Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District

My name is Bradley Bartz. I am a 37 year old solar energy professional (http://www.abcsolar.com) and textile exporter living in Rancho Palos Verdes with my wife and two young children. I am writing this to tell you why you should vote for me on November 4, 2003. I am asking for your vote and support.

My first experience in operating an educational facility was from 1986 to 1989 at Telemarketing Visions Institute, (TVI) a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) company with a singular mission of teaching telemarketing skills to blind folks to get jobs. My role was as founder, director and teacher. TVI trained and placed 6 blind persons and successfully placed them with a variety of firms, including IBM. IBM donated talking computers and the California Department of Rehabilitation granted vendor status to our efforts.

At TVI I learned to incorporate the resources of Loyola Marymount University in the pursuit of our mission. From professors on our board of directors to students doing case studies to help accelerate execution. A total of 16 students across strategic planning, public relations, and financial planning courses. This early experience in education taught me the value of student labor in pursuing an educational mission. The students learned practical, real-world application of the theories being taught in school and TVI would not have been as effective without Loyola Marymount University's involvement

In 1989 I moved to Japan. I began my overseas career as an English Teacher to Japanese businessmen and women. In 1991 I started an Internet company and regularly gave lectures to the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, and many other organizations. These lectures focused on educating my audience about the Internet and business strategy. In 1995, along with my other ventures, I launched a successful computer training school in Tokyo. My experience in entrepreneurial education will be of great value to the Palos Verdes Unified School District.

My family moved back to Palos Verdes in 1998. Our children were 3 and 5 at the time. It was time for them to learn English and learn creative and dynamic thought. The Palos Verdes School District and my local family were the driving decision to locate here. My experience in being educated in Palos Verdes was excellent. I was grateful to be in the mentally gifted minor programs of the time. I excelled in math and communication. It was the puberty years in jr. high and high school that showed me that even smart kids could get lost in the cracks. I know my experience and drive will benefit your children's education.

Oh, did I mention that my son was born with a bilateral cleft-palette? This event and the journey of my son's life have also uniquely qualified me in being your school board member in Palos Verdes. My previous experience in direct teaching of blind folks taught me to push them hard and not allow their disability to give them any excuse for not working their tails off. This was because the IQ level of my blind students was extremely high. In my son's case, the shock of his physical deformity came to comfort with the knowledge of the power of plastic surgery. As my son grew, we came to know that he is also troubled with Autism and a PVPUSD tested IQ of 70.

For parents of special needs children the interaction with the school and school district is extremely complex, aggravating and sometimes very painful. We have to have IEP meetings to design and monitor an "individualized education plan" for our disabled kids. These IEP meetings can last for many hours and sometimes many days. A table of school district employees; in our case I think the average IEP had 8 teachers, administrators and specialists. As a parent I discovered that I had to study the laws, I had to study the system, I had to know what the options are for remedial education for my son.

As you may have gathered from above, I am a very on-the-job hands-on learner. I became a volunteer IEP advocate and have done IEP meetings in Palos Verdes for many families and off the hill I volunteer to do IEP's in LAUSD and the Santa Monica School Districts. My main role in these meetings is to ensure the parents of the disabled child comes to the meeting prepared, has an agenda, that the proceedings remain civil and productive and most important to me that the meeting is successful for both parties.

The dozens of IEP meetings I have done as a parent and volunteer have given me a unique look at the workings of our School District. I know that my skills can be put to use by removing the need for lawyers in our PVPUSD special education programs. I am interested in pursuing this goal not only for the purpose of saving $500,000 dollars a year, but more to learn how to relieve the burden of the parents of kids with disabilities so that they can worry about their life, not how to advocate for their kids in over-taxing IEP meetings.

I am proud to now be the chairman of the Palos Verdes Special Education Foundation (PVPSEF), an organization started years prior to my joining. The PVPSEF is proud to donate books, copy machines, computers and other resources directly to PVPUSD special education teachers. When the special ed kids come up and thank me personally I know they know we love them. Our efforts can be seen at http://www.PVparents.com. I encourage you to visit this website and please tell the parent's of special needs kids that you know. It takes a community to educate all children.

I want to tell you so much more about my life and experience and will do so in the coming days, weeks and months of this campaign. I am asking for your vote on November 4, 2003. I am asking for your support. I am asking for your neighbor's vote. I hope you will discuss the issues and see that fresh ideas are needed to continue to ensure PVPUSD's success with all of our children.

It is not too early to sign up and support the Brad Bartz campaign. Email me today at Brad@Bartz.com. We need to get the message out that I WILL:

Further the understanding of special education Get more power to the working school level Put all non-classified documents online for your review, Click Here to search the PVPUSD policies. Find money without raising taxes Promote the individual education needs of each student. Promote the needs of YOUR child. Lobby hard for fair funding for our schools Fight hard to get private school students back in our schools Thank you so much for your time and consideration, I remain,

Sincerely yours,

Bradley L. Bartz PVPUSD Candidate PH: 310-373-3169