Candidate for
Board Member; Santa Barbara High School District

Being a product of public education motivates me to give back to public education.

First and foremost, I am a teacher. I teach computer science at Santa Barbara City College full-time and have done so for over 13 years. I've taught everything from basic "this is a computer" courses to advanced graphics and iPhone programming courses. Besides teaching, which I love, I'm heavily involved with SBCC in a leadership capacity through my service as department chair. Last year I was elected by the faculty to become Academic Senate President next year (I'm currently President-Elect). These positions, along with numerous committees (Board Policy and Procedures Committee, Non-teaching Compensation Committee, Professional Development Committee, Curriculum Committee, and many more) that I've served on, give me broad educational policy experience at the local, state, and federal level. However, it's my teaching in the classroom that keeps me focused on what is important, students.

I have statewide perspective through my work with the California School Boards Association (CSBA) as a delegate. My work with CSBA has been primarily in the area of policy, board protocols, and political action. I am part of the group that pushed for (and got) CSBA to sue the state over school funding. CTA/NEA are strong supporters of this effort. I am responsible for discussing the lawsuit in this region [Key Communicator for Region 11-A], but I've had to curtail my efforts due to the election. I have countywide experience because I am a member, and current president of, the Santa Barbara County School Boards Association (SBCSBA). One of our current projects is to have training in boardsmanship for all school board candidates in the county. We also discuss issues and find best practices to spread to our districts.

I have significant direct experience as a Board of Education member since I am a current board member in my second term with the Goleta Union School District, the largest feeder to the SBSD Secondary program. I have occupied all positions on the board including president, and I have been a very active member. Since I've been on the board, we have improved relations with our teacher's union, the classified staff, and administrators, made great strides in fiscal transparency, and have measurably and significantly improved education for all students. As a measure of our success, we have seen improvements in test scores averaging 45 points this year with even greater gains being made by our Latino and socioeconomically disadvantaged students. For reference, a gain of 5 points is considered successful. This is a huge gain and the result of a lot of work by the district's teachers, classified employees, and administrators under my and the rest of the board's leadership.

Not only do I love teaching, I love learning. I first started with a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from Cal Poly, S.L.O., and then I got a master's degree in electrical engineering with an empahsis in robotics from U.C.S.B. Finally, I received a Ph.D. in Geological Science from U.C.S.B. with an emphasis on computational geochemistry. Currently, I am working on completing the masters in governance courses from the California School Boards Association.

Lastly and most personally, I am an active parent with children in both GUSD and SBSD. Next year however, I will have both children in SBSD. This gives me a parent's perspective on the current issues facing the district.