Candidate for
Board Member; Fullerton Joint Union High School District

When I look to my goals as Board Member, I reflect on the District Board Policy. This policy states that one of the duties of the Board of Trustees is, "To maintain for the District a sound and superior school system with respect to range and scope, breadth and quality, school plan and equipment, personnel; and to adapt the educational program, as far as possible, to the needs, interests, aptitudes, abilities and capacities of all youth." I have interpreted this to mean that I should work to provide the highest quality educational programs for all of our youth, every day, in every classroom. I believe that this District has accomplished this by providing an award-winning educational program that is second to none in this area. Decisions that were made during my service on the Board, beginning in the mid-1980's, have set this District apart as one of choice and on the course to its present quality and excellence.

It is of critical importance to maintain and improve upon the quality of educational programs that set the District apart from others, and create a climate that encourages families to move into our District or come through inter-district permits. It also encourages the best and brightest teacher candidates to apply for positions.

Most school districts, locally and throughout the State, have already, or are in the process, of negotiating furlough days and/or salary reductions, and/or reductions in the Total Compensation Package for staff. Our District, through the thoughtful stewardship by the Board for many years, has avoided drastic cuts that would have only served to reduce the educational opportunities at our schools and for our over 15,000 students.

District success has started with the strength, experience, and continuity of the Board. With this continuity, we have been able to deal fairly with difficult decisions involving students and staff for many years. This has resulted in a number of multi-year contracts, which enables the staff to teach the students rather than worrying about negotiations.

The decisions over the next 10 months, including dealing with our response to the State fiscal crises and contract negotiations, will set the stage for what the District will be in the next 25 years. Dealing with these challenges will take strong and experienced leadership by the Board.

The coming year will require highly ethical, strong and stable leadership to weather the financial storm and resulting morale issues, while maintaining our District as one of quality apart from others. Truly understanding core values of our District is essential to achieving this. We must maintain the quality of our Core program and understand all the trade-offs that go into dealing with the various budgetary demands vs. the instructional demands.

Experience, to cope with the issues, is essential to success. Now is not the time for changing leadership simply for sake of change. This will slow the leadership by the "on the job training" that will be required of a new Board Member. The learning curve for a Board member is steep under ordinary times in dealing with the historical perspective, a new language, and a prior knowledge of handling problems. It is only made more difficult, in these critical times, to provide the continuity to be able to deal with critical problems immediately after the election. Higher education level experience or industry experience isn't easily transferable.

If the District students were failing or in organizational or financial disarray, one could make the argument for a change. But, that is not the case with the Fullerton Joint Union High School District. The educational program is the envy of Districts across the state, and according to Moody's Financial Services, "The District manages its funds as well as any school district in America." There are no issues that justify a change in leadership.

The most common element that all successful Districts have in common is stability of leadership at the Board level. The District successes, in addition to those attributable to a strong, stable Board, are the reflection of the quality of the staff and the families and communities that are served.