By Matt W. Smith

On Tuesday, November 3, 2009, I hope I can count on your vote to re-elect me as a School Board Member for the Temple City Unified School District.

As 27-year residents of our community and as the parents of three sons, my wife, Janet, and I both advocate and model involvement in our community. We also share your desire that all children continue to have access to a high quality well-rounded education in a pleasant and safe community.

During my tenure, every school in our district has held the designation of being a California Distinguished School and our API scores have continued to rise, rivaling those of only the most affluent schools in Los Angeles County. This year our overall district score now stands at 867 + up 65 points over the past several years, with the highest increase occurring at TCHS, which is up 113 points since 2000 with a score of 838.

In September, our district was recognized for outstanding student achievement from the State of California with all traditional schools rated as being "high performing." In addition, in spite of the difficult year that our district has undergone in responding to the State's on-going budget crisis, we have persevered and I have contributed to those tough budget decisions by keeping reductions as far away from our children and programs as possible.

Results such as these don't happen by accident. We attribute our students' performance and program growth to a multi-year collaboration of faculty and staff, the school board and administration, students, parents, and the community.

As a Board Member with over eleven years serving TCUSD, my tenure exceeds the total years of experience of the other four members of the School Board, combined. This is too critical of a time to risk not having a Board Member with my stability and experience. The education of our children is a high priority and having well rounded, well educated graduates will add to and improve our community. Our schools are already excellent; let's continue to make them the best they can be for the benefit of all of our children.

On November 3, please vote to re-elect Matt W. Smith for Temple City Unified School District, Board of Education.

Sincerely,

Matt W. Smith Stability, Experience, Leadership, Integrity

As a board member for over eleven years, Matt W. Smith has worked hard to support and continue our TCUSD traditions. Experience that you can count on!

• A District of High Performing and California Distinguished Schools
• Academic accountability with continued growth  API Scores in excess of 800 points at all traditional school sites with an overall district score of 867 and TCHS scoring 838  Only about 21% of the High Schools in California score above 800  California High School Exit Exam results 94% of 10th graders passing in Math 92% of 10th graders passing in English / Language Arts  County-wide results show only 77% of students passing in both subjects
• Fiscally responsible balanced budgets
• Maintained class size reduction and quality academic programs
• Minimized budget reduction impact on teachers and support personnel
• Sustained competitive athletic and award winning performing arts programs
• Continued support for Character Education, Peer Listening and School Counselors