League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Alameda County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Tom Lynch Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Alameda Unified School District

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Alameda and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. (Most pressing problem) What is the single most pressing problem facing the Alameda Unified School District in the next 24 months and how would you work with your elected colleagues to solve it?

I believe there are some major issues that this Board will need to face. The most pressing problem is to solve the lack of trust between the teachers and the administration. This deterioration of the relationship started with not sharing any of the $2M+ surplus from the prior year with our teachers. It got worse when the Superintendent's contract was renegotiated, paying out 100% of the Superintendent's bonus, and providing her 100% medical benefits.

To solve this issue, I would goal the Superintendent on the following items: 1) To develop and gain agreement with the teacher's union on a plan to bring the avg teacher's pay in Alameda to the same level as the avg teacher's pay across Alameda County. Currently, our great teachers rank second to last in pay throughout Alameda County getting paid more than the only the Emery District which employes 50 teachers; 2) Goal the Superintendent's on the implementation of the Governor's recently signed legislation to have teachers evaluate the performance of the Principal at each site and then to extend that to a teacher's evaluation of the District administration.

Other challenges this Board will face are: 1) How to fund the $92M worth of repairs that have been identified for our schools. 2) How to move District Administration back to AUSD property and cancel the $5M Marina Village lease. 3) How to improve our High School athletic facilities 4) How to manage and deliver the same level of school programs and resources if neither Prop 30 or Prop 38 passes on Nov 6th, which would result in a $3M+/yr decline in revenue to AUSD.

2. (Community input) What process would you recommend the School Board use for the community to provide advice for the district's consideration in decisionmaking and how would you make it evident that the district considers the advice?

This is a great question and an area which I think can be much improved. Our Superintendent did an excellent job at community building prior to the passage of Measure A. I would would work with the Board to task her to continue that work and focus on areas where the community can provide feedback on such as: technology, facilities, curriculum, and school wide resources.

I have already built effective communication channels at the PTA Council where I'm currently the PTA Council President. The Superintendent speaks monthly at our meetings providing the PTA leadership an update on the State of the District. In addition, email distribution lists have been developed to facilitate the communication between all 18 PTA Units in our School District and to share ideas and thoughts. I would also expand the role of the PTA "School Smarts Program" beyond elementary school to both MS and HS. This is a great parental training program on how to engage the school District from your Child's teacher, to the Principal, to AUSD administration, to school board members. The more we can enable parental involvement in the School District, the better our children's education will be.

3. (School District Ð City Cooperation) How might the School District work more effectively with the City?

1st, I would establish a formal bridge with the City by asking that a task force be formed between the School Board and the City Council to explore areas where the School District and the City can work together. Areas of exploration include Joint Power Agreements over the use and operations of athletic facilites, like they have done in the Lincoln School District in California, or what to do with facilities such as Historic Alameda High School

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are presented as submitted. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 29, 2012 21:47
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