Candidate for
Board Member; Solana Beach Elementary School District

I'm sure you'll agree with my wife, Eliete and I that there is no better investment we can make in our community than investing in the education of our children.

We're fortunate to be the parents of two children, Alexis and Ryan, and to have had the time to participate actively in their school lives and in the wider activities of our community. We both feel the need to give back to Solana Beach and Carmel Valley, and do what we can to see that this continues to be the best place to live in America.

A 20-year resident of North San Diego County, my involvement in community programs dates back 14 years to my work as a Little League coach and umpire and basketball coach with the local parks and recreation department. That continued with my increasing involvement in a variety of civic organizations, ranging from the advisory board of our local YMCA to my church's support of children's homes in Tijuana and Acapulco, Mexico.

My time on the YMCA board taught me that growth can be both a blessing and a challenge. At the YMCA, we were fortunate to find ways to restrain budgetary growth, while still delivering much-needed services to the community and never losing focus on the most important goal: giving our kids the tools they need to be good students and citizens.

In preparation for a seat on the school board, I've spent months speaking in-depth with teachers and other parents, and I've come to understand just how policies of the school board can really affect the classroom experience of our children. No matter how involved or concerned our parents are, we can't overcome ill-informed or ill-conceived board policies.

My discussions with parents and teachers convinced me to run to add my voice and a new vision to our board policies. My goals are simple but important: to continue to improve our schools' core curriculum and establish both strong educational standards and sound fiscal management in our district.

I think I'm uniquely suited to this task by virtue of my professional training and experience. A graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a manager in the communications department of San Diego-based Intuit, I am well-versed in dispute resolution and communications. I've been honored with three awards for excellence in public relations and communications by the Public Relations Society of America; and have recently completed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Harvard program on dispute resolution and a mutual gains approach to negotiations.

Prior to my career in public relations, I worked as a newspaper reporter, covering local growth issues, city and county governments and youth issues. It's there that I learned the profound affect school boards have on children and parents. I'm also the author of two books.

If you honor me with your vote for the school board, I will use my skills and training to focus the board's attention on improving the writing and language skills of our students and resolving the budgetary issues facing our district. I look forward to working with our new Superintendent Karen Walker and with new, fresh-thinking board members to make the Solana Beach School District the best in America.

I'm bullish about the Solana Beach School District. We should all be proud of our schools and what our teachers and administrators have accomplished. But I believe we can do better.

I promise to continue to work for your kids, my kids and to do my small part to ensure that our area remains the best place to raise a family.