By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Oct. 22, 2020) Worcester County voters will elect a new Board of Education member to replace Sara Thompson, who is retiring in December, during the general election on Nov. 3.

Dr. Jon Andes and Anjali “Angie” Phukan-Chatelle are competing for the District 3 seat.

Dr. Jon Andes

Andes, 66, began his teaching career in Harford County Public Schools, where he taught social studies for eight years.  He went on to serve as the assistant principal, then principal of Havre De Grace High School. After leading the school to be named a “National Blue-Ribbon School,” Andes was appointed as the assistant superintendent for personnel and staff relations in Harford County Public Schools.

Andes and his family moved to Worcester County in 1996 when he was named the superintendent of the county school system. After 16 years, he retired, but not for long.

Andes became a professor of practice in the Department of Educational Leadership and Graduate Studies at Salisbury University five weeks later.

He also serves as the executive director of the Eastern Shore of Maryland Educational Consortium.

Andes decided to run for office to pay it forward in his community.

“This community has been so good to me and my family over the years,” he said. “I wanted to give back to the community by using my experience and my expertise to help the school system move forward in some very challenging times. We have a great school system with phenomenal people working in the school system.”

One of Andes’ objectives is to hire and retain outstanding leaders, teachers and staff.

“The best way to do that is to, first of all, listen to them,” he said. “Secondly, create a work environment in which people are valued and treasured. Give them the authority to make decisions, but at the same time hold people accountable.”

Another priority for Andes is direct funding to the classroom.

“The question constantly is ‘How are we using our money to benefit students and teachers in the classroom on a daily basis?’” he said. “As a school system, we want most of our money going into [instructional support] and not into places like administration.”

Andes said money should be directed toward retaining great teachers in the classroom.

“The success of every student depends upon a phenomenal teacher working in that classroom,” he said. “Two, we need to make sure we have small class sizes. Small class sizes benefit our students. And three, we need to make sure that we have programs available, so if we have a student who needs enrichment, we have programs available for that student, either during or after the school day. And if we have students that need some form of intervention, then we have programs available during the school day and after the school day to provide enrichment and remediation for any students who need it.”

In addition, Andes believes the 14 county schools should adapt STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) curriculums.

“It’s been my experience that to get students excited about learning and to engage students, the visual and performing arts are one of the best pathways to accomplish getting students excited,” he said. “Whether it’s through drama or playing a musical instrument or singing or dance … using the visual and performing arts is a great way to engage students in academic learning.”

Andes added that because of the state testing program, most of the schools are focused entirely on STEM.

“Maryland has a state testing program, which is in reading and math and science, so those are the STEM categories,” he said. “As a result, when schools and school systems are being judged and students are being judged based on those areas, the focus has to be on STEM. My point is, in order to engage students and have them excited about learning, we also have to tap into their visual and performing arts modes.”

In opposition to standardized testing, Andes proposes implementing a student assessment growth model, in which students are constantly evaluated against themselves.

“So, what it would look like as an example, in September, we would give an assessment to identify the current academic level of our students, and then every four to six weeks, we would give another assessment,” he said. “It would be teacher-graded and teacher-scored, so that we would have instant results in order to identify gaps and needs of our students or for those students that need enrichment opportunities to provide those.”

Andes also hopes to prepare students for college and careers by developing and expanding programs at Worcester Technical High School.

“When I was superintendent of schools, we built Worcester Technical High School,” he said. “An HVAC person can graduate from high school, make very good money, stay in our community, giving back to our community in a job that provides a living wage with benefits.”

Andes added that Worcester’s public schools must continue to help students develop academically for a two-year or a four-year college.

“Worcester County Public Schools is one of the best performing school systems in the state. It doesn’t matter what measuring stick you use,” Andes said. “And I want to use my talents, time and energy to help move this school system to the next level.”

In addition to his background in education, Andes is a member of the Atlantic General Hospital Board of Trustees, Snow Hill Rotary Club, the Calvin B. Taylor House Museum Board of Directors and Delmarva Council Boy Scouts of America Advisory Committee.

For more information about his campaign, visit www.jonandes.com.

Phukan-Chatelle, who is in her 40s, teaches business law at Wor-Wic Community College, including its program at Eastern Correctional Institute.

Phukan-Chatelle started tutoring students in college, and from there became a research assistant in graduate school at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has taught various classes at the University of Delaware’s Lifelong Learning Center as well.

Anjali “Angie” Phukan-Chatelle

Phukan-Chatelle moved to Worcester County in 2016 and decided to run for office now because she believes Worcester County Public Schools needs to have fiscal accountability.

“I think that Worcester County for instance, they don’t get a lot of federal or state funding in my opinion that’s needed for these rural areas, especially in this covid time where people don’t have internet at home,” said Phukan-Chatelle, who is a certified public accountant.

“Then, we don’t have a community college in Worcester County. Everybody has to go to Salisbury, which isn’t too far, except the public transportation is horrible, and so there needs to be more resources for getting the education that’s needed for our students.”

One of the key issues Phukan-Chatelle focuses on in her campaign is racism.

“There’s only one race. There’s the human race,” she said. “It’s really about prejudices, and a lot of these prejudices stem from fears. We all have these self-centered fears, and then we can identify with people that look similar to us. And then for people that maybe don’t look similar that then we feel a threat from, then we target those people and that’s not right. So, for me, what I would like to see more of is interaction and engaging with people across different cultures within the county.”

Phukan-Chatelle hopes to see the county unify.

As a trained yoga instructor, she is also concerned about the mental health and wellness of students, teachers and staff during the pandemic.

“I think that there needs to be scientifically based resources and scientifically based teaching,” Phukan-Chatelle said.

Other topics important to Phukan-Chatelle include providing fresh, healthy food to students as well as offering universal pre-kindergarten and the choice program for schools.

For more information about her campaign, visit chatelle4children.weebly.com.

No write-in candidates filed by the Oct. 19 deadline.