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For Cynthia Papermaster, newly-declared candidate for the Board of Education, it’s all about parent involvement. 

“We need to have a parent involvement policy that is real and meaningful,” said Papermaster, a law librarian and long-time district activist. “It’s better for the kids. They succeed in school when parents are involved.” 

Papermaster, who officially declared for the November school board race last week, is part of a growing field of candidates for three slots on the five-member panel. 

Incumbents Shirley Issel and Terry Doran will run, along with parent activists Nancy Riddle and Derick Miller, Berkeley High School Discipline Dean Robert McKnight and Sean Dugar, who graduated from BHS last month. Incumbent Ted Schultz will retire at the end of the term. 

Papermaster, who serves on the Berkeley High School Parent Student Teacher Association, has several ideas for boosting parent participation in the district. 

First, she said the district should pursue more staff development focused on teacher interaction with parents, and should include parents in the sessions. That way, Papermaster said, parents and instructors can exchange ideas about how to build meaningful relationships that help students succeed. 

Issel said the idea is a good one. 

“This is something that teachers really need more help with,” she said. 

Papermaster also called for each school to fully support communication with the community. Each site should have a weekly newsletter, a parent liaison and standard procedures for returning parents’ calls, she said. 

“We need to establish more open and better lines of communication with the various parent groups,” McKnight agreed. “There’s always room for improvement.” 

At the district level, Papermaster argued, the board needs to be accessible to the community and ensure that parents who work on board-commissioned panels have a clear mission and are better-heard by the district. 

“Meaningful parent involvement is important,” she said. “No one has time to waste.” 

“It’s a legitimate criticism,” Issel acknowledged. “We don’t update charges. We don’t have a good process of hearing regularly from commitees.” 

Still, Issel said the committee structure is generally healthy and that, while the board may clash with parent panels from time to time, it does value and respect their input. 

“There are differences of opinions that are expressed,” added Doran. “(But) we take what they say very seriously.” 

Papermaster acknowledged that she has recently clashed, herself, with members of the Berkeley High PTSA over the proper procedures for electing officers. But, she said the matter has been patched up, and touted her ability to work with people of all different backgrounds. 

Parent involvement is not Papermaster’s only issue. The candidate said she would also seek to boost literacy efforts in the upper grades, noting that the district already has a strong focus on literacy at the elementary school level.  

As a part of the literacy drive, she would call for a contribution from the district’s general fund to the Writer’s Room, a widely-admired middle school and high school writing program that is funded largely through grants and the Berkeley Schools Excellence Project, a special local tax devoted to public education. 

“I don’t think (a general fund contribution) is realistic right now,” said Issel, making reference to the district’s $2.8 million deficit. Issel, a strong supporter of the Writer’s Room, said the broader community admires the program and will keep it adequately funded through BSEP and other sources. 

Papermaster also voiced strong support for dividing Berkeley High into a series of small schools in 2003. Earlier this month, Superintendent Michele Lawrence voiced support for the move, but left open many of the details. 

Papermaster called for a mix of themed houses and general education houses, so that students who do not want to focus in a specific area can pursue a more wide-ranging education. 

The candidate also called for fiscal responsibility, more character education in the district and greater equality among the schools when it comes to technological resources. 

“Our community is so involved and it’s so wonderful,” Papermaster said. “We should have the best schools in the state, if not the nation.” 

Contact reporterat scharfenberg@ 

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