Background

I grew up in the southeast section of Minneapolis during a time when the Twins were winning World Series and we were receiving record rainfalls and snowfalls. After spending 12 years in Duluth, I moved to St. Anthony Village in 2004 and I have been a resident for 19 years. I am humble and grateful for my lovely wife, Laura and our three awesome children, Xander, Linden, and Brannock, who attend the St. Anthony High School and St. Anthony Middle School respectively. I have a Master’s degree in Higher Education with an Adult Education specialty.

I work at the University of Minnesota as a Support Manager in the Office of Information Technology. Having worked in higher education and IT for over 20 years, I have a firm understanding of the successes and struggles that affect educational institutions.

I am a systems thinker, a collaborator, a project manager, and a servant leader.

School Board at St. Anthony New Brighton ISD 282

In my spare time, I have helped with issues of equity and adverse childhood experiences through the St. Anthony Villagers for Equity and Community and Family Services Collaborative respectively. I have enjoyed volunteering in the community in association with the Wilshire Park Parents Association. I have also coached and kept stats for various teams through the St. Anthony Boosters. Outside of St. Anthony, I am a board member for my high school alma mater, Minneapolis Roosevelt.  The Roosevelt Foundation provides scholarships to students as well as classroom grants to teachers.

I was privileged to join the school board for ISD 282 St. Anthony New Brighton in January, 2020. This was quite the time to join a school board at the start of the pandemic and we faced many challenges on a seemingly daily basis. I believed that we navigated through the period the best that anyone could do and I feel we are now stronger for what we learned in terms of how we do school. While on the board, I have served as Clerk, Vice Chair, and I am now currently the Chair. The committees I serve on currently are:

Volunteering BEYOND St. Anthony

I am part of the Minnesota School Board Directors of Color and Indigenous Fellowship, whose mission is, “fostering excellence in good governance, supporting effective leadership, and preparing school board members from diverse communities to champion high-quality public education, while acknowledging the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of Minnesota students and families.” I am also on the Advisory Committee for the IT Program for Summit Academy OIC, a vocational school in North Minneapolis, in this case, to get underrepresented adults, primarily African Americans and women, into the IT industry. Finally, I am a board member for my high school alma mater, Minneapolis Roosevelt. The Roosevelt Foundation provides scholarships to students as well as classroom grants to teachers.

As a school board member candidate, I want to ensure that I am listening to the needs of my constituents. Your feedback on what can be improved in our schools, along with what you value, is important to me.  As a board member, please feel free to reach out to me at bphillip@isd282.org.

To better understand my focus, below are some of my core beliefs as a person.

Equity is essential for student success and needs to be a top priority

Equity is different from equality.  It is the difference between fairness and sameness. Think about the grocery store. Equality allows anyone to go to the store. Equity allows anyone to get inside of the store because of the automatic doors. Everyone benefits from those doors, not just those in need. In order to have fairness, there needs to be acknowledgement that all students are not the same, which is great; acknowledging and celebrating their differences leads to equity. Being culturally aware, for example, allows for both teachers and children to learn in new ways and understand why accommodations may be necessary. Improving equity then allows for closing the achievement gap (or how I would better illustrate it, the opportunity gap), a key goal within the Department of Education. Overall, we should be meeting all kids where they are at and ensure that everyone has the ability to advance.

The St. Anthony-New Brighton School District should be known not for STEM education, but for STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics)

According to the Myers-Briggs personality test, I am an ISTJ. The “I” stands for “Introversion,” the opposite of “Extraversion” and I am an extreme “I.” If it were not for my 9th grade English teacher, Lita Malisci, getting me involved in Arts, I probably would not have eventually gotten where I am at within Technology. While STEM and STEAM concepts were not prevalent when I was going to school, I believe that STEAM could benefit “I”s like me. Combining the discipline of “Arts” with the rest of STEM is critical in allowing students to thrive in innovative and creative ways. Plus, it allows teachers to plan collaboratively.

Early Childhood Education opportunities for all

Early childhood education is critical in developing a solid foundation for our children to learn, once they reach school age.  Our first experience with a daycare provider was terrible; the children were placed in front of a TV all day, while given food and naps. Only their basic needs were met.  Our second daycare provider, Cathy Lake, was wonderful, instilling early childhood education concepts for all three of our children along with the other children she oversaw.  Since we were fortunate enough to have these opportunities in our home daycare, we did not take advantage of the services offered at St. Anthony. However, I understand the benefits of early childhood education for both parents and children. I believe that all SAV families should have the same opportunity to take advantage of these services to ensure that all children are ready for school.

Professional development opportunities and accountability for teachers in universal design for learning (UDL) and technology impacts in teaching and learning

We need to ensure that our teachers are being given the chance to have professional development opportunities to allow for continued growth. One concept that is related to equity, mentioned above, is universal design for learning. UDL allows for consideration of all learners from the start and allows for inclusivity. All teachers should be aware of these principles and should be applying them as such. While we are not focusing of UDL specifically within ISD 282, I do believe that we are following its core tenants.

Technology in the classroom can really enhance the learning experience and it is becoming very easy to use.  For example, one of my favorite tools is Kahoot, which is a cloud-based quiz tool, meaning that it can be used on any type of device that has a web browser. It allows for comprehension checks, comparison polling, decision polling, as well as assessments. Try out this Kahoot math quiz that is aligned to Common Core standards!