By DAVID BOYLE
Margo Bellamy is once again running for the Anchorage School Board. She has served on the school board since 2019, some years as president. And she was employed by the district for 43 years.
So, what does Bellamy stand for? Let’s first look at the words she puts on her web page.
Here is her “Focus” per her web page:
- Work with legislators and stakeholders to ensure consistent and predictable funding to the Base Student Allocation. (Translation: Get as much money as possible from the state and Alaskans’ PFDs).
- Advocate for legislative policy changes that guarantee fair retirement benefits for educators. (Translation: Get as much money from the state even if that includes a state income tax).
Bellamy has been on the school board for six years. During that time our students have been short-changed in reading and math.
Here are the district goals for reading and math that she voted to approve:
No one should be proud of these goals. Why would a board member only want less than half of our young children to be able to read at grade level by 2028? That sure is setting the bar very, very low and our kids will suffer. But, hey, it is probably achievable.
And the math goal that Bellamy voted for is even less aspirational. She believes that only 41.5% of our 8th graders should be proficient in math by 2028. What happens to the other 58.5% of our 8th graders? What about their futures?
Ask Bellamy why the ASD cannot teach kids how to read. Ask her why more than half of our 8th graders should be innumerate. These are the important policy questions. These should be the focus of any board member.
Check out her answer to this question on her web page (Q&A): “What is the single most important issue facing the Anchorage School District?”
“I believe three interconnected issues are paramount: teacher retention, teacher recruitment, and increased public education funding.”
Notice that she doesn’t believe student achievement is the most important. If student achievement is not the number one mission of the district, then that board member does not deserve anyone’s vote. Her focus is on more, more, and more money.
Bellamy was instrumental in recruiting the new superintendent, Jharrett Bryantt from the Houston Independent School District. Bryantt did not even meet the minimum required qualifications for a superintendent. How does that happen?
One of the primary selection criteria was that the new superintendent support Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Critical Race Theory was also included in the selection criteria: “Has a strong moral compass that is rooted in justice and equality” and “Is able to lead district diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.”
Bellamy was also instrumental in revoking the charter of the Family Partnership Charter School. The FPCS had the highest student population in the district — nearly 1,700 students. After she voted to revoke its charter, the school lost more than 600 students.
During her tenure, the ASD has dug itself a very deep financial hole every year. The district used one-time federal Covid funds to pay more than 400 teachers’ salaries and benefits. This is a no-no for those who practice fiduciary responsibility. Even the Department of Education and Early Development warned school districts not to use those funds for recurring expenses such as salaries.
Bellamy supports the superintendent’s “Administrative Guidelines” on transgender and gender identity issues. This leaves parents completely out of the decision-making process on gender transitioning, pronoun usage, gender identity, and bathroom usage.
Bellamy also said that these Administrative Guidelines were put into place in 2016, when she was in charge of the Equity office.
When a board member wanted to make these “guidelines” a policy, she did not agree. She wanted to keep the “Administrative Guidelines” in order to keep secrets from parents. Bellamy noted that they were guidelines only and not policy, because the board would not have to discuss the guidelines in a public forum, as it would actual policy.
When former ASD Superintendent Deena Bishop wanted to allow students to breathe freely by removing the mask mandate, Bellamy disagreed. She wanted our children to be masked for another month. Now we have students whose learning has been severely impacted as well as their emotional and social development. But Bellamy has a solution — grow the mental health function to solve the problems she helped to create.
Bellamy is a strong supporter of so-called “equity’ in every educational program. She recently penned an opinion piece where she said she supports the Academies of Anchorage model because “(it is) an important step forward in our efforts to create a more equitable education system in Anchorage.”
Bellamy also believes in bringing “restorative justice” to the district. This policy dictates that a student’s punishment should be based on race, ethnic group, or economic status due to past inequitable practices.
Thus, a low-income minority child would get a less harsh punishment than a non-minority child for the same behavior issue. Here is her statement on the preface to the 2023 budget:
Bellamy is supported by the NEA-PACE, the teachers’ union political action group. The teachers’ union has donated $1,000 to her current reelection campaign. Here is the teachers’ union donation, as shown at the Alaska Public Offices Commission:
It makes one wonder how she will vote on the teachers’ union contract, which will be voted on before the next school year.
This would appear to be a conflict of interest or even a “pay to play” ethical dilemma.
So, if you are pleased with the low student achievement in reading and math, pleased with the Transgender Guidelines and allowing boys to use girls’ bathrooms, pleased with hiding student gender transitioning from parents, pleased with the injection of DEI in the classroom, and pleased with the more than $900,000,000 the district spends, then you might want to even consider voting for the current board member.
Then you just might want to donate your PFD which she will take anyway to fund the Anchorage School District with little to no accountability for results.
David Boyle is an education writer at Must Read Alaska.
Now if more people can see beyond the name recognition, we can get Alex in her place this cycle! Thanks for the update and information on Bellamy, David.
She is NOT getting my vote!