Candidate for
Board Member; Pasadena Unified School District; Seat 3

Our Students, Our Future, Our Responsibility

Our Students

The preponderance of students being served by Pasadena Unified School District are Hispanic and African-American. Their economic and cultural differences are often interpreted as impediments to academic development. Young children do not really understand the concept of being poor or unsophisticated until those differences in their attire and character are pointed out them. The reality is they learn about those differences sooner than they learn basic academic skills.

All children need to be nurtured on a daily basis. School is a place where ethical values and cultures can be learnt alongside with the education curriculum. Its valuable heritage as an institution that promotes opportunity for all should be shared and appreciated by all children and their children. Let the school be a place where children are given guidance and learn how to:

• Form a community that has high moral, ethics and spiritual strength.

• Cultivate a community that is mature and tolerant.

• Cultivate a community rich in values and loving culture.

The success of our schools depends on all stakeholders in our community working towards creating and sustaining a school system where students succeed despite being from diverse ethnic, race and linguistic communities with different socioeconomic backgrounds.

Future improvement in the academic performance of our students will be determined by the ability of teachers and administrators engaging students as described in the March 2006 report by Civic Enterprises in association with Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "The Silent Epidemic, Perspectives of High School Dropouts". This well-done report listed five ways to increase graduation rates. I believe they are all applicable to our schools in PUSD:

1.Engage students in learning by improving teaching and curricula that is more relevant and engaging and enhances the connection between school and work.

2.Improve instruction, and access to supports, for struggling students.

3.Build a school climate that fosters academics.

4.Ensure that students have a strong relationship with at least one adult in the school.

5.Improve the communication between parents and schools.

Our Responsibility

In the past the district has not been guided by policies that dictate long term planning that would give stability and consistency across the district and at the local school level. The result has been a climate and a learning environment that are unstable, uncertain, and inconsistent. A child is in the school district for 13 years, if enrolled for the entire K -12 programs. Without guiding policies, practices will change approximately three (3) times for the average student during his PUSD career because the average tenure of a superintendent is about four (4) years.

Secondly, without policy it is impossible to have defined district wide standards and expectations. This precipitates a situation where it is difficult, if not impossible, to hold anyone accountable. It impedes the ability of the school to communicate district standards and expectations with the home due to the absence of a language that both students and parents to understand.

I will ask questions that require the District's administration to come up with answers:

• That address the serious academic and discipline issues of far too many students

• That address the need for plans to deal with the continuing economic down turn

• That produce changes in organizational structure that minimize the impact reduced financial resources on students' classroom instruction

• That reduce the incidents of poor instruction and classroom management by classroom teachers that have not been given adequate training to meet the needs of a diverse group of students

• That reduce the large number of students with instructional and programs needs not being met

• That address what changes the district needs to be make to deal with a continuing economic down turn?

• That address what contingency plans the District should have if the State stays in the present financial crisis for another two (2) years?