|
This information is provided by the candidate
Statement of Political Philosophy: Gilbert G. García, Ph.D., Vice President, Governing Board of Trustees, Rowland Unified School District
I have chosen to run for reelection because I believe that I have many positive contributions left to make as a Rowland School Board Member. We're in the most challenging of fiscal times and experience in school governance is more important than ever in our community's school board election. I no longer have any of my own children in school, but do have several nieces and nephews that attend Rowland schools. I was urged by my oldest daughter to run for this office eight years ago. My youngest daughter was at Rowland High School at the time. I felt that the school district needed new leadership, and I ran and was elected in 2001. I believe my service and voting record during my two terms serve to confirm that I have indeed made many positive contributions. I am capable of many more. A third term would allow me the opportunity to continue this important community service. I believe I have brought various strengths over the past eight years to the Rowland School Board, and that I have also developed many more while in office.
- I now have eight years experience serving on the Board. Experience is indeed important. My second term brought us a new and very successful superintendent, a second bond program to continue the modernization of our schools, a new Chief of Police, a reorganized and post certified police department, partnerships with foundations that have provided funding to help with staff development, increased student achievement, more distinguished schools, two more Blue Ribbon schools, two K-8 smaller learning communities created to help stem the tide of declining enrollment, and a comprehensive strategic plan to help Rowland Unified School District attain the excellence that we are striving to attain.
- I have completed a Masters in Governance program sponsored by the California School Boards Association to improve my ability to effectively participate in the governance of the district.
- Certainly my extensive curriculum background has been a definitive strength in helping to deal with assessment issues, English learner issues, kindergarten issues, and staff development issues that have arisen during my tenure.
- I have been able to utilize an ability to carefully listen to and evaluate all sides of an issue, investigate, and then vote accordingly. Doing more listening than talking is a strength that has been quite valuable during budget cutting sessions, employee negotiations, teacher rep and school site meetings, specially-called stakeholder meetings, discussions with the Superintendent, cabinet members and administrators, closed sessions, and prior to and during Board meetings. Listening has been one of my very trusted strengths in doing the work of the Board.
- I have always been willing to listen to all stakeholders that wish to lobby and discuss any cause or concern they have regarding policies and practices of the school district. I believe that this is an obligation I have to answer to the community that elected me.
- I am not an expert in budgets, but because of a career that demanded budget expertise, I have been able to apply that expertise to performing one of the most important jobs entrusted to the Board, and that is to protect the fiscal solvency of the District. I very near the completion of a California certificate program for training school district Chief Business Officers. This additional expertise is very important in these dire fiscal times. This additional schooling will inform and help guide my fiscal decisions. These decisions are extremely important today as budget challenges continue to plague our state, and our local schools. Budget cuts are not popular, nor are they easy, but I have supported doing what was necessary to assure our fiscal solvency. Rowland Unified School District is still fiscally solvent.
From my perspective, the most pressing problems facing the District include some of the following issues:
- Declining enrollment and the fiscal implications that this has had over the past few years.
We must continue to increase school achievement, but we are now greatly challenged to meet the demands of the federal mandates of No Child Left Behind, especially the escalating levels of proficiency that are required to avert program improvement status. This federal law greatly challenges all school districts' efforts to maintain programs and accelerate academic achievement in this extremely dire fiscal environment. We must continue to seek recognition for our accomplishments and market the district to combat misconceptions. We have a great community and a great school district. We now have a Public Relations Officer in Gina Ward who has done a superb job of positively marketing the district and seeing to it that the district is recognized for all the positive things that happen throughout the district throughout the year. We have created two K-8 sites with smaller learning communities to help stem this loss of students. We have given many of our sites more curb appeal, added state-of-the-art tracks and fields at our high schools, and continued the modernization of our schools. We've augmented our outreach to parents in creative ways. We have a new strategic plan and have begun our efforts to implement the strategies that this document includes. We also continue to lobby legislators and promote policies that will mitigate the loss of students. My election to the position of Vice President of the Los Angeles County School Trustees Association has placed me in a unique position of being able in help move opposition to open enrollment forward on several fronts with colleagues on other school boards, and the Executive Board of LACSTA has taken an oppose position to this expansion..
