A Fresh Perspective for the North Penn School Board

By Alex Ryabin

My desire to volunteer to serve on the North Penn School Board comes from a deep personal appreciation and commitment to public education. Over the years I have realized that much of the success I enjoy today is directly attributable to my Philadelphia Public School System education. It wasn't just the knowledge provided but also the motivation, inspiration and encouragement from my teachers. My public education allowed me to graduate at the top of my class from Northeast High School and progress to an Ivy League university. Serving on the North Penn School Board is a unique opportunity to provide a direct and immediate contribution to our community.

As a candidate, I've become increasingly disappointed to see my opponents' focus on predominantly financial issues - almost to the exclusion of everything else. Taxes and spending dominate candidates' statements with hardly a mention of education and students. Isn't the school board in a position to promote and advance education? I believe there's something inherently wrong with such mindset and, if elected, I intend to pursue the following improvements:

1. Re-focus on education and students - A cursory review of any given North Penn School Board meeting agenda or minutes reveals that as many as half of the agenda items have no direct link to education or the students. That should not be the case. Education and the district's students should be first and foremost.

There's a lot to cover in that area. The North Penn School District set a goal to be in the top 5% of all school districts in Pennsylvania by 2014. We need to be in the top 25 but, today, we're not even close. That goal is unattainable unless we close the achievement gap for several ethnic groups and economically disadvantaged students at a much faster rate than we're doing today. We're also not fully meeting the needs of special education and mentally gifted students. There's a lot do. Education and students should be front and center on any agenda.

2. Informed decision making - School board members are tasked with making dozens of decisions every month. Most of those decisions are not easy. It's impossible to make good, sound decisions without proper input. It's impossible to make sound decisions without meeting with those one represents.

I plan on meeting with parents, teachers, Home and School Associations, the teacher's union, the administration, and other groups on a regular basis. I'll seek to learn what's important to them, hear about their successes and challenges and evaluate effectiveness of decisions made in the past. I'll be present at school and district events and talking to those on the "front lines" involved in our children's education.

3. Purposeful and systematic process for spending requests - This contest is saturated with claims of superior budgetary responsibility and fiscal conservatism. The terms are used so frequently as to lose their meaning. Many tout it but none share how they actually do it. My approach consists of four steps:

• Define criteria for what should and should not be funded.
• Develop a process to stack rank expenditure requests that passed the initial criteria.
• Tie each and every expenditure request to one of North Penn School District's published goals.
• Document and publish the process and decisions made.

We're doing well but there's a lot of room for improvement. We need a fresh perspective and new ideas on the North Penn School Board to break through "business as usual" and stagnant thinking. I will provide the necessary focus on the students, a passion for their education, commitment to the job, and leadership to address the most complex of problems. Our children's education is as great as we make it.

On November 3rd, please cast a vote for me - Alex Ryabin - and we'll deliver true excellence in education that our children deserve.