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Los Angeles, Ventura County, CA November 3, 2009 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Dave S. Moorman

Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Las Virgenes Unified School District

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

Dave's father was a fighter pilot in WWII and Korea, and Dave was born on the U.S. Air Force base in Bitburg, Germany in 1961, at the height of the cold war. By the time Dave was eleven, he had lived in eleven different places. His primary education was comprised of a series of new schools and making new friends.

Dave attended high school and college in Orange County, first studying electrical engineering at U.C. Irvine, then Business Administration (Management) at California State University, Fullerton. He paid his way through college by playing in a popular rock band which he managed.

His creative and technical interests came together as he was employed as the Technical Liaison for game shows like "Tic Tac Dough," "The Joker's Wild," "Strike It Rich," "Hot Potato" and others. His television production experience was channeled to advertising and corporate video, and he was hired by PCH Clothing as Advertising Director, where he produced and directed a number of national television and radio commercials as well as directed all print advertising.

In the mid-1980s, Dave partnered with longtime friend Mark Noad to create Image Resources Film & Video, a production and post-production services company based in Woodland Hills. The company became producer of numerous corporate and marketing videos, commercials, and more for a wide range of national and local clients. Image Resources produced daily news programming at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988 and 1989 for The Hollywood Reporter, and later became the primary supplier of new movie promotional materials for the airlines. The company currently provides post-production supervision, editorial, and sound services for independent feature films, commercials, and corporate clients.

Dave and his wife Kristy decided in 2000 to sell their home in Sherman Oaks and move to the Las Virgenes School District. They rented a home in Westlake Village then bought in Medea Valley, in the unincorporated area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Their son Ryan began first grade at Sumac Elementary. Previously, he had been attending Berkeley Hall School in Bel Air for pre-K and Kindergarten.

Dave and Kristy were excited about the prospects of their kids receiving a quality public education, and made a commitment to participating in this process by becoming involved parents. When they realized how much money parents raise to support the programs at school, Dave's immediate reaction was to question the efficiency of the school district, and he felt that it was necessary to learn about the nuts and bolts of the school system before he could be comfortable asking parents to contribute additional money to the school. Dave began attending every school board meeting he could, asking questions, obtaining copies of budgets and information, and learning about why the system is where it is. He was then able to pass along what he was learning to interested parents in a mass e-mail that he voluntarily created. He learned that our community is full of parents who really care about our system but do not have the ability to attend these meetings.

Dave served as Acting President of the Sumac Elementary Parent/Faculty Association, then President, for a total of four years. He made a pledge to make the fundraising process easier for volunteers, more effective, and to avoid fundraising that causes kids to go out and sell things to strangers.

When the LVUSD faced drastic State budget cuts in 2003, several concerned citizens banded together as Citizens For Preserving Quality Education. Dave volunteered to co-chair this organization, which was dedicated to designing, promoting, and passing Measure E on the March 2004 ballot - a 4-year, $98/year parcel tax to help keep the district from cutting teachers and programs. Dave felt strongly that this should be considered a drastic measure that would not have been necessary if the state system was operating properly. Measure E was overwhelmingly supported by the voters and passed with 72% approval.

During the Measure E campaign, Dave realized that there had been a steadily increasing "them vs. us" attitude separating the various schools and communities in the LVUSD. The Measure E campaign helped overcome that and increase communication among parents and community members throughout the district. In order to take advantage of this movement, Dave chose to become involved with the Las Virgenes Educational Foundation, and seek ways of improving our schools districtwide. He became a member of the Board of the foundation, was elected Secretary, and has been instrumental in opening discussions among civic and educational leaders, information-gathering among schools and parent groups, and development of ideas to provide forward momentum to our schools through community support.

It is this motivation to help all of our district's schools, to help our community understand and participate in our schools, and to begin to find a way to overcome the problems of our state school system by presenting a strong local voice that made Dave decide to run for School Board in 2005. Currently serving as President of the Board, he has spent the past four years applying his creative, technical, and managerial background to tackling issues from the local school level on up, and implementing positive change.

Dave has been instrumental in coordination of an equitable partnership among the four cities that make up the school district, designed to provide support for district-wide needs. This "Four Cities Agreement" currently provides nearly $600,000 a year to the local schools for support of technology initiatives.

As a key player in the District's development of a Technology Strategy, Dave has worked to develop the vision for technology and 21st Century classrooms. As a result, the District has made significant steps forward in integration of technology.

Dave has provided steady and fair leadership, and has always maintained a collaborative mindset among parents, District personnel, and local and state government leaders. He remains in close contact with state representatives in order to advance the needs of our local schools.

Dave and Kristy currently live in Agoura Hills, their son Ryan is a 10th-grader at Agoura High School. Kristy has served as President of the Sumac PFA and currently works at an Agoura Hills Pilates studio. The Moorman family participates in Boy Scouts and YMCA, as well as numerous community volunteer opportunities, including spearheading the 2009 Big Sunday community service weekend.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 15, 2009 04:41
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