Candidate Questionnaire by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce

By Tom Bundros

My responses to a candidate questionnaire developed by the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce

I have served eight years on the Board and have passionately worked to improve academic performance of all students. Standardized test scores have steadily increased; we boast three California Distinguished Schools, Gilroy Early College Academy is ranked best in the State, and Newsweek ranked Gilroy High in the top 6% of the nation's high schools. We continue to create environments which enhance learning; Christopher High School and other renovations are examples of our progress.

Just as I was elected Board President in 2007, we lost our previous Superintendent and much of his cabinet. I led the Board on a three month search for a new Superintendent utilizing the following process:

• we commissioned a wide outreach to staff and community to provide input to the Board in developing a formal Leadership Profile;
• hired a search firm to find candidates who possessed the skills and character traits described in the Leadership Profile, and
• interviewed the candidates, conducted a site visit of the highest ranked candidate, and selected Dr. Deborah Flores to assume the reins of the district.

I've led the District to publish the Board agenda material on the web to promote transparency for the community, as well as to save paper, fuel, and energy costs.

I'm continually looking for examples of high-poverty yet high performing schools and introduced the District to the incredible success Sixth Street Prep was having in Victorville, California. I invited the principal of Sixth Street Prep to a special Board Meeting for a show and tell -- which inspired Principal James Dent of Eliot and a cadre of his staff to visit Sixth Street Prep and see firsthand what was going on. They brought that model to Eliot school which has now become a showcase in demonstrating these practices for other GUSD principals and staff.

My wife and I are committed to Gilroy; we've lived here 30 years, our six children attended Gilroy schools, two of our grandchildren are enrolled in this District, and a third will start in a few years. My family has had a long history of actively supporting local public schools and the arts.

I have a record of demonstrated leadership, eight years of experience, and commitment to excellence which I will apply to the continuous improvement of our schools. I ask for your endorsement and votes in order to continue building a school district in which we can all take pride.

2. If elected, what do you hope to accomplish as a member of the GUSD Board of Trustees during your four-year term?

Academic performance for all students is my highest priority. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) expects school to execute against a steep year-to-year road map of improvement. Although Gilroy Unified is improving, we are not accelerating fast enough to meet NCLB requirements; we have a few schools in "Program Improvement" and more could join them unless we make significant/revolutionary improvement in our academic programs and students are motivated to take full advantage of them.

Thanks in part to NCLB, we now have the capability to track how well individual students are doing from year to year, and the commonalities that distinguish which schools are working and which are not are becoming evident. I intend to lead the Board in identifying successful models and best practices, and insure they are applied at each of our schools.

High performing schools require high performing principals. The Governance team must set high, measurable goals to establish a culture of high achievement, and principals must be held accountable to achieve them.

High quality instruction requires high quality teachers. I will lead GUSD to understand the characteristics of great teachers and insure we have effective programs to identify and recruit them.

The Board has developed a comprehensive facilities plan intended to provide safe, modern, and uncrowded schools; I intend to see that it is executed with fidelity and within the allocated budget.

3. In consideration of the current budget constraints of the Gilroy Unified School District, what are your priorities to ensure a quality education for our students and what areas would you reduce spending and still achieve those objectives?

Due to State deficits, all school districts have had to deal with massive cuts in revenue. Gilroy had to cut over $6 million from its 2010-11 budget + about 10% of the unrestricted general fund. Because we are a growing district and because the Board has been very fiscally responsible over the years, we were able to meet the challenge with a lot less impact to our instructional programs than many other school districts. For example: many districts had to cut as many as five instructional days and lay off teachers. GUSD cut one instructional day and didn't lay off any teachers.

My rule of thumb is to keep cuts as far as possible from the classroom. We need to flag all programs that overrun their budget and impact the general fund. Two examples are Special Education and transportation. We recently commissioned an audit of our special education program that I believe will yield savings opportunities over the next few years. If necessary, I would support the establishment of transportation fees to close the deficient in the transportation budget + as many other districts have already done.

4. The business community is interested in workforce preparation. What policies would you support to ensure that all students have an opportunity to pursue careers in demand industries?

I was a strong advocate in the establishment of the Gilroy Business and Education Partnership and will participate in and support the continuance of that vital dialog and partnership.

All students need a rigorous and solid academic foundation regardless of their life's work; however there are many satisfying and lucrative careers that do not require a university degree. I will continue to support differentiated, high quality tracks for business, vocational, fine arts, and college preparatory studies at our schools.

I also strongly support the teaching of the necessary basic and soft skills required for our students to be successful in any career choice and that also provide high value to their employers.

Finally, character matters. A person can have education, money, and health but in the end, it is their character that will determine if these gifts are used for the benefit or detriment of our community. I believe that ethics should be taught at all grade levels and public service strongly encouraged.

5. Analysis: Eliot School over the past three years added 168 points to their API score even though demographics such as ESL and students on free or reduced lunch programs are cited as reasons for poor performance. What do you attribute to this success and what would you do to expand this success to other school sites?

At a Gilroy Unified board meeting in April 2008, I introduced the governance team to Sixth Street Prep School of Victorville, California. Despite high percentages of English learner (EL) and low-socioeconomic status (SES) students, Sixth Street Prep was achieving higher proficiency results in math, English language arts (ELA), and science than our best elementary schools -- which had lower percentages of EL and SES students (the chart below was shown to the Gilroy Unified Board in April 2008).

One of the keys to Sixth Street's success was in the philosophy and leadership of its principal Linda Mikels: "We can't blame (poor academic performance) on parents. We can't blame it on the socioeconomic background of kids. We can't blame it on parent education or English language deficiencies. We have to take responsibility and be accountable for what happens here."

Mr. James Dent, the principal of Eliot School shares the same philosophy and passion for excellence as Ms. Mikels, and when they were introduced at a subsequent Gilroy Unified board meeting he traveled to Victorville to see firsthand what was making Sixth Street so special. James has since adopted many of the Sixth Street practices + and Eliot's success has now inspired other Gilroy Unified principals to adopt these practices at their own schools.

Strong leadership with a maniacal, unrelenting focus on student achievement is a key success factor found at high performing schools. Others include:

• a school culture that emphasizes, highlights, and celebrates academic rather than non-academic goals.
• The availability and effective use of rigorous standards-based curricula.
• The use of teaching methods that are empirically proven to accelerate academic performance.
• Teachers trained to continually test each and every student for understanding and to take immediate and effective action when remediation is required.
• A principal who can identify effective classroom practices and visits all classrooms frequently to ensure classroom accountability and effectively mentor teachers as needed.
• The ability of grade-level teachers to collaborate in the analysis of student data, identify successful practices, discuss interventions, and design instruction. the high school.