Dana Schallheim
Running for school board in Anne Arundel County District 5
How old will you be on Election Day (Nov. 5)?
48
Are you currently employed? If so, where, and what is your job title?
Incumbent Board of Education of Anne Arundel County Public Schools member, representing District 5.
What is the highest level of education that you completed, and where did you get that degree?
Master's of business administration.
Why are you running for the school board?
I hope District 5 voters will re-elect me because we are a better school district than when I joined the board six years ago, and we have laid a foundation to become the best in the state; however, the work isn’t done. I have focused on improving four student outcomes: recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers, implementing research-based curriculum, support for mental health, and social-emotional development under the leadership of Dr. Mark Bedell, a nationally recognized superintendent whom my colleagues and I unanimously hired. This hard work is paying off! As noted in an Anne Arundel County Public Schools media release dated Aug. 19, 2024: the average score of Anne Arundel County Public Schools students taking Advanced Placement exams in the 2023-2024 school year, the number of students taking exams, and the percentage of students achieving a score of 3 or higher all rose for the third consecutive year, and Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program scores have improved for the second consecutive year. Additionally, I continue to ensure the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future is implemented with fidelity including the expansion of college and career pathways and full day pre-kindergarten. Lastly, I would like a second term to ensure that distracting culture wars such as banning books don’t take hold in Anne Arundel County Public Schools. My opponent, who has said publicly that increasing pay is not important to retaining teachers, who supports sending our tax dollars to private schools, is supported by an extremist group that wants to ban books, flags and mental healthcare in schools and called LGTBQIA+ students “mentally ill.”
What makes you a good candidate for the board?
I bring six years of experience serving on the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County with a record of achievements. A public-school parent with an MBA, I served as chair of the board's Budget Committee for three years, during which I greatly enhanced transparency in the budget adoption process. Over the last six years, I successfully increased teacher and staff pay, advocated for dozens of additional educators and mental health professionals, grew the Special Education department, approved funding for several new schools, voted to implement new science-backed reading and math curriculum, and voted to hire our nationally recognized superintendent, Dr. Mark Bedell. My advocacy for arts and music education, college and career pathways, special education, and on behalf of our diverse communities and military families earned several awards over the years including the coveted Fannie Lou Hamer and Alan Hilliard Legum Civil Rights Award. I championed policies protecting students with food allergies as well as LGTBQIA+ students and overhauled the bullying and bias policies, the policy governing special education, to name a few. I will stand in the breach against distracting culture wars including book banning and the whitewashing of curriculum. All of this hard work is paying off. Anne Arundel County Public Schools is now the fourth best in Maryland in terms of new teacher pay. Advanced Placement test scores as well as the number of students sitting for AP exams has dramatically improved, and Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program scores have improved for the second consecutive year.
What is the most important issue facing your school board and what would you do about it if elected?
There are many issues facing Anne Arundel County Public Schools, early childhood literacy chief among them. Anne Arundel County Public Schools has made some improvements in early literacy since 2020 with the implementation of universal reading screening and Wilson Foundations reading interventions for K-3. Where Anne Arundel County Public Schools fell flat is in grades reading comprehension for students in grades 3-5. For years, Anne Arundel County Public Schools taught students to read with a “balanced literacy” approach, very little direct phonics instruction and a lot of guessing words based on pictures or context clues. Some kids learned to read well, but others, especially students with disabilities, fell behind.
I have been an advocate for years for adopting new reading curricula that reflect the latest research, and worked hard to recruit a superintendent, Dr. Mark Bedell, who shares this understanding. A new curriculum based on the science of reading is being implemented during the 2024-2025 school year alongside enhanced supports for secondary students who continue to struggle in this area. Expanding access to full day pre-kindergarten and expanding the number of community mentors in our schools will also improve outcomes in this area.
Additionally, many of our kids are struggling with anxiety and depression — far more than were struggling than before the pandemic. I successfully advocated for additional mental health staff for our schools every single year, and I will continue to do so until we meet the recommended ratios for both school counselors and psychologists.
Please name a public leader you admire and explain why.
