League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Trustee; Santa Clara Unified School District; Trustee Area 3

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Funding, Instruction, Future Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. How would you determine that the schools are using federal, state, and local funds wisely and fairly and how would you report your findings to the community? Answer from Adela Saadat: I would take a good hard look at expenditures that are not directly benefiting students. A good baseline comparison would be to contrast SCUSD with districts that are similar in student diversity and funding. Then the next step is to do a cost-benefit analysis, is our school district getting the best use out of our money? Is there wastage and duplication that can be eliminated? Are there federal, state and local funds or grants available that can tapped? Are there foundations with whom partnerships can be formed to benefit our children? All such funds will be pushed into schools to directly benefit our children. I will hold monthly meetings in an easily accessible place like a coffee shop where I am available for everyone. My email will be accessible to everyone. I want to get input from parents, teachers, support staff, in short anyone connected with educating our children. I would break down the jargon into simple language so all issues are easy to understand. I am committed to open governance and transparency in communication, as we are all stakeholders in our children's future. 2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students? Answer from Adela Saadat: No. Currently, due to federal and state mandates we are focusing most of our energy on students who are below grade level. We have to attend to these students but at the same time we cannot afford to neglect our children who are at proficient or advanced level. I believe in offering diverse and alternative educational options to our students.We can identify and form partnerships with foundations that offer grants and support for specific enrichment programs. We are in the heart of Silicon Valley with easy access to several world class universities and companies who might be interested in helping school districts that are results oriented and that show a capacity for improvement. We need to tap into a diverse and wide base of support to help our diverse student body. 3. Where do want the district to be 5 years from now? What steps should the district take to get there? Answer from Adela Saadat: At the very least, all students need to be at or above grade level. We need to start spreading out our in-district success stories to as many schools as possible so students have a strong educational foundation. At the same time, to support our teachers and address our achievement gap, we need to tap into and attract additional funding through grants, at both local and national level, to offer enrichment and support programs. We need to offer positive reinforcement and role models to our kids. Parents and teachers are a team. Neither can be effective without the other. All parents, community members, teachers, and support staff have to work together for our children as they are our future. Our schools can become effective and reach the highest performance level only with a very wide support base from all the community members. The district needs to reach out and solicit input from the community at large, because I believe that community wide issues need community wide solutions. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.