- State budget limitations, our constant effort to remain fair to our employees and our needed programs, while being realistic when it comes to the constant fiscal shortfalls we have experienced throughout my tenure on the Board. This condition has no immediate end in sight, especially with so many additional factors contributing to a shrinking pocketbook for everyone.
This problem will continue for several years to come and has no foreseeable solution. We must have the cooperation of the governor and the legislature to move forward to alleviate the school funding dilemma, but nothing will happen without the state's economic solvency that schools depend upon. This factor is tantamount if we are ever to make progress in this most crucial area of need.
- Challenges that we face with containing health care costs and finding ways of reducing the burden of providing these benefits to our employees.
This, of course, is controlled by many factors that are well beyond our power to control, but that does not mean that we cannot be vigilant and continue to support the district committee that is charged with the task of reviewing and recommending future action in this arena. Certainly, there are many challenges ahead on health care issues, and President Obama is leading the charge.
- Challenges that we all face under NCLB and the federal sanctions that are possible when we do not meet our achievement goals, especially when it comes to the achievement of English learners since they represent almost a third of our enrollment.
I have been personally involved in the formulation of district plans for the implementation of training our ELD leads, which I know has made a difference in the achievement of our English learners. We now have the expertise and financial support of the Costen Group and the Ball Foundation to assist with the professional development of our teaching staff. The task of monitoring student achievement and adjusting instruction is central to accomplishing the goals of NCLB. The Board must stay informed and be proactive in monitoring and preserving our autonomy.
- Challenges in maintaining our many programs that we know help us sustain our levels of achievement due to reduced revenue.
In spite of past budget cuts, we have been able to maintain most of our instructional programs and I would remain committed to maintaining these programs, for achievement of our students would be compromised without them. Wholesale cutting of programs is not the course of action we want to take in light of the achievement requirements of NCLB. We must, however, be more creative in finding alternative funding sources for some programs, especially for our Response to Intervention (RtI). We are supported by the For Us Foundation and by our professional development partners already mentioned, but we need much more support in the form of new revenue sources.
- The challenge of realizing the modernization or our schools.
Our current challenge is to continue our modernization efforts and accomplish our facility enhancements. We must complete the charge of our community to assure the future comfort and efficiency of our school facilities. We have been and will continue to be the guardians and the administrators of these efforts.
- Maintaining the highest level of school safety in this environment of terrorism and the ubiquitous possibility of natural disaster.
This is a constant challenge in today's environment, and not easily accomplished. We have added security cameras, a communication system that is state of the art, we maintain strict adherence to the education code in matters of school safety, we maintain our school police force that has been completely reorganized and whose members are accomplishing post certification, and constantly test our response to disasters like earthquakes by conducting drills; however, we can never be too vigilant in this era of terrorism. School safety must remain high on our priority list and it will always remain high on mine.
I have had an opportunity to accomplish many of my goals during my tenure on the Board. I have served my community in a manner that I envisioned when I initially ran for the Board. It is both time intensive and personally gratifying knowing that you are contributing to our democracy in an active and positive way. School Boards are extremely important in our democratic process at the local level, and here in Rowland Heights, and with the absence of a local city government, I believe that this elected body is even more important. I have gained tremendous insights into the process of school governance, and have enhanced my personal leadership skills by serving for eight years and continuing my personal lifelong education. The Board faces many pressing challenges. Once a challenge is overcome, others arise and demand our attention. We have many more to face, and the fiscal challenges will loom quite large in the future. Therefore, I must emphasize how important experience is to effectively deal with these challenges.
I believe that the Board has the responsibility to set policy, to establish a Board vision, to hire and evaluate the Superintendent, and to respond to all stakeholders in the conduct of Board business. Board members act as a Board and not individually; however, each Board member has the responsibility to vote their personal beliefs in matters that come before the Board. The will of the Board is always the congruence of the collective opinions and eventual votes cast by the Members of the Board. The decisions of the Board should represent informed decisions based on existing policy, the education code, and what is right. What is right must never be compromised. Good and healthy Superintendent and Board relations are critical ingredients in the effective administration of the schools. Clearly, Boards decide the what, and Superintendents decide the how. Good policy must be supported by great implementation, and good policy is the work of the Board. I firmly believe that I have positively participated for the past eight years on Rowland's School Board always voting for what I believed to be right. I believe that I have positively helped lead us towards the excellence to which we aspire.
|
![[photo]](garcia_gg.jpg)
