Candidate for
Board Member; San Francisco Unified School District

Top Three Priorities/Issues

Increase Funding for Our Schools and Per Pupil Spending

When elected, I will use my bilingual and outreach skills to engage parents in the education community. It is critical to attract students to increase enrollment and the dollars tied to those students. I will be an advocate for public education funding at the State level and I will work with our local legislators in their efforts to maintain and increase funding for public education in California. In addition, I will work to reduce inefficiencies within the District.

Retaining and Recruiting Quality Teachers and Classified Staff

The SFUSD must establish, maintain and improve programs and efforts to create a positive environment for teachers so that new teachers will stay in the profession, veteran teachers will remain active and engaged and the district's reputation itself will help to attract teachers. The SFUSD must have a quality new teacher induction program so that beginning teachers understand the challenges they will face and have access to veteran teachers to advise and support their efforts. In addition, new teachers should be provided collaborative professional development opportunities such as common planning periods, team teaching opportunities and more regular contact with other teachers and administrators.

Closing the Achievement Gap

In order to address the achievement gap, the SFUSD and each school site must ensure that many approaches happen simultaneously to address both the internal and external factors that hinder student learning.

First and foremost, our schools must be safe and secure havens so that students are able to learn in a stable environment. This requires consistent leadership, partnering with social services and other public agencies as well as regular parent involvement and communication.

The District must also maintain and increase the existing pool of experienced and qualified teachers so that all students have the opportunity to learn from the best the profession has to offer. Veteran teachers need added support and opportunities for professional development.

Beyond such efforts, there is a great deal of research that indicates that if schools were able to make some simple internal changes and leverage some external resources, many gains are possible. Much of the basis for such research is derived from the work of Dr. James Comer, a former Yale University Psychologist who proposed a framework for a more holistic approach to child education.

This includes such simple changes as ensuring that a child's progress is closely monitored and overseen by professional teams comprised of teachers, administrators, counselors etc through regular meetings to discuss and work on specific problems with student behavior and how to remove obstacles to learning by creating a caring and nurturing school environment with close links to parents. Many districts and schools have such programs but a comprehensive approach would improve the results.

Involving parents is critical to student success both at home and, if possible, within the school setting so that parents can fully appreciate what students require and what the school environment is like.

Under the Comer model, schools also employ a full-time social worker who can act as liaison to a variety of external resources and provide assessments of children in need.

School districts can and do provide a range of services for students but the district operates with limited resources. If the district could leverage such external resources, have them close at hand, students would be provided a direct benefit and many immediate and long-term obstacles to learning could be addressed.

JROTC Program

I am actively supporting the JROTC program.

I have personally visited a JROTC class, spoke directly with the students, and reviewed the curriculum. That visit confirmed what numerous students have been telling me. Students view the JROTC program as a voluntary leadership, team building, and life skills course. In fact, I was very impressed with the commitment and dedication that many of students have to the community through their numerous hours of community service each year.

The JROTC students have a 100% graduation rate. Approximately 98% of the students go onto college. About 90% of the students in the program are minorities and more than 50% are women. These facts confirm that JROTC is a very successful and inclusive program that works for our students.

Furthermore, as a Chinese American, I am personally responsible to the community to support the JROTC program. Approximately 75% of the students who participate in the JROTC program are Chinese American, yet I am the only Chinese candidate supporting this program. These students are not being heard and represented by our School Board. I will be their voice.