Candidate for
Member, Board of Education; Long Beach Unified School District; District 3

The educational environment is complex. While it is inextricably tied to issues of economics, the underlying issues of curriculum and character building are the heart beat.

Every decision-from how many schools to build, what kind of schools, how much they should cost, who should build them-must take into account the affect on learning. This must be at the heart of school policy-making.

Long Beach Unified School District is faced with many difficult issues: How to teach effectively in a multi-lingual environment; How to maintain neighborhood schools while insuring that we do not revisit the errors of the nation's past - schools that were separate and unequal. It will be vitally important to have a representative who has the historical perspective and the related formal training to insure that we keep the path of education as one that is rich and vital for all.

Students must be made to feel safe. It is vital to learning. They must also be made to understand the social responsibility that learning imposes. An educator must be unequivocably clear on these matters if we are to produce a generation of learners and responsible citizens.