Here some of the ideas and challenges we see.
Platform Bill Landsiedel Incumbent and Trustee of LBUSD Board of Education
I have been proud to serve as a member of the LBUSD School Board for the past four years.
As a School Board member, attorney and father of two children, I have been involved in the Laguna Beach Schools for many years. I serve as the School Board representative to the School Power Endowment Board; I attend all PTA meetings to share current district issues with stakeholders. In the past, I have worked as a Professor of Law at Pacific University, and at Long Beach City College. I currently have my own law practice and act as an adviser to other attorneys, businesses and law firms.
Every student in America should graduate from his school ready for life. No exceptions. It is our responsibility to give all of our children the skills, knowledge, and preparation for life. With today's technology we have unprecedented potential to empower teachers, parents, and students to be actively engaged together.
Our children are entering into a world with less security and more worries than the one we grew up in. They will face challenges that our parents could never have envisioned, but they have opportunities previous generations could not have dreamed of. To prepare to meet the challenges of the future, we need to make the most out of opportunities' that will come. Our children must be equipped with the tools to succeed. We cannot solve the problems of tomorrow, with yesterday's technology or teaching methods.
The right to a free, public education, of the highest quality, effective, engaging and motivational programs, should be afforded to all students. This year we will be called on again to invest in our children's education. This is not a time for parents to risk the quality of our children's future. In order to provide a gold standard of education in our neighborhood schools, I urge you to vote for the Governor's tax proposal.
We are all responsible for our schools, regardless of whether we have children enrolled. This is part of a privilege and responsibility of living in an educated and civilized society. Stellar schools enrich all members of a community whether they themselves attend those schools or not because educated citizens are more likely to be responsible citizens. Educated people make better neighbors, better colleagues, and better parents. They are healthier, safer, and more productive members of our society.
During my tenure as a School Board member, all four schools have been designated as California Distinguished Schools and Laguna Beach High School earned the honor as a National Blue Ribbon School. I supported access to AP and Honors classes for all students. Skeptic's felt test scores would go down and the opposite happened! Additionally, the High School was just honored by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best in the nation.
This year we will soon announce the API (Star Testing) results for Laguna Beach Schools. The API index has dramatically risen for the past six years. When these scores are announced we will see unprecedented growth in this important measurement of quality. We will document huge gains in Special Education scores, sub groups, and with our highest achieving students.
Laguna Beach is providing world class education, using the whole child approach. We are rightfully proud of the achievement of all of our students. We are now ranked with the best schools in the nation.
LBUSD has the highest rating financially, while other districts are in financial trouble. It is important to note all of our schools were recently honored by the California Business Association as some of the best schools in the State. This being said this is not time for complacency, we now must move our students to new goals, incorporating the Core Curriculum, which will replace the California Standards. Through the use of Professional Learning Communities [PLC's], Response to Intervention [RTI], Positive Behavioral Intervention Support [PBIS], we are well positioned to integrate the new Federal Standards.
Finally, this is not the year to change the members of the current School Board. We have a relatively new Superintendent, two new Assistant Superintendents, and three new Directors. While all of these hires are outstanding, turnover on the Board would put our new leaders in a difficult position. None of the members of the current Board members have a personal agenda, nor are they one issue candidates. Neighboring School Districts are in disarray, because School Board Members came to those districts with single issue agenda, and with no understanding of the role of the School Board. This has caused disruption and excessive turnover, as well as numerous other problems in those districts.
The LBUSD School Board members act as financial stewards, managing the revenue of our schools, with prioritized allocations of expenditures to support programs that benefit the majority of students. We must focus on doing the right thing for the right reason. It is necessary to get buy in from parents, students, teachers, and finally support of the administration and the Board.
Where groups come forward with ideas for expenditures, these must be vetted and stand up the prioritization of the District. Money must exist for these suggestions, and consideration of the impact on future budgets must be factored in the analysis. LBUSD has lost millions of dollars in State revenue, and will experience more cuts next year. While some ideas, pushed by small groups, are attractive and would be nice if funding was possible, we cannot add expenditures to the budget without cutting other services. Given the conservative financial planning of the School Board, I can say that LBUSD will continue to maintain all of our excellent programs next year, while maintaining necessary reserves. It is simply not possible to add programs that are not accounted for in next year's budget, nor should we consider imprudent spending of our reserves, in this volatile financial environment.
I ask for your vote this year, to continue the success we have achieved in the recent years. I appreciate your support, and request your endorsement of my continued tenure on the Board.
Bill Landsiedel
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