My Qualifications And Goal

By Jan Frelick

This is a summary of my background in the public schools and legislative research I have conducted on my own.

For the last twenty years, I have been working with computers at Hewlett-Packard and have taken, over several years, numerous college computer classes. This made me realize that education is a great benefit to everyone, as it clearly helped me in obtaining better positions within HP. I want students to be able to experience the very best education possible. I'm running for this position because I plan to help our school district provide the best programs, facilities and personnel available, which will then allow students to have the opportunity to indeed receive the best education.

I have a lengthy background in reading legislation that directly affects California education. I attended numerous education hearings at the State Capitol from the years 1995 through 1997. During this time I worked closely with Assemblyman Steve Baldwin who was Education Chair of the State of California at the time. I read much of the legislation myself and feel confident that I am qualified to find the real impact of the legislation on our education system. I feel this experience is a bonus that will help me greatly in being a positive contributor on the School Board of Black Oak Mine School District.

My plan is (and I have already begun) to interview a sampling of employees, parents and students. From these interviews, I hope to uncover the issues that each of them feel are important. Once the issues are on the table, the plan is to begin finding the root cause of the problems and then to come up with a plan to correct them.

From my research of California education legislation I have come to believe that it is important for more people involved in our education process to understand the laws that are being authored and sponsored at the State Capitol. Once the understanding is there, those same people can then phone and write their State Senators and Assemblymen on their viewpoint of the legislation before it becomes law. This does make a very big difference in whether a good law is passed versus one that "sounds good", but may, in fact have a negative impact on our children and society in general.

My son, who is attending college now, attended Northside Middle School and then Golden Sierra High School. I was on the Site Council at Golden Sierra for two terms, and through this experience, I feel that higher expectations lead to higher performance. I would like the opportunity as a school board member to make a difference in your children's education.