SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES
Michael Morgan
Why are you running for School Board?
To bring much needed change to the Burbank School Board through extensive political experience and a productive and successful educational and academic career spanning almost two decades across both
public and private educational institutions
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
What is your view on how students should be taught DEI – should it be a curriculum designed
and implemented by a specialized DEI instructor or should teachers receive special training and
compensation to teach this curriculum?
What do you see as the present and future of DEI curriculum in BUSD?
What is the budget amount that you would support that would be put toward DEI curriculum
I believe both teacher training and direct specialized DEI instruction needs to be implemented within BUSD. To begin this, a summer session could cover anti-racism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, Social
Emotional Learning (SEL), and also specific inclusion programs relating to immigrant and multilingual households that impart the value of immigrants, indigenous peoples, and multi-ethnic contributions to the United States past, present, and future.
While the value of DEI training continues to be scientifically affirmed and proven, Social Emotional Learning research as far back as 2016 proves that teachers with stronger social and emotional competencies report
less burnout and have more positive relationships with students (Psychology in Schools).
A budget for DEI would include sponsorship through California state grants and funding, Los Angeles county-based grants and funding, and also local funding through the entertainment and media industries around us as well as other supportive Burbank businesses to help subsidize for teachers that are enthusiastic about DEI learning. This would enable teachers to have individual campus or even classroom budgets to implement DEI learning tools and training within their spheres of influence. Other school districts
require diversity training and there may be cross-over options (Glendale, Pasadena, etc.) where local Burbank teachers can participate in other school districts DEI trainings and benefit from our neighbor's
wealth of DEI resources while taking that information back into our school district and saving on cost. These are two options to support both the teacher training model as well as the specialized DEI instructor
model through our own and through other school districts. DEI training is incredibly important, especially knowing that Burbank used to be a "Sundown" city. Glendale's reckoning with this history paved the way for Burbank and South Pasadena to do the same and we as a community still have much more progress to make.
Updating Curriculum
What is your opinion on the current curriculum in a general view?
What specific areas need to be updated to a more modern curriculum?
Do you think that BUSD is using modern techniques and current best practices?
What criteria would you use to update any curriculum?
The current curriculum is out of date. As the banned book controversy showed, the process with which our district decides how to make major decisions like banning books is also out of date. We need better ways to reach out to parents and to have parents and teachers work together to guide curriculum development. As a
curriculum developer myself, I have spent a lot of time working with the California Common Core standard curriculums for ELA and Mathematics that were developed almost a decade ago (and they are still
considered top-notch). I developed a curriculum involving new media literacy and esports tied to existing California state standards. The California Department of Education’s standards are still incredibly relevant and are probably the strongest standards in all of the United States.
Some of the lesser known aspects of curriculum released by the California Department of Education (CDE)
include standards for K-12 California Career Technical Education (CTE), Business and Finance, Computer
Science Education, Arts, Media, and Entertainment Industry Senior Pathways and more. According to the CDE website, the Arts, Media and Entertainment sector requires the greatest cross-disciplinary interaction and independent and interdependent management skills for career success. The woodshop and metalwork classes of the 21st century are animation, graphic design, and visual/commercial art today. Based on a
review of the existing BUSD K-12 curriculum, BUSD is not using best practices and is not adequately tapped
into the Arts, Media and Entertainment Industry options (especially for calling itself the Media Entertainment Capital of the World). There needs to be more direct communication between BUSD and local
movie studios and video game companies (of which there are plenty) in order to create a pipeline for students to go from classes in public school to internships and eventual employment.The criteria I would use would be whether our local studios, game companies, and successful business
executives and HR management neighbors would approve the curriculum and would hire our students based on their knowledge and expertise. I would also take our existing curriculum and compare it to school districts such as Alhambra, Pasadena, Compton, Anaheim, Santa Monica, Irvine and see whether or not we
are missing or lacking anything based on the comparisons with these other districts. Lastly, we should open direct communication with local Universities and Colleges including UCLA, UC Irvine, USC, Loyola Marymount, and even Woodbury University right here in Burbank and ask them what they think of our existing curriculum and get feedback and proposed changes.The relationships between local districts and the department of Education in Sacramento is vital to progressive change. There should be more of an intentional willingness for local Burbank officials to interface more with Sacramento in policy decisions which will lend nicely to learning more about curriculum access points, grants, funding, and progressive support for district-wide curriculum development across Burbank. This will be especially helpful in STEM subjects, CTE, computer programming, and other subjects
that are traditionally missed or ignored under outdated curriculum and frameworks like Burbank's.
Protecting LBGTQ+ Kids and Kids of Color
Beyond addressing bullying, what would you do as a member of the School Board to create an atmosphere in our schools of acceptance and understanding towards LBGTQ+ and BIPOC children?
What actions would you take to create a safe space for children who are not white and cis-gender?
How would you create more resources for mental health for all children and especially for the children who are dealing with unique culturally diverse issues?
