Candidate for
Board Member; Redondo Beach Unified School District

• THOMAS JEFFERSON GOT IT RIGHT
  He advocated for public education as a benefit to the community, a method of enlightening the electorate, and a way of assuring each person's right to a better life. I do not presume to be able to compete with Mr. Jefferson.

  In keeping with Thomas Jefferson's ideals, I believe schools are first and foremost run for the benefit of society. That means that curriculum and activities should prepare students to be active, informed, and useful members of society.

  Administrators should be given clear PARENT-FOCUSED guidance for operating the RBUSD. Parents should have dominant control as representatives both of the students and the community that pays for education and deserves its benefits.

  The school district should not be run by autonomous administrators, runaway school boards, teachers, unions, educational vendors, or other special interests.

• PARENTAL CONTROL
  I seek to develop a school district that is run by the parents, for the benefits of the students and community. I will educate parents to the importance of their role in the schools, and work to increase parental control over schools. It's not clear who controls the current board, based on their actions since election. http://menelson.com/rbusd.ppt

• FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND FORESIGHT
  The fiscal irresponsibility of the current board must be addressed, and I intend to move to a zero-based budgeting system. The current board has ignored the tough decisions by deficit spending and reducing the district's reserves. This cannot be allowed and must be corrected.

• A WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE
  At a recent candidate forum, I heard comments like "zero based budgeting (ZBB) can't work" and "merit pay can't work." These aren't statements of fact or even opinion, these are a sign of rigidity and lack of acceptance of change. From a recent posting from an educational foundation, ZBB obviously can and DOES work to help school districts discipline their expenditures.

  "ZBB was the most popular budgeting reform of the 1970s. The downward cycle of the economy in the early part of that decade, which resulted in declining resources for governments along with increasing demands for services, led government officials to look for ways to maintain rational decision making methods in times of uncertainty.

ZBB, as we know it today, was first described by Peter Pyhrr in the Harvard Business Review in 1970 (Pyhrr, 1970). Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter asked Pyhrr to help him implement the system for Georgia's state government in 1971. ZBB spread from Georgia to Texas and New Jersey and developed a following in a number of cities across the United States. When Carter became President, he mandated that all federal agencies use ZBB as well.

ZBB has made major inroads in school districts as well. At its annual meeting in October 1977, the Association of School Business Officials International passed a resolution recommending all school districts use ZBB in the development of their budgets (Bliss, 1978)."

The same can be said of MERIT PAY. Businesses routinely use merit pay very fairly, and to say that it is "impossible" for schools to use simply reflects a lack of willingness to change. Change is important!

• CURRICULUM REVIEW
  I support refocusing efforts on the basics, and taking a long, hard look at the current curriculum through the eyes of the parents and the community. Students should be allowed to learn via various methods and to advance as quickly as possible to gain more knowledge.