Candidate for
Board Member; San Carlos School District

The San Carlos School District has had continually high test scores, significant community engagement, strong teachers and administrators, and a focus on the "whole child" with programs that go beyond the basics. In many ways, our schools are models for successful public education. Despite the worse economic crisis in this State's history, the San Carlos School District (and it's School Board) accomplished quite a bit over the last four years, including:

- Hired an outstanding Superintendent in Dr. Craig Baker
- Navigated through this financial crisis with relatively modest cuts to core programs, particularly as one compares San Carlos to many other districts who have shortened the school year, cut music and other programs, and created much larger class sizes
- Passed two parcel taxes, Measure B and Measure A (the renewal of Measure D)
- Secured new grants and created new partnerships with community organizations for other sources of funds and programs
- Supported the amazing growth of the San Carlos Educational Foundation, whose fundraising grew from $900K in 2006/2007 to over $2 million this past year
- Launched the SCSD "enterprise" programs, including the SMART-E summer school and afterschool programs, to both support the District financially as well as provide enhanced programs to students
- Implemented a successful boundary change to balance enrollment among the elementary schools
- Significantly improved district communication through our new website, social media presence (e.g., Facebook and Twitter), and more consistent use of e-mail
- Worked with the Charter Learning Center to transition to school to a separate 501(c)3 legal entity
- Increased focus on staff professional development
- Completely revamped the District's Special Education program to best serve eligible children
- Consolidated our hot lunch program under one vendor for all schools which will serve healthy, environmentally-friendly, lunches
- Updated key District policies, including multimedia use in the classroom, allergy management, animals in classrooms, independent study, outside observation, fundraising and gifts, bullying, and wellness
- Finished major construction projects from Measure E bond

However, we are not without our issues and areas for improvement. Despite all that we have accomplished, there is no shortage of areas to work on. In addition to addressing the "macro" issue of the broken state system for education, we have a number of issues to focus on here in San Carlos.

Some of these issues are endemic to the current state of public education or to the specific challenges we face in California because of the broken educational finance system. Other challenges have emerged because we are the victims of our own success -- more and more young families are moving to San Carlos primarily because of the reputation of the schools. While that is a generally enviable position, it has caused great strain in areas of capacity, traffic, and safety.

Some of the areas that I believe we need to address in the next few years include:

Managing Our Budget -- There's no denying we're not "out of the woods" yet with regard to finances. There are still many uncertainties with respect to the state budget, so I predict we will continue to focus a lot of energy on managing our resources and this uncertainty. And hopefully we will be in a position to restore some of the programs and other investments that had to be trimmed back over the last four years.

Building a 21st Century Education -- a lot of energy needs to be spent on defining exactly what is a 21st Century Education, how do we better incorporate technology (including the use of electronic textbooks), and more appropriately assess children consistent with our "whole child" mission.

Need for More Facilities -- there is no denying that we're packed in our schools (and proposed new developments in San Carlos will only make this worse). We need more space -- an expansion of existing school sites and/or the building of a new school. Of course, these ventures require money, so we need to figure out a prudent and practical path for adding significant capacity in our school district.

Improving Transportation and Safety -- a corollary effect of greater capacity utilization has been the significant worsening of car traffic at a number of school sites. We need to pilot bus services and find creative solutions with the city to improve traffic flow and enhance safety for students, staff, and parents alike.

Improving Communications -- we need to better institutionalize consistent, multi-touch, communication to our parents and other constituents to ensure that we have the continued involvement and support of our community.

I am confident that Dr. Baker and his team, with the support of the School Board, can address all of these issues. I also believe that my experience, judgment, and leadership will help ensure we accomplish all of this and more to best serve all of our students.