Candidates for the open position on the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education made their cases Thursday night.

Seven applicants participated in a joint interview for the seat that was left opened when Michelle Brownstein resigned in December.

The applicants answered a wide range of questions, including closing the achievement gap, dealing with parent concerns, working with the County Commissioners and voting for the bond referendum.

Mary Anne Wolf currently works at NC State as the Director for Digital Learning Programs. She has children at the elementary, middle and high school levels in the school district. She said she disagreed with the board’s recent implementation of the math Common Core standards.

“I think our implementation in math was actually very detrimental to some kids because our curriculum was not quite ready. And I know there was a lot of push from the state and a lot of reasons for it but I think we probably could’ve taken a little more time and probably helped a lot of kids in their math foundations,” said Wolf.

Hector Rosario is a math professor who recently moved to North Carolina. He has since started a volunteer math tutoring program in the area. He spoke about bringing his tutoring program to kids in the district who have been taught a “sense of inadequacy” and to give those kids confidence. Rosario also advocated for the improvement of ESL instruction. He said he began learning English when he was 14.

Theresa Watson is a graduate of Chapel Hill High School. For over 20 years she has worked with local organizations like the Chapel Hill Board of Adjustment and the Carrboro Planning Committee. Her ideas for closing the achievement gap relied on not letting kids fall behind at a young age.

“I bring to the board the ability to work with the school, the parent and in the community and without all of those elements combined together you will always feel disjointed,” said Watson.

Ashton Powell is a biology instructor at the North Carolina School of Science and Math and will soon be appointed to their board of trustees. He has two children attending Carrboro Elementary. When asked what programs he might change he said he would consider cutting athletic programs to put more funds towards dual immersion language courses.

Allen Buansi is a recent law school graduate and now works as a civil rights lawyer for Democracy NC. He is a graduate of East Chapel Hill High. He said he hope to close the achievement gap by having college students and volunteers serve as role models.

“One thing I did was to bring in tutors and mentors, some of whom looked like them, people who they could look up to and maybe inspire a possibility that they could see for themselves for what they could become,” said Buansi.

Erika Lipkin moved to North Carolina from New York 6 years ago. She has worked as a consultant and is a certified public accountant. When asked about a recent school board decision she disagreed with she mentioned the redistricting by the school system. Lipkin said the redistricting at her daughter’s school made it harder for a sense of community to form because the students attending the school lived so far apart from each other.

Joal Hall Broun has worked on the Carrboro Board of Alderman and has served on the board for the Orange Water and Sewer Authority. She voiced her support for after-school programs as a way to help kids stay out of trouble. Broun also said scrutinizing our expectations of students is important for closing the achievement gap.

“Do you expect that child because he does not look or she does not look like someone else, do you expect them to do well? So the expectation is that all students should do well,” said Hall Broun.

The board is expected to make a decision at their next board meeting on February 18.