Responses to Questions from Piedmont Post

By Jon F. Elliott

This paper compiles questions asked by the Post, and my replies. We are limited to 250 words per answer.

"I've been volunteering for the past 10 years. I started out the ways many parents do: helping in classrooms and driving carpools for field trips after my older children started at Havens. I still do lots of one-off tasks, such as driving carpools and keeping score at games (my kids are in 5th, 10th and 12th grades).

Most of my volunteer time is spent in school- and District-level committees, and preparing questions, comments and recommendations for items on School Board agendas. Most are venues where programs are being evaluated, so I can ask questions, help frame approaches, and team up with District staff and other parents to help develop recommendations. Official activities include:

• Science Fairs and Family Science Nights (off and on since 2002-3, including planning for the next one in 2012),
• PMS Site Council (2006/7 + 2008/9, including as parent co-chair) and PHS Site Council (2009-10 and 20010-11)
• K-12 Curriculum Reviews of Math, English Language Arts and World Language (continuously since 2007-8)
• District Gifted and Talented Education Advisory Council (continuously since 2007-8)
• Citizens' Advisory Committee to the Parcel Tax Program Measures B & E (since 2009; Chair for two years)
• I've also worked with the Assistant Superintendent to draft updates to the District's anti-harassment policies, with the Assistant Principal and other parents to revise the PHS Parent and Student Handbook, have drafted language for several topics on the District website, and have participated in the Shaping Our Future process, and the current "WASC" re-accreditation process at PHS"

"The District has made a lot of "small" cuts "at the edges" over the past several years. I believe we should review the cuts and seek to restore the most damaging cuts first + recognizing that the costs of individual changes vary a LOT (from $1000 or so to restore the stipend for overseeing certain student clubs, to $90000 per day of furlough), and that a one-time restoration (such as a furlough day) doesn't have future budget implications and doesn't risk further stress that ongoing revenue fluctuations could cause stop-start-stop program changes.

From my experience and conversations in site councils and parent clubs so far, I would lean toward:

• one-time restoration: furlough days for targeted professional development, since a good day here leverages throughout the other 180 days of the school year
• ongoing restoration: elementary school aide time and all school librarian time + these positions provide a lot of support to students, teachers, and the whole educational process, so I believe the real costs of recent cuts are higher than they first appear ... and that the benefits of restoration would also be amplified."

"I've been pushing the District for two years for a serious review of the Interdistrict Transfer policies by which out of town students can attend Piedmont schools. Nearly 200 of the District's 2500 students presently live outside Piedmont. Most of these are children of District and City employees, and all but a few of the rest attend Millenium High.

Information presented by the District tends to confuse how "capacity" is measured. It usually means student-teacher ratios: how many children do we target in each classroom? I wouldn't want to raise those ratios unless we had to.

That's different from asking whether there's physical space for additional classes - such as classrooms that aren't used all the time. PHS once had 150 more students than now and PMS had 100 more, but the District believes that those high-water enrollments were too crowded. They acknowledge there may be room for additional students, but still haven't analyzed how many would be too many.

We need to determine if there's room, and if so how much. I hope it's possible to add students that meet the District's needs and comply with applicable laws + a lottery mechanism would let the District cap the transfers at a desired level. Larger enrollments might let us further enrich student opportunities by adding new courses or more sections in existing courses. Larger enrollments might also let us admit some grandchildren of Piedmont residents. We count on these grandparents to support our schools by voting for and paying parcel taxes, and I believe it would strengthen our community to give them even more reasons to support our schools."

4. What are some of the ways PUSD can improve its program to keep up with other high performing districts?

"I've participated in ongoing working groups over the past five years, and each time we've found ways to further enhance the District's efforts. In curriculum reviews, for example, staff and parents found that the District's science, math and English programs all lacked courses provided by other high-performing districts. The District subsequently expanded its offerings. I have also pushed to update our lists of high-performing districts and schools, and to look at them as competition as well as benchmarks. I have also proposed that we interview Piedmont families who send children out of the District, to search for feasible ways to serve them better. I've also support polling of recent PHS/MHS graduates to assess their preparation for college or other post-high school programs.

In curriculum reviews and through site-specific committees, teachers have proposed enhancements, and then moved forward on these areas with enthusiastic support from parent groups and individual parents. These include making more systematic use of resource materials, coordinating among teachers at grade or class levels to improve consistency, and developing teaching approaches that better reach students with different learning styles and readiness.

In Board meetings, the Citizens Advisory Committee on Parcel Tax Measures B&E, and other committees, District personnel and other participants constantly evaluate ways to maintain adequate funding to preserve and enhance programs. These include continuing support for professional development for staff and updating technology for their classrooms. Although Piedmont's traditional revenues are lower than many high-performing Districts, our parcel taxes and fundraising keep our high-quality programs financially viable."

5. The City of Piedmont and Piedmont School District have been working for more than a year to create an equitable replacement fund for artificial turf fields. The City and School District co-operatively have decided that participants in all sports programs + city-sponsored, school-sponsored and youth sports organizations + should pay a fee (surcharge) to cover the cost of maintenance (such as the resurfacing of the city-owned tennis courts), and ultimately the replacement of artificial turf fields, which generally have a life span of about 8-10 years. A. Do you support such a concept? B. Should such a system include all participants and sports programs for children in grades K-12, or are there exceptions?

"Replacement and resurfacing costs are fairly predictable, and we know they will be large when they occur. Knowing that, we either develop ways to collect and set aside money, or count on yet another fundraising push each time a field surface finally wears out. It always seems to me to be better to budget and collect for predictable expenses + especially when so many funding issues are unpredictable these days. In concept, I think that scheduled users, youth and adult, should bear most costs of repair and replacement. However, some time at most of these facilities also should to be set aside for informal public use, which would justify some proportional contribution from general funds. I've reviewed everything publicly available since this discussion surfaced, but there's no detailed proposal to evaluate whether balancing is appropriate, or whether exceptions would be justified."

