Contra Costa Newpapers - Candidate Questionnaire

By Karl Kaste

The full answers to a Q&A requested by Lisa Schafer of the Contra Costa Times newspaper

First and foremost the disparity between under-performing schools and high academic achievement schools in the district needs to be addressed. The MDUSD should take full advantage of all available state resources and programs in order to improve the peformance of those schools which for the last three years have been so poor.

I would be sure to direct the district's best resources (i.e., teachers, administrators, discreationary budget)to these under-performing schools with a fully implemented merit-based system assessing the performance of teachers and administrators. I would make sure the assessments included parental surveys, and that parents and site councils for all the districts schools are involved in the equitable distribution of resources based on needs.

2. What role would you play in ensuring the district is offering the opportunity for all students to learn the material needed to be promoted to the next grade level and ultimately to pass the high school exit exam?

I would make sure that there is greater accountability by both the board and school administration to the district's parents and students. Using recently enacted state incentive programs and revenue (e.g., $20,000 teacher bonuses from the state) I would insist on implementing an uncompromising performance based system for all schools, one that recognizes and financially rewards those who meet aggressive and achievable academic improvements. I would focus the district's resources on under-performing schools. In doing so, social promotion will obviously be unacceptable, and a high school exit exam will be nothing to fear.

3. In recent years, the MDUSD has faced legal action and state compliance problems over special education services. What ideas do you have to ensure the 5,000 students who receive special education service are receiving a quality education without compromising services to the other 31,000 students in the district?

I would fully partner with the parents of the district's special education students, which is all that they've ever wanted. Unlike the disrespectful and adversarial treatment of those parents and students, that has led to a multi-million dollar class action suit (against the MDUSD) by the Disability Rights Advocates.

The district's lack of leadership and accountability led to those legal actions, not state funding for special education or the lack of it. The fiscal impact that the current (and avoidable) consent decree will have on the district's other students, could have and should have been avoided. The poor fiscal management and adversarial litigation of the MDUSD by the current board threatens the education of all district students.

4.Residents of Bay Point have been urging the school district to open a high school in their area to serve about 1,000 students who must travel to Concord. What is you position on this?

Since the closure of Pacifica High in Bay Point in the mid 1970s the district has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of concern about this under-funded part of the MDUSD. Recently the district has had to "be responsive" to the Bay Point community due to criticism by the county grand jury (which called the MDUSD relationship "adversarial" with the Bay Point community).

MDUSD and community facilities in Bay Point need to be assessed for their potential to provide an alternative to 1000 area students having to travel to Concord; Bay Point parents and their choices need to be respected; better transportation for these students needs to be provided; and quality after school programs in Bay Point are a must.

5. The district has not been a full participant in the state's class-size reduction program for kindergarten, citing a lack of classroom space. How would you seek to meet the demands of parents who want smaller classes for kindergarten students?

The lack of classroom space in implementing the state's class-size reduction program for kindergarten seems to be a "classic" failure of leadership. What is the district's current plan, or do they even have a plan? How could this current situation not have been anticipated, especially with the problem being exacerbated by the recent residential construction in the area's surrounding schools such as Mt. Diablo elementary in Clayton? New residential developments by the cities of Clayton and Concord need to be fully understood and planned for proactively by the MDUSD. These kinds of problems don't just happen out of thin air, unless the trustees are asleep at the wheel.

6. Many students in the district attend schools that are aging and overcrowded. How would you help solve these problems? If your answer involves passing a school bond, how would you help convice property owners to support an increase in property taxes?

My home in Concord was built in the sixties, at the same time that many of the supposedly "aging" MDUSD schools were built. My home is well kept and has been significantly improved in the fifteen years I've lived in Concord. Why can't the district do the same thing?

Overcrowding, where it occurs, seems to be because there is no overall MDUSD facilities master plan that is being managed on the basis of well thought out goals, available distict sites and buildings, and changing demographics. This is another of what are far too many failures in leadership and accountability by the MDUSD board and administration. I would re-evaluate the current use of all district facilities (including those that were allowed to deteriorate into deplorable state and then "given away" to a private venture)and reassess their best use, prior to asking district property owners to entrust a school district with a terrible track record for even more facilities to mismanage.

7. Ten schools in the district were named "underperforming" by the state last year based on standardized test scores. The district chose not to apply for the state's Immediate Intervention for Underperforming Schools program in 1999-2000. Do you feel the district should participate in this program? What are other ways the district can work to boost performance in those schools?

I believe the district should willingly participate in the state's immediate intervention for under-performing schools program (IIUSP), since in provides additional financial resources ($50,000 and then up to $168/student) for improving the quality of education at the district's lowest performing schools. I don't know that the best course of action would be to have all 10 schools participate, since each school has its own issues and sources for its low performance. However, with the serious commitment by the district and the teacher's union (Mt. Diablo Education Association - MDEA)to this additional resource, some of our problem schools could be helped significantly.

The higher accountability and serious consequences that this program (IIUSP) has built-in is not something the MDUSD administration and MDEA should fear, if they're truly committed to improving the under-performing schools in the district.

8. What experience in developing and overseeing budgets would you bring to the school board?

I have managed and been personally accountable for multi-million dollar expense and capital budgets in the private sector. I have been successful in reducing operational costs while implementing business and technological improvements. I have more than 10 years experience working within the fiscal constraints of a budget while remaining committed to sound fiscal practices.

The current school board has now approved a 2000-2001 school budget that has a $2.3 million deficit (more likely closer to $4 million); this after being put on probation last year by the county department of education due to a lack of fiscal solvency. Spending money that the district doesn't have is a disturbing pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that has been repeatedly demonstrated by the current school board. Even with all the additional billions of dollars recently provided to public schools and MDUSD's portion of those additional revenues (more than $17 million).

9. What experience in labor relations would you bring to the school board?

I worked seven years in management within the steel industry, participating in improved labor/management relationships, quality circles, worker re-training as the result of implementing technological innovation, labor grievances, and disciplinary actions.

I appreciate the roll of collective bargaining and labor representation, but I believe in the fiduciary responsibility of any school board trustee to the district's taxpayers. I believe it is a conflict of interest to seek or accept the endorsement of any organization or bargaining unit for any of the MDUSD's various unions or any public employees. Labor contracts with the district's unions are up for re-negotiation in fiscal 2001-2002, and I believe that a school board member's responsibility is to work with the employees of the district, but not for them. A school board trustee has a responsibility to work in the best interest of the disrict's taxpayers, parents, and students. I will do that to the best of my ability.

10. How can the district attract and retain qualified teachers in all schools and in all subjects?

MDUSD teachers are already ranked among the highest paid in the state, based on the percent of district budget dedicated to salaries and benefits. I will strongly support that MDUSD teachers continue to be compensated competitively, based on individual performance. I will encourage that MDUSD teachers be eligible to receive all available incentive pay advantages (state bonuses) and opportunities that the state legislature and governor have recently enacted.

Those teachers requiring staff development and mentoring should be given ample opportunity to improve professionally. However, a merit-based system with goals, targets, and quantifiable performance improvement is not an entitlement program. Teachers, administrators, and the school board must show accountability for performance improvements and fiscal responsibility; and thereby providing the only truely stable foundation on which the district can attract and retain the very best teachers, in all subjects.