Candidate for
Board Member; Los Altos School District

Despite our aging schools (some over 50 years old) and State funding levels among the lowest in Santa Clara County, our District has excelled in providing our children with the best possible eduction program. Over the last 3 years, the Los Altos School District has been the top performing district in the State of California, in terms of the STAR testing initiated 3 years ago (Yes, we have been first in every year of the test).

We have accomplished this by virtue of the best staff of eductional professionals in the State - including our Superintentdent (twice named Superintendent of the year for the State of California), our Assistant Superintendents for Curriculum and Finance, our outstanding Principals, and most of all our outstanding staff of teachers, aides, and key personnel (school secretaries, custodians, etc.) at each of our school sites.

We also have a solid enrichment programs for our children ONLY by virtue of local funding from our parcel tax, our outstanding Educational Foundation, the the PTA's at each of our schools. It is this community and parental support, earned by the results of the educational program, that give the District its special character, and one which we must preserve.

We are embarked on a major renovation program for our schools, and must successfully complete this project, while continuing to improve our educational program - a tall order. It is the job of the Board to assure that this is accomplished by providing the leadership to find the construction personnel that can perform as well as our education professionals, leaving the latter to educated our children in the way we, in the District, have become accustomed.

It is also essential that we open our 9th school, in order to further enhance our educational program, as research has clearly shown that overall school size is as important, and in a certain range more important, than class size.

Our community and particularly our parents, through outstanding support of the schools via the PTA's, and the Parcel Tax and the Construction Bonds passed in recent years, should demand great things from the District, and we have delivered. We must continue that tradition by working to complete the construction project on schedule and in budget (with our revised plan), while continuing to improve our educational program by supporting and retaining our staff of teachers, principals and administration. This is a time for experience, and a time to reconfirm the job done to date, and the plan to continue this level of excellence in the future.