I admire many public leaders, which makes it difficult to name just one. Kamala Harris is driven, persistent and relentlessly serves our country and its people. Kamala has fearlessly pursued breaking glass ceilings and is unapologetic in doing what she feels is right.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, passed by the General Assembly in 2021, is a 10-year plan that includes increased education funding to support early childhood education, increased teacher starting pay, college/career-readiness standards for high school graduates, and expanded services to multilingual and impoverished families, among other goals. Please tell us your views on the Blueprint and how it will affect your school district.
Overall, I support all of the pillars of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future and, if implemented with fidelity, they will serve Anne Arundel County Public Schools students for a generation.
Early childhood education sets students on a trajectory of success as opposed to starting kindergarten already behind.
High quality and diverse teachers and school leaders are important because employing excellent teachers equals successful students. As is the case with other professions, it’s difficult to become what you can’t see. Our diverse student body deserves diverse educators to inspire and challenge our students. This is also true for our school leadership.
New college and career pathways are critical to the workforce of tomorrow. Stagnation does our students a massive disservice after graduation. My role as a current board member is to open doors for students. Whether students pursue the trades, serving in the military, tech careers or college, all paths are valid and wonderful choices and students must be exposed to as many options as possible while in Anne Arundel County Public Schools.
Under the Blueprint, per-pupil funding will now follow the student as opposed to being lumped in the aggregate into the Anne Arundel County Public Schools operating budget. Equity in funding while avoiding merely shifting resources from high to low performing schools will equal improved student outcomes.
The success of the Blueprint is dependent on governance and accountability. The Blueprint has the high price tag that students deserve, but none of it matters unless the funds are being spent by Anne Arundel County Public Schools and other Maryland school systems as directed.
Some school districts nationwide are placing new limits on the use of cellphones in middle and high schools. What do you think should be the policy on student use of cellphones in your district, and why do you support that policy?
I support the new guidelines that heavily restrict, but do not outright ban, cellphones. For elementary and middle school students, phones are not allowed at any time throughout the school day. For high school students, phones are allowed during flex periods and at lunch. The new guidelines also call for progressive discipline measures for students who abuse this policy including confiscation of the student's cellphone, which requires the parent/guardian to retrieve it from the school. We need to trust our students to keep their phones off and out of sight while properly supporting teachers and administrators in consistently implementing this policy.
Are you satisfied with your school district's efforts to ensure the safety of its students? What, if anything, should be done to improve school safety in your district?
Student safety remains a chief concern. During my first term, I worked to improve our bullying and bias policies to among the most robust in the state, as well as suggested changes to our Student Code of Conduct, especially specific to bias events. I have also approved safety infrastructure improvements at dozens of schools, supported expansion of school resource officers in our middle schools, supported Unity Day and Second Step curriculum, which focuses on community building and bullying prevention as well as use of restorative practices systemwide. In my six years on the board, I have fought for the hiring of dozens of mental health positions: school counselors, school psychologists, social workers, and pupil personnel workers. My advocacy ensuring our schools are safe and students have the resources they need will continue as well as continuing to support the relationships Anne Arundel County Public Schools maintains with county agencies including Crisis Response.
Do you think there are circumstances when books should be removed from school libraries? If so, what kind of books should be removed, and who should make those decisions?
It is unconscionable that we are having serious conversations about book banning in the United States in 2024. I trust our professional librarians and media specialists to make decisions about what is age-appropriate to be displayed in school libraries consistent with Maryland State Department of Education, which governs Anne Arundel County Public Schools curriculum, period. If a parent believes a book chosen for a school library is inappropriate, they have the right to tell their child not to check it out, but they do not have the right to deny my child and her peers the ability to check it out. The book bans we’ve seen in Florida, and even locally in Carroll County, must not come to Anne Arundel County.
Some school districts enact policies allowing transgender and gender nonconforming students to use their preferred pronouns while at the same time not informing those students' parents about that decision. What is your opinion of such policies?
I support the Anne Arundel County Public Schools policy that requires the inclusion of parents/guardians in this decision in elementary school. For secondary students, the goal is to involve the parents except in circumstances where doing so would endanger the student.
