Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Westside Union Elementary School District

I am a firm believer in the distinction of the roles in the various organizations and groups involved in school governance. I am concerned that too many administrators want to develop policy, too many school board members want to be ad-hoc administrators, and parents and collective bargaining units believe they have both the right and capacity to both administer and set policy. I want to be a type of 'watch-dog', keeping everyone focused on that which they are empowered to do and which they are uniquely qualified to do. To that end, I would ask the Westside District to review the California School Boards Association 2001-2001 Policy Platform on School Governance to determine where adjustments are needed.

I would hope to help design a method for data gathering that would assist all groups in fulfilling their roles. A consistent and comprehensive method of gaining information from parents, staff and students would be invaluable in helping the school board form policy and mission statements.

I have a major concern about the moral decline in our society. In part, I think that is a combination of the breakdown of the traditional family unit and the policy of public education choosing to present a curriculum that reflects societal values, at least as those values are presented by the media. I would hope, in whatever context that I could appropriately do so, to offer choices in which the Westside schools do more to mould values for a better society. I am also concerned about character education and the offering to the students of character skills (i.e. being responsible, respectful and trustworthy) that will serve them in their adult lives, beyond what they have attained as 'scholars'. And I have some concerns about the whole entity we call public education. I would hope to be a loud voice on a board that would become a loud voice in decrying the method the state uses in funding and evaluating the education being offered in any given school district. Repeated and numerous studies confirm that we are spending more than ever on education and getting less than ever in return.

I would be a true independent as a thinker and voter. My vote can never be bought. What is more, I possess the background (both via training and experience) to know what questions to ask and how to interpret the data I'm given. I won't spend my time second-guessing the adminstration, but I also won't have to rely on blind faith in determining the quality of our decisions and programs.