Election 2011: Meet Joanne Mansur, District 197 School Board Candidate

Editor's Note: Each candidate for the submitted their answers to the following questionnaire. The candidates had 125 words or less to respond to identical prompts. Their responses will be printed in their entirety one a day for the next seven business days, in alphabetical order. Those answers that exceeded the word count will be edited for length.

The Basics

Name: Joanne Mansur

City: Mendota Heights

Education: BA in Economics from Macalester College
MBA in Marketing from the University of St. Thomas

Where do you work? Maritz Research, a marketing research company located in Edina. 

Questions for District 197 School Board candidates:

Patch: Why are you qualified to sit on the District 197 School Board?

Joanne Mansur: I believe I am qualified to sit on the Board because I have a vested interest in the schools within our District. I have two children, Grace who is a first grader at Mendota Elementary, and Sean who is in preschool at Children’s Country Day School in Mendota Heights. I believe I can bring a unique and needed perspective to the Board based on the skills I use in my job every day. I am also very interested in making decisions based on concrete data and will work every day to ensure that our District does what is in the best interests of the students and is representative of what the residents of our District want.

Patch: Where do you stand on passage of the operating referendum that will be on the ballot?

Mansur: I fully support the levy that is on the ballot November 8th. School funding is a complex issue and is confusing to many people. Eighty percent of the District’s $47 million dollar budget is salaries and benefits of our teachers, administrators and support staff. Our District has cut over $8 million dollars in the past five years and there is no more room to cut without directly impacting the classrooms and the services we provide to our children. This is money is critical to maintaining the educational standards that our students need and deserve.

Patch: What is the most important step the district must take to address financial pressures?

Mansur: Pass the Operating Levy. We all know that the way we deliver education currently is not sustainable in the long run, but we need time to determine the best way to effect change within the District. We need to expand our revenue sources beyond just applying for grants; we need to make our District one that parents from other Districts want to send their children to.

Patch: Aside from the budget, what is the most important issue facing the school district?

Mansur: Growth. We cannot continue to hope for more “organic” growth within the District. We need to be actively creating quality programs that will draw students into our District and will set our District apart from others in the metro area.

Patch: What area of education are you particularly passionate about?

Mansur: Early Learning. Access to early learning programs that are convenient for parents within our District is a critical component of ensuring our students come to kindergarten ready to learn. The programs need to be offered at locations and hours that are accessible for everyone (including working and non-working parents). I would have loved to have my children participate in pre-school programs that the District offers but that was not possible due to the hours the programs were offered.  

Special Programs. My son Sean has been in speech therapy within the District since he was 2 years old. The breadth and depth of the programs offered by ISD 197 is fantastic and is a strength we should leverage to attract more students to our schools.