Candidate for
Board Member; Campbell Union High School District

The three most important issues facing the Campbell Union High School District are (1) quality of education, (2) California's financial crisis, and(3) the district's communication with parents and citizens.

(1) Quality of education is always the first issue. It has been recently equated with average test scores. This has led to considerable political jockeying about which test to use and confusion about what the test scores mean. Some of my neighbors are determined to move their children out of the district into schools with higher test averages. The fact that everyone needs to keep in mind is that the best predictors of test scores are socio-economic indices. These are largely out of the control of the schools. One should expect higher average scores in wealthier communities like Los Gatos and Saratoga. The advantaged students that they teach make the task of achieving high standardized test scores a lot easier for teachers in these districts. Of course, some Campbell District students have always done as well on these tests as the best students in wealthier surrounding communities. However, due to the fact that socio-economic factors are so important in these tests, average scores are not a very good way to determine the quality of schools.

How then do you judge high school quality? I would suggest that interested districts and parents should track two very important considerations: teacher quality and program options. These are directly related to student achievement and should be assessed directly. When teacher quality is high and program options are maximized, even schools in poor districts can deliver an outstanding education. Although these two cannot eliminate the influence of socio-economic factors, they can reduce their importance.

Research reported by Kati Haycock, Director of the Education Trust, documents the impact of teachers' depth of content knowledge and strong verbal and math skills on student achievement. They rank the states in terms of classes taught by teachers working out of their major field. The range is from 10% (Minnesota) to 29% (Alaska) of the classes. Of the 51 jurisdictions (50 states plus D.C.), California ranks 50th, just ahead of Alaska, with 27% of its classes taught by teachers teaching outside their major field.

The problem is exacerbated by the statewide teacher shortage. There are thousands of non-credentialed teachers working with emergency permits. There will be a need for hundreds of thousands of new teachers in California in the next few years, making teacher recruitment and quality of education high on the list of issues facing every high school in the state. Thus, the recruitment of quality teachers is the most serious challenge facing the Campbell Union High School District.

It is a particularly vexing problem here because of the housing shortage and pricey real estate market. A thoughtful recruitment plan with teacher and parent collaboration is called for. Expanding the current internship plan and developing partnerships with key university departments can help to give the CUHSD its fair share of new teachers with deep subject matter knowledge.

(2) The second most important issue is the state's fiscal crisis caused by the recession and exacerbated by the fact that the state was forced to spend its surplus on energy needs a year ago. For the Campbell Union High School district, the fiscal problem has been further complicated by the out-migration of families from Santa Clara County during the past two years. This has hampered the ability of even expert demographers to forecast enrollment. Such forecasting is critical for fiscal planning. Until the economy improves and the population becomes more stable, it will be a challenge to maintain school programs and balance the budget. Over the past four years we have seen new curricular offerings and some new co-curricular activities instituted, but in the past few months, the dislocations have resulted in a reduction of offerings at Prospect High School. Adjusting to these problems will require careful planning and communication with district teachers and parents. In recent years, the district has done a good job managing its resources, including a favorable lease at the old Blackford campus and major construction at each school which is proceeding according to plan, on time, and on budget.

(3) Communication with parents and teachers is still an issue in the district. Following the unsuccessful Moreland unification drive, the district was engulfed in a rancorous contract dispute with the teacher's union. Now that those two events are behind us, we must find a way to work together for the benefit of the students. The most important need is for the district to encourage and systematically process messages FROM each of its major stakeholders; parents, teachers, students, and citizens. The administration and board need to demonstrate that all have been listened to and that efforts will be made to accommodate them. The highest communication priority is to expand the number of channels and forums through which this might be done. The district needs to ask for feedback. The attitude must be one of "complaints are welcome here."
Some progress has been made in the past four years. Increased articulation with partner district has proceeded nicely. The superintendent has made an intensive effort to meet regularly with community groups and teachers at each site. Some web-sites have been modified permitting the asking of questions and the lodging of complaints. Research shows that organizations with multiple opportunities to give this kind of feedback enjoy more satisfied stakeholder groups than organizations with minimal opportunities to do so. If money were not available to free up faculty or staff time for these functions, some of this work might be done by community volunteers.