Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Paso Robles Joint Unified School District

Biography Chris Bausch, Candidate for Paso Robles School Board, 2012

A Brief Summary: I have been a Paso Robles Schools parent since 1988. I began my service in 1991 by serving on School Site Council for Pat Butler Elementary. I have served or volunteered ever since in a variety of roles. Four of our children went on from Paso High to very successful academic and professional careers. Our youngest son is an 8th Grader in Flamson's Dual Immersion Program and will attend Paso High next year. Today, I serve as Chairperson of the School Site Council for Flamson Middle School. I am a participating member of the District Parent Council as well as the PRJUSD Budget Advisory Committee.

I offer over twenty-five years of solid business experience that will contribute to keeping our schools operating under local control. In a difficult financial situation, I am a voice of reason. While I still have much to learn, my previous service to our schools as a volunteer, my service on many different boards of directors and my experience running several businesses often simultaneously will allow me to quickly bring a unique perspective to the task of restoring faith and confidence in Paso Robles schools. My goal is not to run the schools but to see that our schools are well run.

The Details: I was born in the City of Los Angeles growing up with six sisters and one brother in the small suburb of Hacienda Heights--very similar in many ways back then to the Paso Robles we love today. As kids, we rode a roller coaster of austerity to prosperity to austerity as my entrepreneurial father's businesses succeeded or not. Whenever possible, I spent weekends and summers working at his store cleaning bathrooms, sweeping the aisles, washing and changing the oil of the delivery trucks, learning to wait on customers, and generally absorbing my dad's common sense approach to running a small business.

Through most of my early years, my mom taught either 1st Grade or an EMR class that I fondly remember helping in after school. I still recall several of her students, especially the teenagers. When one of my dad's businesses took off, mom was able to retire from teaching public school but it was her sacrifice and dedication to teaching that often kept the bills paid during the lean times. I know first-hand how important schools are to the livelihoods of the families who clean, staff, teach and administer at our schools. I will not betray this trust.

I attended Queen of Angels Seminary but came to the conclusion I did not have a vocation to the priesthood. Upon graduation, I met my then soon to be wife Julie, enrolled at Cal Poly, Pomona and began working for Marie Callender's Restaurant eventually moving to Bakersfield for the company to establish a new restaurant as an Assistant Manager. I was then recruited by a business associate of my father's to assist in the makeover of a manufacturing company. I moved back to Southern California, took on the new job and married Julie. We began our family in Rowland Heights apartment moving soon to our first home that we purchased in Pomona.

When I arrived at my new office, I was informed that, oh by the way, the company was bankrupt. I was furious. Had I just given up a promising future in the restaurant industry for a failed company? My boss laid out his strategy to pare back what was extraneous and then to use precious and scare resources to build upon past success in order to position our growth for what he anticipated would be the next wave of demand. Much of what he did to restore the business was counterintuitive to me, the novice. In hindsight, his strategic plan was brilliant, his execution flawless and success inevitable. Simply put, he planned his work and worked his plan. A similar strategy, updated to our current situation, could be applied to the problems facing Paso Robles Joint Unified School District.

I learned much from working within this environment of being as frugal as possible. I became adept at prioritizing in this order: quality, customers, employees, and return on investment including balancing profit, productivity, training, infrastructure, modernization and creatively anticipating the ever changing needs of our clients. I observed that successful enterprises seemed better at adapting to a fluid situation while intuitively striving to build a better future upon the past. I also learned that management, like government, does best when a "less is more" policy is adopted. Training employees who deal directly with the clients to make critical decisions on behalf of the business builds confidence and instills trust and loyalty. Removing layers of management saves money while improving the customer experience.

With new skills that could only be acquired working in the field, I felt confident enough to strike out on my own. I began working with both small and large businesses to help them through periods of transition. In a typical situation, I would begin by analyzing the business' strengths and weaknesses from a financial as well as customer and employee's perspective. I would spend time getting to know the perspective of management, employees and clients as well as the businesses' vendors, lenders and competitors. Using the results, I would create or modify a business plan that identified threats that needed to be corrected and opportunities that would lead to better results. A budget would be created or revised. More importantly, the expenses were analyzed and compared to the budget each month in an effort to measure the success or failure of the business plan. This version of "Plan your Work, Work your Plan" has provided demonstrable results time and time again.

