Candidate for
Board Member; Pacifica School District

I would like to see the implementation of Common Core be a successful, smooth and thoughtful transition for our district. This means I am hopeful that Common Core will provide a challenging and rigorous education for all of our students including those who may have traditionally fallen behind. Preliminary reports in math and reading are promising.

Technology is embedded into Common Core because it is an integral part of today's professional world and educational experience. Technology provides opportunity and enables our students to expand their learning and it reduces the workload on teachers. I feel technology should be an on-going conversation for PSD.

I would like to encourage our district to look at programs that help reduce the suspension rate of our children. Any time we take a student out of the classroom, they're not learning, and studies are showing we run the risk of starting a downward spiral for that child. We have an opportunity to use this information and to do this only as a last resort, while ensuring that disruptive students don't keep others from learning. Like other elementary school districts, I feel that we may be quick to suspend children and we may suspend certain groups of students disproportionately. I feel more discussion is necessary on this topic.