This is probably the largest and most challenging of issues directly facing the Burbank Unified School District. The number of BIPOC students in particular is so low in Burbank compared to other local districts in our region that the protections they request and require are not often appreciated or understood by those
who make the decisions. Research shows that 23% of allegations of bullying in school districts across the nation involved harassment based on race, 16% based on sexual orientation, 11% based on disability and 8% involved religious identity. There needs to be an advisory committee on BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disability and religious issues that can draw from teachers, staff, parents, and local experts in the Burbank community to make recommendations for
policy changes and over curriculum choices that support and strengthen our ties to minority groups within Burbank.
When I first announced my candidacy for school board I was approached by a Burbank resident and mom who is Muslim. She was wearing her hijab and in broad daylight, on the streets of Burbank while holding the hand of her daughter, she was assaulted by a random stranger who tried to light her on fire. She was taken
to the hospital and has since recovered, but her daughter, a student in the Burbank School District, has continued to face harassment and bullying since this incident. We must not let these acts of cruelty continue in our community. I told that woman I would share her story and would raise a voice for hers and I
sincerely hope you take seriously my speaking up and holding firm to equal rights across the entire spectrum of identities in our community. Mental Health is also a serious issue (statistics show that 15% of US school-aged students suffer from depression while over 50% of college-aged students struggle with depression). There needs to be a mental health advisory board for each level of education in BUSD (elementary, middle school and high school) that can speak to what is not being done and what should be done across campuses for the mental health of our
students in Burbank. These advisory boards should have opportunities to speak during School Board meetings and each should have a liaison who is a School Board Member (I would love to serve on
supporting the Mental Health advisory board) in order to see their plans of action implemented at the district level. There should also be BIPOC/ LGTBQ+/ persons with impairments/religious minorities who can find representatives on the School Board to give voice to their issues and
everyone should have the opportunity to speak out about their concerns at every School Board meeting.
A great example of educational support for progressive policies including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ groups come in many shapes and sizes. The Dolores Huerta Foundation’s “Central Valley LGBTQ+ Guide” is a simple yet effective list of resources to build community and support regionally for equality. Oakland School’s “Reparations for Black Students” resolution came from a campaign by the “Justice for Oakland Students Coalition” which occured over a series of meetings that brought the Oakland-based “Black Organizing
Project” and “Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network” together with other concerned citizens which raised the profile of educational issues to the whole community. We need these types of activities happening on a greater scale in Burbank!
Charter Schools
There currently are no Charter schools in Burbank. What is your position about bringing Charter
schools to Burbank? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of Charter schools? If
one or more Charter schools are opened here, how do you foresee that affecting the entire
BUSD budget?
Charter Schools can be beneficial to ertain communities - but with great power comes great responsibility. The greatest need for Burbank before we begin opening charter schools is to make sure there is a system in place to oversee how charter schools are run and an examination of our current magnet school systems already in place. Public Magnet Schools and programs, in many school districts, are perceived as an
alternative solution to charter schools. Before Burbank begins to allows Charters, we need to talk about our Magnet School students, staff, and how the data from these schools compares to other campuses across BUSD. The magnet program at Franklin, the NAF engineering Academy at Burroughs (which just lost its NAF coordinator to La Cañada), and the Burbank HS BAS Program for Agricultural Science need more support and resources. We also need to look at our greatest strengths and assess the current weaknesses of our district that charter schools may be able to help with. The obvious strength of a charter is that it gives power back to parents and to the tax payers who stand the most to gain (and lose) from schooling in their community. The weakness is that Charter schools are often run by private businesses and profit and money-making becomes the focus of schooling. The NAACP has called for a moratorium order until proper accountability measures can be placed on existing charter schools. They have specified they are not against Charter schools, but they do require accountability. We also need to make sure the right accountability measures and metrics are in place, assessment teams and consultants can be brought on board by both the District and proposed Charter schools, and we can work together to make sure that corruption doesn’t sneak in the door. If Charter schools are going to compromise
our existing common core curriculum and strong showings in state and national testing then that should be discussed. We need to think of our existing students first rather than just bring a bunch of new stakeholders in without the proper structures to measure, assess, and hold them accountable. Dan Shalvey, Reed Hastings, and Steve Barr worked together for years to figure out how to crack the charter school code in California. It literally took over a decade to do this and now both Aspire Schools and Green Dot are two of the largest charter networks in California. In recognition of all of the time that was spent strategically figuring out how to make room for Charters in California, school district leaders in Burbank
should at least admit that they have a lot to learn. All possible school, teacher, corporate, student, parent and local government stakeholders should be involved in these discussions and they need to happen sooner than later.
The number one concern about charter schools continues to be issues of corruption and greed amongst charter school operators. Many charter schools benefit from a 39% tax credit on contributions over a 7 year period established during the Clinton administration which also allows them to collect interest on donations and contributions. This allows funds for charter schools to double investments and to combine these tax breaks with other benefits to compound interest in a way that makes charter schools strong investment
vehicles for many of their supporters while taking away top students and tax money away from existing public schools. harters also find more teacher turnover and teacher burnout and a less nurturing
environment overall. While not wanting to come across as harsh in a rejection of charters, there needs to be extensive research, assessment, measurement, and accountability structures put into place before an educated decision is made by our city about charters. Based on the fact that a charter school manager and director is running for School Board this year, we may be pushed into that decision sooner than many had expected or hoped. As
these conversations begin, we need to make sure there are level-headed, properly informed and mature perspectives being shared from the Board of Education on this topic.