In 1987, I was hired by clients in the San Gabriel Valley to act as a consultant on a business they owned in Paso Robles. By then, Julie and I had four children so the plan was for me to simply commute between home and Paso Robles on an as needed basis. At that point, the then less than profitable business in Paso had six employees, $250,000 in saleable inventory and $350,000 in annual sales. However, something happened during my one year contract. I fell in love with the small town charm, the incredible citizens and the values of Paso Robles. In 1988, I convinced the business owners to sell half of their company to me and I talked my wife into to move our family to Paso Robles. The rest, as they say, was history. When we sold the company in early 2002, we had had four locations in Paso Robles, Morro Bay, Grover Beach and Santa Maria, over forty full time employees, over $4,000,000 in annual sales and close to $3,000,000 in inventory. It was a very good run.

After the business was sold, I went back to school in order to become a Deacon for the Diocese of Monterey. In the process, I became attached to Old Mission San Miguel. When the San Simeon earthquake struck on December 22, 2003, most of the Mission was red tagged by the County. Not wanting to see the Franciscans Friars abandon the mission that would doom the historic site to becoming another museum devoid of an active parish community, I joined with many others to keep the vibrant nature of Mission San Miguel alive. Unfortunately, my studies suffered from too much time spent keeping the Mission parish together and going forward. As a result, I temporarily withdrew from the program; I hope to return someday to complete my studies.

It was about this time that I got the crazy notion to become a REALTORŪ to assist my business consultation clients. I thought I could use my commissions to supplement the diminishing donations at Mission San Miguel. As those in practice today will tell you, being a REALTORŪ is much more difficult that it appears to be. In 2006, I was elected to serve on our local board of REALTORSŪ and was greatly honored last year to be elected the 2012 President of the over three hundred member strong Paso Robles Association of REALTORSŪ. I also currently serve until January as one of over six hundred State Directors serving the 187,000 member strong California Association of REALTORSŪ. Working with this many directors, I am familiar with the delicate process of building consensus and collaborating with others that will be necessary to accomplish the task of making Paso Robles Schools the best that they can be.

Growing a successful business is only part of the story. An equally compelling component is that our children have flourished here as well. Over the years, our four older children have gone to school at St. Rose, Winifred Pifer, Pat Butler, Daniel Lewis and of course, Paso Robles High. These schools have prepared the first four academically, athletically, culturally, socially, and philosophically to successfully study in locations around the world and to graduate with multiple Bachelor's, Master's and, soon, PhD degrees from some of the very finest universities in the country. We also have an 8th Grader, Jacob, at Flamson Middle School who attended the Grade Dual Immersion Program (K through 5th) at Georgia Brown. In my opinion, the key to our children's academic success has been a well-rounded learning experience taught and shared by highly qualified, extremely dedicated teachers who acted in their student's best interest. A successful education experience cannot be just about academics. However we make it possible, education must combine a diverse choice of experience ranging from athletics, visual and performing arts, vocational and career training and the opportunity to serve others. In short, because we believe that Paso has great schools that will continue to improve, Jacob will be attending Paso Robles High School next year.

Having been an active and engaged Paso Robles Schools parent since 1988, if elected, I will be able to hit the ground running. I began my service to schools in 1991 by serving on School Site Council for Pat Butler Elementary. I have volunteered/supported various on campus activities including among others AVID, Athletics, the Arts, PTA/PTSA, Cub Scout Den Leader, overnight Field Trip volunteer/driver, and Chess Club Coordinator. As a Lifetime Heritage Foundation member, I was the conceptual/inaugural sponsor of the California Midstate Fair Industrial Arts Auction. I have taught Elementary, Middle and High School Religious Education. Today, I serve as Chairperson of the School Site Council for Flamson Middle School.

I have considerable experience forming and/or serving on boards of directors of all sorts including my own and other for profit businesses as well as non-profits such as parish Pastoral and Finance Councils. I become energized by the enormity of a new task at hand and will do so now. I am already taking steps to learn as much as I can as soon as possible. There are excellent resources here in the County, at the State level and within CSBA. I will dedicate the time and resources to continue learning how best to serve for as long as I serve. Along the way, I will thoroughly enjoy the complex task of restoration especially if in the process we succeed in making Paso Robles Schools the best in the county.

In closing, I bring a unique and balanced perspective that combines 25 years of executive experience and business management acumen with my passion and respect for education including students, teachers, staff and administration. I have made a career of overcoming similar challenges now facing our School District. This process is not for the faint of heart. I am skilled at asking tough questions and demanding the best answers. In a difficult financial situation, I am a voice of reason.

Sincerely, Chris Bausch Candidate for Paso Robles School Board, 2012 Your Voice of Reason