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Romano campaigns to be state head of K-12 education

Melissa Romano said that growing up she did not have dreams of campaigning for public office. But in recent months that is what she has found herself doing.

After 12 years as a teacher, Romano is leaving her fourth-grade classroom at Four Georgians Elementary School in Helena, to embark on a campaign to be the next superintendent of public instruction.

Romano, a Democrat, is unchallenged in the primary. She will go up against state Sen. Elsie Arntzen, R-Billings, in the fall.

If elected, she will succeed the term-limited Denise Juneau who is making a bid for Montana's only seat in the House of Representatives.

Romano was born and raised in Helena.

She said that while in high school she was "solely focused on doing well in school" and did babysitting jobs in her free time.

After graduating with a degree in photography from Northwestern College in Wyoming, she moved to Connecticut where she worked as a nanny.

It was then that she discovered she wanted to teach.

"There is a special moment that happens when you are teaching a child something that they didn't know before, and their life is forever changed, and you can't go back," Romano said in an interview at a Democratic fundraiser at the Havre Eagle's Club Tuesday.

"I became addicted to that moment and wanted to do that as a profession."

Romano, a self-described multi-tasker, continued working as a nanny while taking night classes at Bridgeport College in Connecticut, where she eventually received her bachelor's and master's degrees in education.

She said that she later moved back to Montana to be with family.

She is married to Eric Lehman, also a teacher, and they have four children between them.

Romano received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from the National Science Foundation in 2012.

She now splits her time between teaching full time and running her campaign.

Romano said she wanted to finish up the school year which ends June 9, before leaving her teaching post because she wanted to see her students succeed.

She said she is running because she believes every child is deserving of a high quality education.

"I do want our Montana schools to prepare our students to be happy, healthy, productive citizens," Romano said.

If elected, Romano said, her top three goals will include assembling a team, coming up with ways to increase access to early education and looking at efforts related to teacher mentoring.

"I think it is absolutely essential that we tap into our Montana-grown resources and be able to connect teachers with teachers all across the state, so we do not have teachers working in isolation and will ultimately lead to more students learning more," she said.

But Romano also faces a serious challenger in Arntzen.

Arntzen, who has over two decades of teaching experience, is a lawmaker from the state's most populous city and ran an unsuccessful campaign for Congress, has higher name recognition.

In March, during a visit to a fundraiser in Havre, Arntzen referred to Romano as "very, very young and inexperienced."

Nearly three months later, Romano has returned fire, blasting Arntzen for her votes in the Legislature and accusing her of seeking to privatize public schools.

"She has voted consistently to slash funding to our public schools," Romano said. "That would be detrimental to every single student and family in our state."

School construction and upkeep

Romano said fixing and maintaining Montana's deteriorating school facilities are the biggest challenge facing the state as it relates to education.

She said that more than 70 percent of those school facilities were built prior to 1970.

"We just have so many buildings that are failing," Romano said. "I think if we are going to deliver high quality education in the 21st century, our buildings need to be up to par as well."

Every Student Succeeds Act

Like a growing number of educators and policymakers, Romano believes too much weight has been given to standardized testing.

She said she believes the most important thing to teach children is a love of learning, "and there is not a single bubble test or standardized test that exists that can measure our kid's natural curiosity."

The Every Student Succeeds Act, often known as ESSA, was passed by Congress late last year. While it maintains the demand for high standards, it allows states flexibility when it comes to testing and designing their own plans to meet those standards.

She said teachers, administrators, policymakers and superintendents from around Montana have been examining and discussing the different accountability standards that would best measure growth in student learning and allow them to allocate resources to schools that need them.

Common Core

Romano is also a participant in the National Education Association's Common Core Working Group.

She said there are misconceptions surrounding the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Though she thinks standardized testing has likely gone too far, she said that she believes high standards remain in place for students.

The set of standards, Romano said, is not the federal government imposing guidelines on states, but was crafted with input from teachers such as herself who reviewed and offered feedback on the standards well before the Montana Public Board of Education voted to adopt them in 2011.

She said those standards are far superior to those in place before the approval of the current standards.

STEM

As an educator lauded for her work in teacher math and science, Romano sees great promise and importance in the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM.

Romano said the activities and subjects offered in that field engage students and promote a love of learning.

She said that she would like to add arts to that mix and make it STEAM.

"I think that arts often gets left out, and it is so related to math and science, and so we should definitely be including that in there," Romano said.

Universal Pre-Kindergarten

Montana is one of eight states in the nation that does not offer publicly funded universal pre-kindergarten to 4-year-olds.

Romano said she wants to take Montana off that list.

During the 2015 state legislative session, Gov. Steve Bullock requested $37 million to make grants to school districts to either enhance or establish early childhood education programs.

The Legislature, however, never took up the matter.

Using public money for private schools

Romano said she is opposed for using public tax dollars to fund private and religious schools

She said doing so would take away crucial money from public schools.

State land board

As one of the state's five elected officers, the Superintendent of Public Instruction serves on the state Land board.

She said the duty is one she would take very seriously,

If elected, she said, she will work hard to ensure that access to public lands is maintained and that lands are utilized in a way that maximizes profits for the state schools.

 

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