and performance management, and I have deep expertise in public sector budgeting and policy-making. I have successfully worked alongside diverse colleagues with vastly different backgrounds, perspectives, and political opinions — in the Navy, nonprofit sector, federal and local government, and the corporate world. I am an experienced negotiator, team leader, and coalition builder. I will always seek to find common ground, build consensus, and solve the tough problems in the most effective, least abrasive way possible.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
So many answers come to mind, but I’ll stick to leaders in education and select Carter G. Woodson. Born to illiterate former slaves, Woodson rose to become one of America’s most important and influential historians. Woodson’s work was critical in challenging whose stories are told and whose are ignored by historians, and it’s thanks to his efforts (among many others) that students today gain a more complete understanding of who we are and where we come from as Americans. I had the chance to learn more about Woodson as he was the namesake of a middle school I worked closely with, earlier in my career when I was director of operations for a network of public charter schools in Chicago.
What is the most important issue facing your school board, and what would you do about it if elected?
(1) Develop and implement comprehensive, tailored, data-driven pandemic recovery plans for every school in the district to guide their efforts to ensure all students and staff recover from the impacts of the pandemic; (2) Provide every student with the resources, support, and opportunities needed to maximize their potential, overcome their challenges, and gain the education needed to graduate and pursue their dreams; (3) Invest in innovative, 21st century schools by focusing on our educators and principals – hiring, developing, and retaining the best talent, and ensuring that we are providing our current and future classroom – and school leaders – with the resources, supports and development they need.
How concerned are you about school safety, and what if anything should be done to improve it?
Keeping our students, staff, and schools safe is the No. 1 fundamental responsibility of our BOE, and I am absolutely committed to putting in place all of the appropriate resources and policies that will best do so. School shootings are every parent’s nightmare, and I will be a relentless advocate for HCPSS to fully embrace and fully fund (in all of our schools) every aspect of the recommendations developed by the U.S. Secret Service and the National Threat Assessment Center to keep all of our students and staff safe from violence.
Do you have any concerns about the way history is taught in your district’s schools, and if so, what are they?
I was a history major, and I love the subject dearly. Two of the people who were most responsible for shaping my ability to think critically about the world were history teachers: Dennis Dowd at Evanston Township High School and Mary DeCredico at the Naval Academy. It is absolutely critical that our educators in HoCo are free to teach real, complete history to their students. True history (of our nation and of the world) is often messy and complicated, sometimes inspiring, and sometimes shameful, but we do our children no favors by shielding them from it. It is only by arming our children with the truth about history do we give them the skills and knowledge they’ll need to create a better future.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries, and if so, what kind of books should be removed?
We have a robust process in place to evaluate and select instructional materials, which includes participation by parents, educators, community members, and students. Our librarians follow a rigorous process to select books for our schools’ media centers that are high quality, age- and grade-appropriate, and approved by an authoritative list of approved bibliographic sources and reviewing journals. Political extremists are fanning the flames and creating controversy around this process, to advance their agenda of stripping our LGBTQ community of their rights. I won’t stand for it. No parent has the right to tell another parent’s child what they are allowed to read in our schools’ libraries.
