Qualifications Grow From Experience and Knowledge of the Issues

By Jay Shapiro

I'm qualified because of what I've done in the past and because I'm aware of our future challenges

Through this hard work, I've learned that there are serious issues that we will confront over the next three years. The greatest challenge to our high performing district is to learn how to improve. We should not be satisfied with maintaining the status quo, as good that might be. Nor is it advisable to change solely for the sake of change. We must listen to our staff and our administrators and provide them with the tools to adapt to the changing needs of education and to react appropriately. It is not enough to ask what we do well. We should look to where we need improvement and our self-evaluations should be on all levels. I stress that our assessment should have one measure-what we do in Chappaqua now, and what we can do better. Another significant challenge is how we can accomplish our goal of improvement while remaining fiscally responsible. My definition of fiscal responsibility is to spend money effectively, recognizing that excellence comes with its costs. Much has been done in the district to attune the administrators to the fiscal issues that are considered by the Board in the budget process. The goal of fiscal responsibility can only be attained through a team effort. The 5.1% budget to budget increase that we've proposed for this year exemplifies that team effort. I also believe that we need to continue our efforts to use technology to enhance the delivery of learning. Over the years, I've had the opportunity to lecture children on the use of the Internet. It is startling to see how computer literacy comes at such an early age. Our educators have to work with our students to take advantage of technology and the Board of Education must be cognizant of the financial considerations that are necessary to accomplish these goals. Consequently, we should strive to understand how technology can be used to deliver education effectively.