Candidate for
Governing Board Member; South Pasadena Unified School District

It is an honor to serve this community and our families. In addition to my nearly five years on the school board, I have made volunteer service at our schools a top personal priority. From serving on the board of the South Pasadena Education Foundation (SPEF), to volunteering at the science fair, the all-city track meet, in the classroom, and at each of our schools, I have had the privilege of working closely with our families and our community to ensure that all of our kids receive an excellent education.

While serving on the school board, we have accomplished a great deal. We completed the middle school construction project and all of our schools were named distinguished schools by the State of California. This is truly extraordinary. Our API score has grown from a base of 887 (out of a possible 1000) in 2008-09 to 920 this year, and we are currently ranked 14th among all the unified school districts in the State.

We have assembled an intelligent, dedicated team to run the district, including Joel Shapiro (Superintendent); Dr. Scott Price (Assistant Superintendent of the Business Office); Steve Seaford (Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services); and Karen Reed (Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources).

We have expanded and carefully selected new leadership for all five schools, including new principals at Arroyo Vista, Marengo, Monterey Hills, and the Middle School, and Assistant Principals at the High School (Ginger Merritt, Terrance Dunn).

We have got a community who believes in our success: that's why we were able to successfully pass two parcel taxes in the time that I've been on the board. We managed their investment well, and our district has achieved financial strength and thrived despite the worst economic downturn in many of our lifetimes. And despite that downturn, our schools have helped South Pasadena maintain its property values, which still outpace neighboring communities.

There is though still more work to do. We have initiated myriad efforts to promote student achievement at all of our schools, to close our district's very real achievement gap, and to ensure that every child who graduates from our district is fully prepared to achieve his or her full potential. We have defined this as one of our district-wide strategic goals, and hired new intervention counselors to support this goal. I want to help see those efforts through.

We have established a steady fiscal foundation, but preserving our fiscal health and leveraging our limited dollars to maximize every child's educational opportunities is always an ongoing effort. It requires consistently marrying an understanding of complex education finance principles with detailed knowledge of the ins and outs of our school days and their resources and needs. Our district is best served by a successful, experienced, cohesive team of Board members who are dedicated to working as a team to strengthen and support our district.