New CCS board member ready for challenges

By Donna Marbury
Contributing Writer
Columbus Post
Newly elected school board member Hanifah Kambon said she felt running for her first public office was a natural next step for her. “My primary focus through the campaign was to get the job done. For the first time I had to go out and get votes, it is very different from just pulling the lever,” Kambon said, who was elected to the Columbus City school board in November 2009 and will be officially sworn in January 2010. “I asked God if this is what he wanted me to do. I attended the Obama inauguration. After that I prayed and asked God if it was what he really wanted me to do. The answer was yes. There was no hard part, it was meant for me.”

Kambon worked in Columbus City Schools for 30 years as teacher at Franklin Alternative Middle School and Marion Franklin High School and a master teacher in the Teacher Advancement Program at South High School. “As an educator, I think the most effective first step is creating trusting relationships with students, parents, staff, community and the school board,” said Kambon. “I really want us to increase the trust between the community and the district and for there to be less doubting.”

Gaining that trust might be difficult as Columbus City Schools hosted the last of four town-hall style meetings aimed at getting feedback from parents about six schools closing in the next school year, though up to nine may be closed. The district will be hosting community meetings at 40 schools in the district to discuss how students will be reassigned as a result of the school closings.

Hubbard, Douglass, Fair and Deshler elementary schools and Clinton, Beery, Eastmoor, Indianola and Franklin middle schools have all been named to possibly be closed in the 2010-2011 school year. The district plans to announce which will be closing by the end of the year. Kambon said she agrees that the schools should be closed, but parents need to be more informed about the process. “We have to live up to the promises made when the 2008 levy passed to make more efficient and effective schools and school closings was high on that agenda. But parents deserve a detailed explanation of the process.”

Kambon said she attended some of the town-hall meetings held at schools through the month of November and noticed that many parents had unanswered questions. “I wish there were more details given so that parents left knowing what to expect. I just hope that parents don’t get frustrated and leave the district when we are working to make things better,” she said.

The district also faces a large number of its students leaving to attend area charter schools. From 1997 to 2007, approximately 10,000 students in Columbus have left the district, many attending one of the 30 public charter schools. Kambon said that parents should be able to choose which school to send their children, but should look at the big picture of what charter schools do to the community. “I do believe in choice. I believe public education has to be innovative and exciting to children, especially now. My children did great in Columbus City Schools, and we have to make that a good experience for every child,” she said. “But charter schools can be a financial drain. When a child leaves our district they take a lot of money with them. If they decide to come back to the district, we lose the money we need to teach them. Sometimes, they are not taught at the same level as they would have been at a Columbus City School. So we have to play catch up.”

One of Kambon’s priorities is making sure students that are in the school district are ready to face the world outside of Columbus. Globalizing education is not just a privilege, she says, it is a necessity. “We must make sure students are competent in this global world, and not just using computers as word processors. We have to use the up-to-date technology that is in these new schools to connect to the world in meaningful ways,” said Kambon, who is looking forward to the district expanding its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programming.”

The district recently approved $250,000 federal stimulus money to work with the United Way on efforts to increase school readiness for three to four year olds. “We are trying to prepare our children as early as possible to be a part of the global community,” said Kambon of the pre-kindergarten program. She also looks forward to working with Columbus City Schools Superintendent Dr. Gene Harris on other unique initiatives like an international school and single gender education. “Dr. Harris thinks out of the box,” Kambon said.

http://www.columbuspost.com/2009-updates-12-10/headlines1210-new-ccs-board-member.html