Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Manteca Unified School District; Trustee Area 1

My involvement in Manteca schools all started from being a parent of a daughter and son in the school system some eight years ago. The growth, changes and challenges facing Manteca have been fast-paced and the district must change to meet new and expanded needs. The foundation of my campaign is community and parent involvement. School district business must be open and I will do all I can to encourage participation of all parents of all communities. Board decisions must be heavily influenced by the needs of the students, not by political ideas and opinions of the board member. Board members need to go to the community and learn the desires and needs of all students in all areas, not be oriented toward just certain areas or old ideas just because they have always worked in the past. Nothing is more important than the education of our children and when elected I will take this trust very seriously and work full-time to help improve our schools and meet the challenge of rapid growth. We also must challenge and motivate our children to want to succeed, and we need to improve counseling information and programs to encourage and help more Manteca graduates to attend college to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world wide technical environment. With no middle schools, Manteca needs to develop a program to bridge students' adjustment from 8th to 9th grade so more student time can be spent in learning and less in orientation at the high school level. Fewer mandatory classes and more class selection, especially GATE and AP classes, are needed at the high school level. All students must be given all the resources neccessary to learn to read from the first day of school. Fiscal responsibility requires new classroom construction and support receive first priority in a time of fast growth. Funding must be by need not by political influence.