Candidate for
Member, Board of Trustees; Cabrillo Unified School District

Ken Jones

Leadership, Vision and Focus For the CUSD Governing Board

Leadership

My experience as a leader began as the Commanding Officer of the USS Flagstaff (PGH-1) during the Vietnam War and has grown to include being the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of five companies in the 80's and 90's. I am currently the CEO of Globe Wireless, a maritime communications company with operations in 23 countries. With the help of other Board members, I have used my experience to stabilize what was a feuding Board, and turn it into an efficient and professional governmental body. Leadership often requires tough decisions and occasionally unpopular ones. This Board has made those decisions and the results have been very positive.

Vision

Together, this Board has developed a vision for our schools. Our vision emphasizes higher academic standards at all grade levels, and qualifying all our students for higher education, if they so choose. We have already made substantial progress. Elementary class sizes have been reduced, literacy coordinators and reading recovery programs funded, and district curriculum aligned with state standards in math, language arts, and now, science and social studies. At the high school, graduation requirements have been increased, the number of AP courses tripled. Many other new programs have been implemented such as: CISCO academy, Global Connections, Freshman studies, Plant Science, Ag Biology, ROP Video Production, Animation, as well as, increased sheltered classes and newcomer language development. Classroom programs such as music and fine arts, dropped by many other districts, have flourished in our secondary schools.

One quantitative measure of our success is in our absolute state-wide rankings (HMBHS, Farallone View, El Granada; 80th percentile, Cunha Middle school 70th percentile; and Hatch 50th percentile). Another indicator is by our rising STAR test scores. At the elementary schools, cohort analysis shows 2-years of increasing test scores, with increases ranging from 12-15%. Spelling scores have risen in the elementary cohort groups between 7-14% and reading scores have increased between 3 - 13%. At the middle school level, there are improvements in math (4%), reading (3%), language arts (9%), and spelling (2%). At the HMBHS, where SAT scores matter most to college-bound high school students, our verbal/math scores were 554/556, respectively. By comparison, state and national scores are 497/514 and 505/511, respectively. Our students are being accepted at MIT, Stanford, UCSD, UCI, USC, UCD, UCSB, Cornell, UCLA, University of Chicago, etc.

We believe that students need extracurricular programs as well and the number of these programs has steadily increased over the past few years. We also strongly believe in community-based partnerships such as: School-Linked Services, PTAs and Ed Funds, San Mateo Peninsula Partnership, the HMB Chamber of Commerce and the Coastside Collaborative.

Our vision does not stop with students. We need to provide a work place and compensation that will allow us to attract and retain the very best teachers and classified employees. To that effect, we have raised teacher salaries in 2000/2001 by 10.9% and we will continue in our efforts on their behalf.

Our vision also began with a plan for new and modern facilities for our children and our teachers. The community overwhelmingly supported a $35M bond which was subsequently matched by an additional $11.6 M in state funds. Today, part of that vision has been realized in the High School's expanded and modernized facilities and another part, in the repaired and upgraded Elementary schools. The new middle school will complete the first phase of providing modern educational facilities.

Focus

To have an effective School Board, its members must be focused on educational priorities and not other issues. We have many agencies, commissions, and councils at the local and state level which are concerned with issues such as the growth of the Coastside. We have a Board that is focused on Education as its sole responsibility. We must keep it focused. The CUSD Governing Board presides over the largest enterprise on the Coast ($20 Million in revenue with 400 employees). Its five Board members must deal effectively with state policy, labor relations and legal issues. The current Board works well together; all of us have different strengths, interests, and abilities. The sum of our concerted efforts, has made Cabrillo one of the top school systems in the state.

As a Community, the education of our children is our top priority. Whether the children in school today are our own or our neighbor's we are all responsible for giving them the tools they will need to succeed and lead our community and nation in the years to come. In the long run the education of our children is the most important investment we can make. It is education that gives children the opportunity for a life better than their parents. In our democracy, it is education that gives the next generation the ability to make the best decisions about the issues of their day. The Board needs to stay focused on the community's top priority, the education of its children.

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Re-electing Ruth Palmer and Ken Jones will ensure our schools have excellent leadership, a clear vision of the future, and are focused upon giving our children a well rounded education that prepares them for the future.