Elect Samuel M. Roth for NJSD Board

    Today I got to speak with Principal Russell about what makes Taft Elementary distinct.        I’m committed to meeting with each principal to hear their perspective and develop a firsthand understanding of the character and culture of every school. So far, I’ve met with Principal Koenecke at Alliance Charter and Principal Russell at Taft Elementary. I aim to keep these conversations open and conversational, giving principals the space to share what they most want me to understand.      That said, I also recognize it’s a two-way dialogue, and there are a couple of questions I plan to ask consistently at each school: “My goal in visiting each school during this campaign is to understand its identity and carry that impression with me if elected. With that in mind, what would you most want me to see and know as a potential board member?” “As a potential board member, what should I keep in mind when considering policy decisions that come ...

      I'm really proud to be running alongside and against ?  Chris Blanton and Becky Kwiatkowski.  I do believe that both of these candidates have an authentic desire to do what is best for all of our students.  It was fun meeting up with them to buy a bunch of boxes of cereal for the Horace Mann Cereal Box Challenge .     Behind the enjoyment of meeting up with my running mates, doing something good and taking some funny photos is an uncomfortable reality that our schools interact with daily:   Students show up everyday hungry.        When I mention 'security' in my campaign, I think about how food insecurity is a deterrent to our children becoming the literate and prepared adults of our future.  As a community, to give our kids the best education possible means to have them in the best condition to learn.  When our school district is reliably the place where a hungry child knows they can get a snack ...

     I believe that holding an elected position comes with the responsibility to understand myself as a vessel of the community's ideas.  Of course, I am me, and not a completely empty vessel which is why I aim to be transparent with who I am and how I think about decisions .     In Neenah, we want our community to be safe, and clean, with successful businesses and affordable pleasant residences 1 .   As a school board member, I feel responsible for contributing to those goals:  our school district is the engine for developing the literacy and skills required of tomorrow's adults to steward our values.        Today I canvassed a few homes with my Old English Sheepdog, ClairB.A.i.R. I set out hoping for conversations—real ones. I wanted to ask people what a great school district looks like to them. I wanted to talk about ideals, and how our district measures up to them. Mostly, I wanted to hear someone’s perspective on...

      Today I got the following message from the Post Crescent:     I had been wondering if my colorful analogy would make it to the paper.  I didn't intend to sexualize our students-- though in retrospect, I can see how contextually someone may quickly jump to a quite uncharitable interpretation of my meaning.  To be clear, my aim was to use some attention-getting language to illustrate how averages create surreal distortions.  The language I used are terms I would expect my daughter (11 years old) would know from her school, of which I would use to discuss with her without embarrassment.       I responded to the Post-Crescent:     My response above, which has been run through AI for tightening up the verbiage, has some tell-tale AI slop in it.  As I re-read it, I hear a lot of repetition, and I notice how AI likes to produce a punchy last sentence to paragraphs.  Nonetheless, I stand by those sentiments as...

       I recently met with Superintendent Harrison to introduce myself and hear his perspective on the district. One topic we discussed was what effective communication between schools and caregivers should look like.      I shared a common experience as a parent: receiving forwarded emails from teachers about school updates. My reaction is often mixed. On one hand, I’m disappointed when the message lacks context or added value. On the other, I notice the late hour it’s sent and recognize a teacher working hard to meet the needs of many students and families. It left me wondering how teachers could reasonably do more than they already are—and what a receptive, engaged parent community should look like in return.      That question resurfaced later that day during a conversation with a parent at the Jerry Finch Winnebago County Dog Park. We were talking about communication in general, sparked by her wish for a simple app to signal when do...

     Today's board meeting had a presentation from the Director of Special Education.  The work they do is incredibly challenging.  Behind the numbers she presented are people, and when I see ratios of 5 staff members to a student... ...think about that...     ... 5 staff members to a student ...          ...it should remind us how much these students need us, and how hard our team works to educate them.       Students that need us reminded me of a wonderful book I read years ago called Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon which brought me to tears multiple times.  I highly recommend this book to get a peak into the lives of families like any of our neighbors whose children are vastly different than themselves.  It is a heart wrenching book. It forces me to remember that behind the scenes, our special education students have people dedicated to their care in ways that can augment your belief in the...

    Today I responded to media requests from LWV of Winnebago County for their 411 Voter Guide Questionnaire and Post-Crescent.  Here's what I submitted (below). Vote411: What professional and community related experience do you have that will make you an asset on the Neenah School Board? I’ve worked in management, marketing, and analytics across training, consumer packaged goods, and life sciences. These roles have developed skills directly relevant to board service, including data analysis, clear organizational communication, and process-oriented decision-making. In the community, I’m the father of two NJSD students (1st and 6th grade), a member of the NEWvoices Choir, and a regular participant in library programs and events. What are the two most important issues facing the Neenah Joint School District? How do you propose these issues be addressed? The two most pressing issues are long-term financial sustainability and public understanding of school funding. These chal...

    I miss the times when I was in middle and high school when there was a sense that we all existed in the same informational world.  The Bills couldn't win a super bowl if their lives depended on it, we all cared whether the US government knew that Iraq had or hadn't possessed WMDs, and as a society we generally respected truth and facts as the material for which discussions and debates were based.     I may certainly be accused of seeing the past through rose colored glasses here-- after all I was just in my youth!  I would discover later in university through  Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death and Marshall McLuhan's ideas about "the medium is the message" that there was already a burgeoning awareness and concern around truth and informational fidelity.  Nonetheless, that youthful belief that we "respected truth and facts" is way more difficult to maintain in our current day in age.  A catalyst for this difficulty is the abu...