League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Catherine Crystal Foster Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Palo Alto Unified School District

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

Questions & Answers

1. What steps need to be taken to foster better communication among the school board, superintendent's office, and the local school communities?

Our district and board serve our students best when they maintain open and productive communication with the community. The new superintendent has set a welcome tone of transparency and openness. Other steps that would improve communication include: 1) structuring board meetings so that items of greatest interest to the community are agendized early in the evening, 2) proactively soliciting input from all sectors of our community via in-person meetings in the community, focus groups, brief electronic surveys on key issues, and email outreach, 3) update the community regularly about PAUSD activities, and about both progress and challenges facing PAUSD.

2. What approaches would you support to help students of diverse educational abilities achieve their educational goals?

My priority is maximizing the potential of every student. This means helping each student -- of whatever ability -- to learn, grow, and thrive every year. To accomplish this, we must invest in hiring and retaining the best teachers, provide effective teacher training on addressing all students' needs, offer sufficient classroom support to serve struggling students, and provide appropriate challenge for every student. We must create an environment in which all students can succeed on their own terms, can feel successful, and can be prepared for success beyond high school. Ensuring that our curriculum is engaging, relevant, and purposeful will help us inspire and reach every student. The district itself must model a culture of continuous learning, so that it is always improving as it educates all students.

3. Do you agree with the Common Core standards and if so, how should they be implemented?

The emphasis on critical thinking, problem solving and deeper learning in the Common Core offers exciting opportunities for our teachers to innovate. This will help all students enrich their knowledge and skills, and be better prepared for life beyond high school. In order for the Common Core to be successful in our schools, we must: 1) invest in effective teacher training that builds on best practices, 2) capitalize on the opportunity to bring fresh ideas into the classroom, 3) inform and engage the community so they can be partners in Common Core implementation, and 4) measure, learn from, and take action on data from new Common Core tests so that teachers and students can improve.

4. Do you see instituting a pre-school program for children younger than the "early 5s" age as desirable for the PAUSD? If so, have you any ideas on how it might fit into the school structure?

The benefits of early childhood education are powerful and clear. We are fortunate that PAUSD already includes the successful Preschool Family, Young 5s, Transitional Kindergarten, and Springboard to Kindergarten programs. This commitment to serving young children is a credit to PAUSD and a cornerstone of our effective preschool through 12 unified school district.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 400 words. 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 20, 2014 13:39
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