League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA May 19, 2015 Election
	Scott Mark Schmerelson Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Los Angeles Unified School District; District 3

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What is the single most important issue facing LAUSD today? As a Board Member, what would you do to deal with it?

Class size is too large. Just this last semester I was employed as a substitute assistant principal at a comprehensive high school in Reseda. I also taught a Spanish class because of a delay in hiring a Spanish teacher. My class had 42 students. Other classes had even more students. I saw first hand how difficult it was to individualize instruction in such a large class. It was difficult to reach every student during the class period. As a Spanish teacher, I tried to interact with each student to develop their comprehension and speaking skills. This was not possible with so many students. Besides the teaching time, the grading of papers and other necessary mandatory tasks involving the students, was extremely difficult.

2. What is the role of the Board, and what is the role of the Superintendent? How should they interact?

The Board's role is to ensure that our students receive the best education possible. The Board chooses the Superintendent. I intend to make sure, as a former teacher and principal, that the the person chosen as the Superintendent has the best interest and welfare of our students as first priority. The Board members work to ensure that the public is guaranteed that all decisions made are in the best fiscal and moral interest of the people. The selection of the Superintendent is just as vital because it sets the tone for student achievement. The Board must choose a Superintendent with whom they can communicate the importance of a quality education for all students. Politics should never interfere with our goal of a superior education for all our children.

3. What are your criteria for an effective teacher evaluation plan?

The best observer and evaluator for a teacher is a combination of a highly qualified and successful teacher along with the school administrator. Who knows better how students learn and achieve than a highly qualified and successful fellow teacher? As principal, I often would have teachers, who in my opinion, needed to observe a highly qualified and successful teacher in action. They would observe selected teachers and then consult with them. The teacher who was being observed, would then observe the class of the selected teacher. This, in my opinion, was the best plan to have teachers improve their effectiveness.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' answers are presented as submitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: March 29, 2015 05:48
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