Candidate for
Governing Board Member; Torrance Unified School District

We live in the greatest country in the world, where everyone has the right to pursue happiness. The best guarantee to achieving success is through education, whether in the academics and/or vocational trades. Education is the best route out of poverty. This fundamental principle is under attack today.

There has been a systematic attack on public education with a clear funding bias for academic programs and decimation of vocational trades. An unwillingness to foster student success among both traditional and nontraditional students is also evident. Public education should not be a partisan issue, or a battle of management against unions. The United States of America is on a path to becoming a third world nation, if we as a society do not fully invest in public education.

With the majority of incoming freshman college students lacking in basic skills, our nation will forever remain stagnant. We must invest in new, creative, and academic entrepreneurial solutions to reverse the tide of decline. This means fully funding academic and vocational trade programs in pre/K-14, as well as helping all students, whether traditional or nontraditional, achieve success.

Teachers are just one part of the equation of fostering student success. Attention must also be given to classified staff, and administrators. There is a dangerous trend of reassigning full-time employees as long-term substitutes. This effort of saving money has become popular with school districts throughout California. Besides being immoral and wrong, it is detrimental to campus morale, which directly affects student success.

Students of all ages expect a strong institutional support system that provides every opportunity for success. A major guarantee for student success is a campus environment that provides a safe haven for students, faculty, and classified staff. It is not just armed assailants on a campus that is of concern. We must also guarantee that all campuses are properly maintained. There is no excuse for allowing any student to attend class in an unsafe, unsanitary environment. Sanitation and good hygiene is nearly impossible when schools require their students to bring their own toilet paper. This is an insult when a district maintains a multi-million dollar budget surplus.

We can and will do better.