Bob Singer has made major contributions to the quality of the District during his tenure on the Board.
Bob's Effective Leadership as Trustee
1. High Quality Education for All Students
- Worked to assure challenging courses, magnet programs, and Academies to provide students with competitive academic and vocational skills
- Helped raise achievement and graduation standards for all students
- Initiated efforts that created nationally recognized Troy Tech
- Advocated and supported establishing Academies in the fine arts, business, agriculture, culinary arts, engineering, and medical careers
- Advocated and helped achieve reduced English class sizes
- Helped establish the most extensive academic summer school in Orange County and Los Angeles County
- Supported increasing the number of students taking Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses while maintaining academic standards
- Supported strengthened vocational programs including increasing course offerings with Regional Occupational Program (ROP)
- Saved and helped grow one of California's largest Agriculture programs
2. Special Programs to Enhance Student Success
- Supported expanded counseling/guidance programs and staffing for all students
- Advocated implementation of AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) to encourage and prepare more students for college and higher achievement
- Helped build programs for all students, including career technical education, Junior ROTC, intervention courses, tutoring, and AVID at five schools
- Supported Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) for better transition to high school and personalized education experiences
- Encouraged new programs to increase direct instruction and counseling for special education students
- Supported new programs for incoming 9th graders needing special assistance -- SNAP (Students Needing Academic Preparation)
3. Excellent Learning Environment
- Focused resources to help move toward excellence in instruction in every classroom that can meet the needs of each student
- Worked successfully to enable construction of new, modern classroom buildings at every high school
- Supported new school facilities for alternative and continuation education students at La Sierra and La Vista High Schools
- Promoted successful efforts that increased and sustained student attendance rates at all schools
- Helped obtain the most funding in the county for modernized career technical education facilities/classrooms at all high schools
- Avoided, so far, severe student educational cutbacks, such as furlough days, made in most surrounding districts
- Supported programs for student safety and substance abuse prevention in cooperation with local police departments
4. Sound Financial Management
- Stable fiscal operations despite greatly reduced and uncertain California budgets and earlier County bankruptcy
- All construction of new classroom buildings and modernization at each of our high schools completed on time and on budget
- Annual audits give A ratings for fiscal management
- Cut administrative costs to allow investment in classroom instruction
- Lower Taxes and shorter Bond payback period because our construction bonds received highest possible rating from Wall Street.
- High levels of trust and openness enabled 7 consecutive three-year contracts with faculty, allowing focus on instruction.
The District manages its finances "as well as any school district in America" - Moody's (Wall Street) evaluation of our facilities bond application
5. Spearheaded Accountability and Strengthened Community Participation
- Initiated the District's highly regarded comprehensive public accountability system
- Worked to establish Open Enrollment that allows parent and student choice of which school to attend
- Helped assure communications, partnership, trust, and greater participation with parents, faculty, and the community
- Consistently conducted District affairs with integrity, fairness, and openness
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