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The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Finances,
Instruction,
The Future
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
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1. How would you determine that the schools are using federal, state and local funds wisely and fairly and how would you report your findings to the community?
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Answer from Patricia Martinez-Roach:
Open public discussion.
Fiscal audits.
Monthly fiscal reports.
Budget Committee (including community members).
Board of trustees public discussions/actions.
Monthly school plan reports to the school board.
Establishing mid year revisions to state/federal projects.
Answer from Frank Biehl:
I support an open budget process with active community participation and full auditing of all district financial records. All information should be available for public inspection and review. The budget should be presented in such a way as to clearly identify the issues and long-term implications of the tradeoffs available to the Board. The adopted budget should reflect the values of our community.
Answer from J. Manuel Herrera:
Funds are targeted to closing the achievement gap and are reported to the community through annual state and federal reports. Local, state, and federal funding sources are focused on meeting new state and national standards, as measured in the annual state Academic Performance Index and the federal Annual Yearly Progress report. Our school district continues to match statewide trends in terms of year-to-year progress, with the greatest challenge being meeting the needs of our English-language learners and special education students, and closing the achievement gap among Latino and African-American students.
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2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students?
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Answer from J. Manuel Herrera:
Our school district trains staff in techniques of "differentiated instruction" to employ instructional techniques that reach ALL students.
We send trainers to each school site and train teachers to access test data for individual students, for their use in identifying areas needing individualized support and instruction.
We have a partnership with West Ed, an independent research firm, for multi-year teacher professional development program called QTELL + Quality Teachers for English Language Learners.
We have a Teacher Credentialing Program in full gear for all staff, in collaboration with the County Office of Education and others to meet the "fully qualified" requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind program.
Answer from Patricia Martinez-Roach:
No. I believe that we have not reached the level of equal instruction needed for all students. We have many special needs students; Limited English Proficient, Special Education and many other students which require specialized instruction. The district is attempting to address these issues; however, large fiscal encroachments mandated take vital funding services for other students; i.e.: Special Education encroachment to the General Fund.
I will continue to work with our Legislators to fight for equal funding for our Low Wealth Schools.
Politics and self interest groups influence how/when and why funds are spent. School board members need to be courageous and bold and make decisions which might not be popular with self interest groups; yet, the decisions will benefit the entire school district. Our current school board has not had a board retreat to establish goals and objectives in three years. I have gone on record requesting the rotation of school board officers and establish ongoing board retreats, evaluations of staff and discussion or other important matters.
It is important to elect school board members who do not have personal financial conflict of interest on school boards.
Answer from Frank Biehl:
The East Side Union High School District is both large and diverse. Decisions as to how to best serve the needs of our varied communities are best made by principals at the local neighborhood school with the full participation of teachers, parents, administrators, students, school staff and the community. The Board's job, in addition to long term planning, is to fairly distribute funds and establish overall achievement goals and to make sure the Superintendent and the principals hired are accountable.
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3. Where do you want the District to be five years from now? What steps should the District take to get there?
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Answer from Frank Biehl:
My vision is for the district to actively reach out and listen to the community they are serving. I believe that by doing this the community will actively work to support the financial requirements of providing a 21st century education to our students. Today's investment in education will determine our future.
Answer from Patricia Martinez-Roach:
The only way in which the district will be able to succeed will be to have an effective school board with members who are trully dedicated to the district. In addition, a Superintedent and administration who will protect and guide the district towards meeting all the necessary steps to increase student achievement and fiscal solvency.
District goals and objectives and additional educational standards are needed for students to be able to succeed in whichever field they want to be in. Many students are college bound; however, many are not. East Side has be best Adult Education Program available for students who wish to participate. In addition, there is a JPA which offers ROP/CCO services for students to prepare them in a diverse vocational training profession.
I wish to be able to give our students a risk- a real chance to succeed. Especially those who are in our continuation schools.
I wish to continue to work with my Student/Board Relations Committee representative of all schools. Students bring many concerns and suggestions to my committee. I take their suggestions seriously and take them to the entire school board for discussion and action. Some of the current policies what been established because of student imput; for example: Health and Nutrition policies, Cleaner bathrooms, Safety badgets, etc.
http://www.esuhsd.org/Administration/Board_of_Trustees/student_board_relations.html
Answer from J. Manuel Herrera:
Academic achievement and personal success for all students is the Holy Grail of public education. Five years from now our school district needs to ensure higher rates of graduation (with the California High School Exit Exam as one bar), greater success among English-language learners and special education students, and higher rates of achievement among Latino and African-American students. Our school district is pursuing targeted strategies toward these ends, as indicated in the answer to the prior question. For more information visit our school district website at http://www.esuhsd.org .
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
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League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