6. For many years the City and School District have granted one another use of their facilities on a no-fee basis. In addition, the City's Recreation Department for more than two decades has operated the Middle School sports program initiated by a request by the school district. A. Do you believe the mutual no-fee use of facilities should continue? B. If fees are imposed, do you believe they should be reciprocal? Such fees might include:

• City use of school-owned school facilities (Witter Field, 2 gyms at middle school, High school gym)
• School use of city-owned facilities (Rec and Park tennis courts, Beach Field, Coaches Field, community pool)

7. Most previous questions have focused on the specific issues facing the City Council and School Board. It would be helpful for residents to know what sort of candidate could best contribute to solving these issues. As an elected official, what steps would you take to work with your colleagues and the community to provide leadership on a range of issues before you?

"The School Board's primary roles are to set policies, and then oversee implementation by District staff. Board members are not so much 5 individuals with their own agendas, as members of a larger team -- who shouldn't be expected to agree unanimously every time but certainly should spend most of their efforts articulating a vision and pursuing common goals.

Within this team, it's great if individual members champion issues they're particularly passionate about or where they can provide particular expertise. Each should be willing to push against the easy answer when an important issue is being neglected. It takes 3 votes. An effective Board operates collegially. Any member who expects to "own" an issue and jam through changes before developing support, is unlikely to succeed. Instead, that person will end up with irritated team-mates, disappointed constituents and personal frustration. I learned this lesson the hard way 30 years ago, as an impatient policy advisor to one of five members of the state commission that regulates public utilities.

For the past 5 years I've advocated for excellent educational programs that reach every student, public information and participation opportunities that are clear and meaningful, and financial policies that recognize resource limitations and balance the needs and aspirations of our entire community. This includes students and their families, empty-nest families, and our dedicated teachers and professional staff. I won't be shy about pushing the consensus forward, but I won't pick fights just to score points against my own team-mates. I'll always remember it takes 3 votes."

8. At the recent League of Women Voters Candidates Forum, most candidates expressed confidence that the City and School District will move forward in a positive way financially and otherwise. A. How does the suit filed by Friends of Moraga Canyon impact the community's ability to move forward? While the lawsuit is welcomed by some neighbors, others worry about the impact on children if Piedmont cannot provide adequate field space. What will the lawsuit mean for Piedmont's strong youth sports tradition? B. Should the city worry that residents may not continue to dig deep for parcel taxes and donations if the assumption is that their efforts to improve the community will be stymied by lawsuits?

"The City owns Blair Park, and the project is designed to provide sports and recreational opportunities for the children served by both the City and the School District. But Blair Park has become hugely divisive, and disagreements about the proposal and City procedures are spilling over into other issues. Some days it does seem that Piedmont could split into warring camps that might destroy community consensus on other issues -- maybe even parcel taxes and donations for our schools.

I hope that all sides can clarify and narrow the range of their disagreements, and hold Blair Park as an important issue about which well-meaning people can and do disagree. I also hope that future processes will be designed to reduce the risk that contentious issues will fracture our community. Disagreement and conflict are normal parts of any community's life. Working through them and moving forward takes practice and a commitment to the larger goals of the community.

If elected to the School Board, I will continue to push for early and meaningful public involvement in issues of community concern, and for thorough analysis and clear disclosures of hard numbers and underlying assumptions. That's the most promising way to find agreements, to narrow differences that can't be bridged, and to keep our disagreements respectful."

9. What do you think the school district can do to better incorporate technology in the classroom?

"There's a LOT going on at all levels, and most of it is effective. Ongoing priorities should continue to be:

• identifying and acquiring highest - priority equipment and software. It's important to focus on purchases and upgrades that will deliver the highest educational impact. The District needs to balance site-specific needs and priorities, recognizing that technology use is a skill to be developed, just like effective writing. Students need to be able to deepen their skills as they progress from elementary to middle to high schools.

• supporting teachers in effective use of technology. This includes professional development and training teachers, and designating effective users as peer mentors. It also involves evaluating teachers on effective use. For example, there are wide differences in teacher use of software provided to manage and report grades during the term, and some students experience long lags in performance feedback, reducing their ability to get help if they need it.

• supporting students in effective use of technology. Library staff cuts hurt in this area. Library staff provide a lot of training in use of research-related software and the Internet, so they are key to empowering students as self-directed learners, a primary goal embraced by our schools. In many cases, we can't rely on parents as effective partners in this rapidly-changing aspect of education.

• recognizing all these tasks are constant needs, rather than items for periodic review. Technologies and applications evolve so quickly that today's best choices will be obsolete when the Post asks this question for the next election..."

"Parents are less satisfied with world language programs than with most other academic areas, according to recent surveys. I've heard a wide range of concerns from individual students and parents as well. Unfortunately, while the concerns are clear, the effective solutions are not. Specific, detailed evaluation processes are underway District-wide and at every school level, so we should have thoughtful information and appropriate options to consider within the next year.

It's too early in all these processes to pinpoint the adjustments we'll find and make to strengthen world language programs. Basic or introductory languages might be a strong candidate for alternative teaching methods, with broad use of computer-based, self-paced instruction to extend classroom teacher resources. Alternatively, it might make sense to team up with other small districts and share teacher resources. The peer review process the teachers are building into their Evaluation Progam may help identify and correct individual issues. I've been involved in similar reviews that helped us find ways to make significant improvements in science, math and English programs + I'm confident that we can work together to do so with languages as well."