Maintain solvency of the Cypress School District

By Michael "Mike" Mahony

The key balancing act into the next 4 years is going to be the balance of fiscal solvency and educational opportunities for the students.

As a member of the Board, I will be in the schools regularly to see first-hand what is happening. I will seek out creative ideas from the teachers and administrators at the schools. All of these ideas will be weighed against what state law allows the Board to do and action will be taken accordingly.

The downturn affects these children both at school and at home. As a result, we will deal with many more homeless children or indigent children. Each day children show up hungry, having spent the night in a shelter or at someone else's home. This means that educators are asked to become social workers before they can tackle the education issues. Creative means will be needed to deal with these issues. A hungry child is in no position to concentrate.

I do not have a crystal ball and cannot be more specific than I have, but the problems will be dealt with using creativity, input from those on the front lines and past experience. This teamwork is going to be essential moving forward because there is no way for the Board members to know everything that is going on in the District's schools at all times. Partnering with parents, teachers, administrators and classified employees, I will keep Cypress School District as the strong educational environment it is known for and maintain fiscal solvency at the same time. We cannot sacrifice the education of the children we serve.

You can learn more about me at the Mahony for Cypress School Board website