Candidate for
Board Member; Palo Alto Unified School District

Here is my personal philosophy about being a School Board member and how I will make decisions:

Roles and responsibilities

• The Board has only one direct report and that is the Superintendent. I will not bypass him/her and go to his subordinates without having complete approval from him/her. I will not make time consuming demands on his/her staff. Only the Board can.
• The Board sets policy, not the Superintendent.
• The Superintendent is in charge of operational issues, not the Board

• I will be inclusive and value the opinions of my peers on the Board, the Superintendent, the management staff, the teachers, the employees, and the community
• I will seek to find common grounds between opposite point of views, and I will facilitate discussions that lead to compromises on both sides that ultimately make sense.
• I will make decisions based on what I genuinely believe is in the best long-term interest of the community, and of course based on my personal value system when confronted with sensitive issues. My objective is to contribute to making our community even better.

• Although I will represent the interests of the School District, for me "community" means a lot more. It also includes the cities in our district (Palo Alto, Los Altos Hills and Stanford), the children who come to PAUSD from East Palo Alto through the VTP program, and our local partners such as the Foothill De-Anza Community College.
• I will seek synergies with our cities and our partners
• I will seek fairness for all. We do not need to have a rivalry between North and South Palo Alto; or between Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills. We are all part of the same community, and we have much better things to do.

• I will not be afraid to take a stand, even if the wind is blowing in the opposite direction. I will not try to please everybody all the time. Please see on this site my Position Paper on Intelligent Design for a real world example
• I will seek transparency in decision making processes
• I will be decisive. There will always be more data to analyze, but at some point in time, you must draw a line and make a move. Sometimes an imperfect decision is a lot better than inaction.
• I will be concise. Most school board meetings across the nation last two to three hours. Why should ours last six? I used to be a Toastmaster, I know that a lot can be said in three minutes.
• Whenever I make a mistake, I will admit it

• Civility in public affairs (and elsewhere) is a must!