Phil Bloch (Bellevue School District School Board District 1, Washington, candidate 2023)
Phil Bloch (No Party Affiliation) ran for election to Bellevue School District School Board District 1 in Washington.[1]
Elections
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Phil Bloch completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bloch's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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With children entering 8th and 11th grades, I’ve seen first-hand the workings of the Bellevue School District from its administrators to classroom experiences. My engagement with the school district began with pre-school and includes interactions with schools, the advanced learning program, 504 plans, sports and choice programs.
Professionally, I'm an environmental scientist who's worked on major public works projects including helping lead environmental evaluation, permitting and mitigation for the SR 520 bridge replacement project. I graduated from Grinnell College with a B.A. in Biology before earning a Master's from Duke University.
As a parent, I've engaged in children's issues as a volunteer leader for sports teams, scouts and school PTSA. Since declaring my candidacy for School Board, I've been meeting with community leaders, current and former school board leaders, and Bellevue School District administration so I can be an effective school board leader from Day 1.
- After years of expanding enrollment, Bellevue School District is currently in a period of contraction. I want to work to help bring stable enrollment to our schools and to reduce inefficiencies that drive budget deficits.
- Our community and students are continuing to rebound from the pandemic and delayed or lost learning opportunities. While some students succeeded during remote learning, others did not and we need to continue to support their recovery, particularly in math, science and literacy. I believe we need to do more to identify and support those students to avoid allowing missed learning to create ongoing deficits or to allow missed opportunities to color student perceptions of their abilities.
- Bellevue School District is struggling to recruit and retain staff. This is starting with the less desirable and lower paid positions including bus drivers, substitute teachers and teacher's aides that provide critical support services. I anticipate this will expand to other teaching and administrative roles as the cost of living in Bellevue likely outstrips compensation associated with many educational roles causing our schools to rely on staff who are commuting from ever farther distances to teach and support our schools. It is increasingly unlikely that teachers or staff can afford to live near Bellevue Schools. To combat this the district must think beyond compesation to make jobs appealing to current and prospective employees.
Student educational experiences. I would like all students in Bellevue School District to be able to look back fondly on their time in the local schools and for these schools to continue to be regional and national leaders in student performance.
King County Democrats (https://www.kcdems.org/2023-endorsements/)
Washington State Legislative District 48 Democrats (https://ld48dems.org/wp/endorsements/)
Alliance for Gun Responsibility (https://gunresponsibility.org/2023-endorsements/)
My very first job was as a weekend custodian for a furniture store in West Concord, MA. After wandering through the store with a friend after school one day we were asked what we were doing that weekend and offered a job helping to move furniture and paint walls that weekend. After working that weekend I was offered a weekend custodian job. I believe I worked that job for about a year during 8th grade (age 14).
Space shuttle Challenger explosion on take-off. A teacher from my school district had qualified as a finalist to fly on that mission and it there was a lot of anticipation in my community for that flight. We watched the launch in our classes and I vividly remember watching replays of the explosion later that day at home.
Like many, I see virtue in the leadership that Abraham Lincoln provided. Specifically, he confronted uncomfortable truths, found effective ways to achieve lasting progress despite divisions, and was a champion of clear, simple communications. I see all of those as important elements of good governance that should be emulated.
The primary job of the School Board Director is work with other School Board Directors to supervise the District Superintendent who is ultimately responsible for the administration of the School District. Supplemental responsibilities include providing oversight over district activities, setting policies, and participating in public forums for receiving public input and making decisions impacting the district.
Active listening and effective communication.
The best way to recruit staff is to retain the best staff. Keeping high performing staff happy will intrinsically attract other staff that are inspired and excited to work with those staff and suggests that a positive work culture has been established and maintained.
An ideal learning environment is one where students find joy in learning and become passionate about the topics they are learning about.
Good teaching is when students are engaged and excited by the materials being taught. There should not be single metrics of teaching, but a spectrum of approaches and measures including academic progress/achievement, measures of student engagement and interest. The goal should be to ensure the education is preparing students to be active participants in society and ultimately prepared to join the workforce or continue to higher education. Most students who graduate from Bellevue School District plan to pursue college following graduation, however the district should also provide options for career and technical education to ensure those students who do not choose to pursue additional education graduate with marketable skills and experiences.
The current funding model has clear deficiencies. First, the state does not provide sufficient funding to support special education driving a considerable budget deficit for educating these students which can no longer be backfilled through local community taxes. Recent changes in the state funding model for education and the transfer of local taxes to the state has impacted the school district's ability to fund these programs.
Second, the per capita funding model for state funding for school operations creates challenges for relatively affluent communities and communities where enrollment varies significantly from year to year. These affluent communities are sending far more funding to the state in taxes than they receive in funding for education. This creates a disconnect between taxpayer expectations and the ability of the district to meet those expectations because funds are dispersed across the state. These affluent communities are struggling to retain high performing teachers, bus drivers and administration staff because of high costs of living in district. The funding model should continue to evolve to allow these districts to retain more of the funds coming from local taxpayers so that these districts can effectively meet the expectations of their communities and retain teachers. Further, funding models should not be based on a single year's enrollment, it should use a rolling average to help smooth funding over time and to support recover from enrollment dips. Such a rolling average would be based on or no lower than a rolling average of 3-5 years of enrollment with enhancements when enrollment exceeds that average. This would avoid 'whiplash' changes in schools when enrollment projections don't match actual enrollment.
Bellevue School District, like many communities, struggled to find the right approach to meet education needs while supporting teacher health concerns. I openly advocated and helped create in-person learning opportunities during the pandemic including hosting an in-person science fair where nearly 1/4 of the school participated. I believe that remote education provided a poor way for keeping students, particularly elementary aged students, engaged and excited about learning and that many students were unable to progress effectively.
Today, we need to continue to consider the responses to the pandemic and how students have been impacted. For progressive subjects like Math, we need to aggressively identify gaps that students have and support backfilling those gaps so they avoid becoming discouraged and can progress effectively.
Active listening. I continue to learn from fellow parents and school staff every day. Ultimately, my perspective is informed from the limited scope of my and my families' experiences and those are different from how many other students and parents engage with the district.
What is a monkey called who eats potato chips?
- A chipmunk
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External links
[1] ↑ Submitted to Ballotpedia's candidate survey in 2023.
