Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Paso Robles Joint Unified School District

My Three top priorities for our schools are:

1. To create a climate of mutual trust and respect between all stakeholders in the education of our children. The administration, teachers, the classified staff, and the community must work as a team with the common goal of providing a quality education to each student.

2. To allocate the district's monetary resources in the best possible ways. The money available to the schools is sufficient to educate our children if that money is used wisely. The last place cuts should be made in the budget are cuts that directly affect students in the classroom. Our mandate is to educate our children, and the education of our children occurs in the classroom. If cuts must be made in the classroom, we must first make sure that every possible cut is made outside of the classroom.

3. To remove any obstacle that may prevent parents from being a part of their children's education. I want our schools to be a friendly place where parents feel welcome and are encouraged to volunteer. I want the district to establish strong discipline policies and hold administration, students, parents, and teachers accountable for the implementation of these policies. Students should know the consequences of unacceptable behavior.

Our children are our future. The children we educate today will be the leaders in our community tomorrow. In the thirty years I spent in the classroom, I found three things made the greatest difference in the education of students: Expectations, motivation, and support, and the greatest of these is the expectations we have for our children. The motivation and support we have for children come about as a result of having high expectations of them. Students who are given reasonable but challenging expectations at school will be prepared to meet the challenges they will face in the life. They deserve nothing less than the best education we can possibly give them.