League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Cindy Goodsell Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Union Elementary School District

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

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?

I carefully review the budget reports both during the budget creation process and as the year progresses. Of course all of our budget workshops are open to the community. In addition, we have added our district's budget information to our website so community members have access to it at all times. We want the budget creation process to be as transparent as possible and that helps to ensure that the funds are spent wisely and fairly.

2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students?

Making sure that our instruction meets the individual learning needs of each child has been an important focus of the district over the past five years. We have invested in significant training opportunities for our teachers on how to differentiate instruction and have embraced the 'response to intervention' model where students are grouped for language arts each day according to their specific learning needs.

The district has put into place software that allows teachers to review students test results individually and see exactly which California standards each student needs additional instruction on. This allows our teachers to better meet the diverse educational needs of our students.

3. Where do want the district to be 5 years from now? What steps should the district take to get there?

The district is in the process of going from good to great. We have made significant progress towards this goal over the past five years. This year the district joined an elite group of districts including Los Gatos, Los Altos, Saratoga,and Cupertino with API scores over 900.

We have been piloting some new programs that show tremendous promise and we should implement these programs district-wide. In particular, I would like to see the district continue with our 'response to intervention' model.

We need to continue providing excellent training for our teachers on how to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of children across the spectrum from learning disabled to gifted.

Our finances are stable with a long-term plan, adequate reserves and a balanced budget. We need to continue along this path.

To date, we have not lost any teaching days like most of our neighboring districts which have eliminated as many as 5 days of classroom instruction from the school year. I want to see the district continue to maintain a full school year and low class sizes.

Our award winning music programs at the middle schools introduce many students to playing an instrument. Maintaining funding for our music and sports programs needs to remain a priority.

We need to continue relentlessly pursuing excellence in everything we do!

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 4, 2010 17:11
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