Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Fremont Unified School District

Keep Our Schools Open

Our schools need to stay open! The past 18 months has seen the School Board and Administration attempt to close Kennedy High School, Walters Junior High School, and several elementary schools.

The Board and Superintendent wanted to close these schools, sell the property, and separate the children from their friends and teachers and move them to many other schools in Fremont.

In fact, the Superintendent drafted a plan to close the schools, and the Board voted to approve. The wheels were set in motion to begin the shut- downs, move and separate the children and teachers, and sell the property.

Parents, teachers, students, and community members joined together to oppose this decision. We attempted to persuade the Board to re-vote and keep our schools open, but they choose to support the ill-structured Master Plan. We redoubled our efforts, and through community outreach, support, education, and cooperation, we were able to convince the Board to reconsider their position, and keep the schools open!

Today, some schools are still under consideration for closure and the sale of their properties. We must elect Board members who will not allow our school property to be sold!

If, for some reason, a particular school needs to be closed, we need to explore the possible leasing of the property, for a period not to exceed 5 years. This will enable the School District to receive revenue, while at the same time preserving the school for future use.

Fremont is growing! We have no business selling our school property.In fact, we need to explore how we plan to accommodate more students and smaller class sizes.

FUSD FInancial Matters

There is no doubt that some of our school buildings are in need of seismic retrofit, long overdue repair, and more timely maintenance. We have an ongoing need to build more classrooms, labs, and facilities. All of these commitments require financial support.

The current budget of the Fremont Unified School District, which is over 200 million dollars, devotes over 90% of its dollars to compensation. This leaves precious few dollars for our much needed improvements.

A school bond, even a relatively small one to address seismic retrofit, requires our community to be informed, organized, and have confidence in the Board. A parcel tax, to be used for these projects, would also need to gain this support .

The Board needs to make community awareness of our schools predicament a high priority. We then need to formulate a plan that will draw widespread consensus and support. The Board, through their actions, outreach, and leadership, needs to spearhead this effort. Additionally, we must reevaluate our efforts to get Fremont reclassified from a `rural' designation. Currently, Fremont's children receive less California State education tax dollars per student than some students in Southern California and even Pleasanton! It has been estimated that if we received the same financial support in ADA dollars as Pleasanton, Fremont Unified would have an additional 20 million dollars per year!! This is equivalent to the benefit of a 100 million dollar school bond every five years, without having an additional penny added to out tax obligation!

We are already paying for it, yet we receive fewer dollars for our schools use. We need to keep drawing attention to this glaring discrimination and continue gaining popular support so our legislators can be successful in getting Fremont the money it deserves. 

Some years ago, the Board attempted to have this matter resolved, but their efforts were not met with success. This is no reason to not continue, through other avenues, until we achieve the equity we deserve!

 The Board needs to lead Fremont's efforts to recapture our tax dollars!

Cutting District Costs and Improving Communication

Fremont is the 4th largest city in Silicon Valley. People are moving here from all over the world to take advantage of the technological opportunities available right in our own backyard. Our schools should reflect our unique location and the talent available.

All of our schools with computer labs should be designing, creating and maintaining intriguing and informative school web sites. This would allow the children of each school to contribute stories and information, as well as gain practical keyboard, design, graphic, and computer experience.

This would allow all of our schools to "show off " their student's talents and ideas. It is the ideal vehicle to share information between schools and the community. Instruction could be devoted to newsletter content, graphics,display, and presentation. Real world skills could be taught and refined in a positive, educational surrounding.

A huge benefit would be the opportunity for those parents who have chosen, to begin receiving school information and the school newsletter on-line. This would save copier costs, which is a significant portion of each individual school's budget, as well as an astounding amount of paper. Additionally, everyone in Fremont can easily, and visually, share in the challenges and successes of our schools.

We must investigate ways to reduce our use of paper. Our high schools alone use millions of sheets of paper every year. The cost in paper, time, electricity, postage, and effort is staggering.

By simply allowing those families who have access to the web to decide to receive on-line school information, we will make stunning progress towards reducing costs and preserving the environment.

The time has arrived for us to capitalize on the technology that surrounds us!