Candidate for
Board Member; Belmont-Redwood Shores School District

One of the priorities for this school district is to make sure they are communicating to all stakeholders and make sure that all parties feel heard and validated. As a new board member, I want to do a lot of listening and a lot of learning from anyone and everyone. I think in order for a board to be effective, they need to have a well-rounded and balanced perspective on the issues. Since the board makes decisions that affect everyone, it's important to hear from everyone.

I think a secondary focus is also supporting and helping to pass the parcel-tax extension that will also be on the November Ballot. With a growing district and school already at capacity, we need to make sure we maintain current funding levels, and look for other ways to bring in revenue into our district.

For years I have always emphasized the importance of teaching my students "soft skills" in addition to academic skills. With the new Common Core Standards, Career Technical education and higher critical thinking skills will finally get the spot light they deserve. I think it's important to communicate to and include the organizations that will eventually employ our students, so that our curriculum always stays relevant and prepares our students for the "real world". I frequently have various community partners come into my classroom to help students get relevant information about what they need in order to be successful after high school.

The budget always gets a lot of attention because it seems we are always out of money. Education is famously underfunded. Thankfully we have a very strong educational foundation that helps bridge the gap. No one likes to see anything cut, but when it comes to a school district's budget, often times programs get cut because they aren't as necessary as teaching the fundamentals. Some programs may be able to get funded privately through a foundation, or resources within the community could be utilized to help save or revive a program from getting cut. In times of budgetary crisis, we can't cling to programs because we like them; we need to evaluate their impact on students, families and the community, and thereby judging their worth. I think it's important to involve all parties in the conversation with out budget. With the new local control funding that is going to put into place, it will be mandated to include more community members. I believe this will help our district with transparency and will hopefully include more "experts" that can creatively find ways to maximize our budget and bring revenue to our district.