Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Piedmont Unified School District

I have been motivated to run for the School Board, at this time, by the seriousness and cost of the seismic safety issues in our school buildings. Seismic design and retrofitting are my areas of professional expertise. I am a licensed engineer in California. I earned a Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Stanford University in 1989 and have been a practicing engineer in the area of seismic design, research and retrofit for more than 25 years.

I also have a long-term interest in the quality of education throughout the Piedmont school system. My son is in second grade and my daughter will be entering Havens next fall. My daughter will not graduate from high school for 14 years; therefore, I have a long-term interest in the quality of education at the schools.

My involvement in the Piedmont community has been primarily through my son's passion for baseball. I have coached his baseball teams for four years and this year will be my third year as head coach. Sports and all extra-curricular activities are a wonderful way of teaching our children teamwork, cooperation, sportsmanship and general courtesy for others, and how to apply the skills that each of us has. My wife as been a member of the Parent Board at the Lake School, where my children attended pre-school, for three years and has volunteered in the classroom at the library at Havens. I have also started an informal after-school group that I generally refer to as "Sports Camp." The formal name is the "Oakland Avenue Math, Science and Sports Camp." It started a year and a half ago with four children; now we have approximately 10 kids that join myself and another parent right after school for two hours every week.

I am a newcomer to the Piedmont political scene so my formal list of supporters is not equal to that of other candidates. My candidacy became formal on the last day of filing in early December 2005. Recently, Piedmont City Councilman Jeff Wieler announced "I'm voting for Roy Tolles" because he wants my type of expertise on the school board while we're undergoing seismic retrofitting and about to spend large amounts of your tax dollars. Other significant members of the community have told me that I have their votes but are not in a position to publicly endorse me. It's not easy entering the race late and being an "outsider" as Jeff Wieler described me.

The strength of a School Board is dependent on the dedication of members of the school board and the diversity of talents those members bring to the board. If elected, I would be the only architect or engineer on the school board. I would certainly be a dedicated member as my children will be part of the Piedmont schools for the next decade and a half. As a member of Piedmont's School Board, I believe that my expertise would be invaluable.