Dave Schaafsma has never run for political office, but he is now a write-in candidate for the OPRF School Board Election.
Schaafsma has over four decades of experience in education. He is director and associate professor of English Education at the University of Illinois – Chicago.
“What do I offer? Well I offer all this experience in education. No one else has been a high school English teacher,” he said. “(And) I’m preparing people to teach in high school and also I’ve had a lot of experience working in OPRF.”
Schaafsma emphasized that teaching is a human activity that he believes should be focused on meeting the needs of students rather than subject matter. This is a principle he hopes to apply to working on the school board.
“It’s more about human beings and their needs,” he said. “People come to the board and you have to listen to them.”
Schaafsma said he was motivated to join the race by former students of his who now teach at OPRF. He revealed that a lot of people told him not to run as a write-in, but after talking to his students he found incentive to run despite having the odds against him.
But not everyone is impressed with his extensive background in education. Schaafsma said that he’s faced criticism from people who are worried that he has too much experience in education,which might be a conflict of interest.
“Someone said… she thought it was a disadvantage … that I might favor the teachers over community members and there’s an argument there,” he said. But I’m also a community member and the school is an important part of the community. I’m not just favoring teachers.”
Schaafsma has three children who have attended OPRF. His daughter will graduate from the school in May. He believes that having kids in the school you’re serving on the board of helps you care about how the school affects the students.
He hopes to bring a restorative justice approach to the board. Schaafsma wants to cooperate with both students and administrators to show students that they are being heard. He doesn’t think that punitive actions like expulsion should be the first step in working with students who have broken rules.
“I think that if you pull people out of the democratic situation and say you can’t participate (and) you do this (haphazardly)then it does not serve them as human beings,” he said.
When asked about the subject of truancy, he explained that he does think truancy is a problem that must be worked on. He thinks that it’s a problem at every school, but when addressing it at OPRF he hopes to find a way to work with students to figure out why they don’t want to or are unable to come to school and stray away from the “knocking on doors” approach.
He said he also wants to make clearer, more attractive paths to the trades at OPRF. He understands that a lot of administrators might try to appeal to students by discussing what they can do to get students into colleges.
He explained that he is also skilled in this field, but that he wants to instill in students that college isn’t the only option. There’s a crisis in the trades, and Schaafsma believes in the importance of showing students they can live an equally good life working in them if college doesn’t feel right for them.
When asked about how he would be transparent about board spending he explained that he values voter input tremendously. If community members are unable to attend board meetings then he wants to go out into the community and meet them where they’re at. He also is in favor of having board newsletters and question-and-answer sessions. This is all in effort to address criticism of the board for not being open enough or spending too arbitrarily.
Schaafsma saided that he appreciates the opportunity to have a voice in his community and participate in important conversations. The whole process has been refreshing for him.
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