Candidate for
School Director; Colonial School District; 4 Year Term

I believe that School Board Directors should play an active role in the community. This isn't to say that I expect them to be at every event that is run throughout the district. However, in my six years of being very active in Whitemarsh Elementary and Colonial Elementary I have only seen 1 Board member at any PTO meeting and that was to explain Act 1 when they wanted us to vote against it.

Yes, residents are invited to attend the Board's meetings however, I think that Board members would understand a lot more about the issues that are concerning parents if they made themselves more available at school events and created opportunities to speak with residents and parents outside of a formal discussion.

Currently only two Board members have children that are attending Colonial Schools, and one of those members just joined the Board last Winter. I am running to bring an active parent perspective to the Board and a renewed focus on how we are spending tax payer dollars.

For 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, the Board is spending 63% or $8.5 million of its $13 million reserves (savings) to balance its budget. This leaves the district with only $4 million in reserves. For the 2008-09 school year, tax assessment income decreased $13.9 million, yet the Board increased spending for the same time period by 11%. Our district faces significant financial hurdles over the next few years and a greater focus on spending is needed.

There are a lot of opportunities to reduce spending by looking at what may appear to be small amounts of money but when added together save significant dollars that someone who does not have children in the schools wouldn't know about. For example, there are many ways to go paperless and reduce costs. This year I received 3 separate mailings with 5 pages of the same transportation information and 2 copies of the same school handbook. Over the last 4 years, the Board spent $82,437.91 on informational mailings to residents right before election days. Its effectively using taxpayer dollars for campaign literature to promote the incumbent Board and it's expensive and not appropriate. In addition, the current Board about $6,000 annually at an offsite retreat at a local Conference/Golf facility. Spending like this under normal circumstances is questionable and even more alarming in today's current economic environment.

With my work experience, an MBA and six years of volunteering in school I have the right combination of skills to develop positive results for the District.