Candidate for
Board Member; Palo Alto Unified School District

While we have greatly improved teaching and learning for our children, there is still much work to be done. We have an increasingly diverse student population. Each and every child should have opportunites to be successful in our schools. During my first term, we started many programs that increased student achievement, such as the after school Academy, remedial summer school classes, the four year old program at Barron Park and the AVID program for under-achieving students in secondary schools. We are disaggregating our test data and looking at the achievement of individual students and groups of students. We need to ensure that each student is challenged and has opportunites to improve. At the same time, we must continue our commitment to educating the whole child.

The District hired nearly 500 new teachers during my first term. We must continue to be able to attract and retain high quality staff members. We must ensure high quality training and support programs for our staff. There is a greater need than ever for staff development and yet the State has decreased substantially the amount of time for staff development. We must be smarter and more creative about how we use that time.

Our facilities must also support excellent teaching and learning. The Building program has been reorganized to ensure that all schools will be completed with the original scope of work promised to the voters. Almost every school has had new classooms added due to enrollment growth and the State Class Size Reduction program, approximately 30% more classrooms at the elementary level. This fall, students returned to new libraries and classrooms at Barron Park, El Carmelo, Escondido, and Walter Hays. Paly, Gunn and Jordan also have several completed classroom wings. We are on schedule to complete all sites by 2004, within the original timeline of 7 to 10 years promised to the voters.

It has been an honor to serve our students and community. I am dedicated to continuing to build a district that meets the high expectations of our community.