Candidate for
Board Member; Anaheim Union High School District

I have lived in the city of Anaheim the last nine years, the last 40 years in the Anaheim/Garden Grove area and I love this city.

My wife Michelle and I, our six children, Roselie, Annie, Jason, Michelle, Joe, and Justin enjoy the many advantages of living in the city of Anaheim.

In turn, our family gives back to our community when we can. Either by donating clothes to non-profit organizations or churches, volunteering our time and money for school and community sports programs, or voting for issues or candidates that we feel would make our community a better place, we try to help our community.

At home, we are actively instilling the values of being good citizens. We encourage our children to be owners of their own destiny by instilling in them the value of an education and the means to achieve the best education our country can offer.

Every night, our children read 20 minutes a day. Everyday our children complete an assignment from their tutor. Everyday, we make sure our children's homework is complete and everyday we know our children learned something valuable.

Yet, despite our work and commitment for our own children, I believe that the assertion that "parental participation" is the only way to achieve success in flat out wrong. I believe that when we say that "parental participation" is a part of the puzzle of student achievement we focus on something which we may not be able to fix and avoid attending to the things we can fix.

How can we fix our public schools? How can we improve student achievement?

Well I believe we cannot fix our schools by denouncing "No Child Left Behind" because of the notion that it's not fair to teachers, an inadequate gauge of student knowledge or it encourages some districts to "teach to the test." It's working and it's working with less educational funding.

We need to do what works in schools that have shown significant improvement in similar communities; we need to hire and retain teachers who set high expectations, those who reach, engage and inspire students to be the best.

Students must know the basics first and then advance when ready. We cannot or should not throw unprepared students in a class (e.g. 8th Grade Algebra district requirement) that sets them up for mediocrity or failure.

Moreover,I seem to be the only candidate that truly supports NCLB or the "Race To The Top" (RTTT) goals without any reservation in them.

Who can't support the RTTT goals? Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace; Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals; Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and Turning around our lowest-performing schools.

I'm a candidate for Anaheim Union High School District because I truly believe that our students' interests should be second to none, not second to special interests.