Chris Krush, candidate for St. Mary’s County School Board
Hollywood, MD – Former school teacher Chris Krush of Mechanicsville is challenging incumbent Cathy Allen for the St, Mary’s County Board of Education At-Large seat in the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election. The touchstone of Krush’s campaign is the lack of someone with classroom experience on the current school board.
Krush taught at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf for 30 years. His three children attended St. Mary’s County Public Schools and he has a daughter who is currently a teacher at Chopticon High School. He told TheBayNet.com during a recent interview, he decided to run after listening to his daughter talk about her experiences.
One of the concerns Krush said he has heard about is the newly initiated ‘One Lunch’ system in high schools. Krush says that creates a massive logistical problem, since the cafeterias can only accommodate 400 students. He also mentioned the danger of a fight between students escalating, because students are allowed to use cell phones and there would be “a thousand kids in that (one) spot.”
Krush supports Gov. Hogan’s initiative to start school after Labor Day. As a teacher he said he constantly observed the difficulty of teaching between the start of school and Christmas break because of all the days off and other distractions. Krush shared that he favors cutting into the Christmas break, as well as, other times to be able to make up lost days with the late start. However, he did state he does not favor cutting into spring break.
Regarding the board’s success at budgeting, Krush said, “I think they could do a much better job.” He said the $6 million deficit several years ago and this year’s $3 million surplus show problems with budgeting. The failure to recognize the surplus, he said, led to giving teachers a smaller salary increase that was offset by higher health care premiums.
Krush favors STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs but he is concerned about the emphasize on high techology to the detriment of the trade programs available at the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center in Leonardtown.
Regarding the performance of Superintendent of Schools Scott Smith, Krush says he is pushing down too hard on teachers, instead of making students responsible for their own actions. Lastly, he said there had been juggling of figures, such as graduation rates, to make SMCPS look good.
Krush’s Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011798559725
Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com