If elected to the Gilroy School Board, I would work to set the highest standards for all components of the classroom experience and then prioritize the use of the District's resources to achieve these standards.
What is the most important issue in my election?
The foundation of my candidacy is our School District's need to provide an academically rigorous program for all Gilroy students. This means setting the highest standards for all components of the classroom experience, including curriculum, instructional materials, teachers, students, parent support and input, and overall academic culture, and then prioritizing the use of the District's resources, both human and monetary, to achieve those standards.
If elected, how would I deal with this issue?
- I would work to ensure that the School Board members make the monitoring of student progress a regular part of its agenda in order to identify what is and is not working as the school year progresses. Currently, the School Board receives regular updates on construction and facilities, but waits until annual standardized test results are released to address student achievement. By this time, problems have persisted unaddressed for over a year, and smaller problems that could have been addressed earlier have grown more insurmountable.
- I would engage those directly involved in the classroom experience, such as teachers, students, and parents, and not outside consultants and think tanks, about what they identify as the barriers to academic excellence in Gilroy classrooms.
- I would work for classrooms that empower our teachers and respect their judgment as professionals. I believe that our current District policies have eroded their power and distracted them from teaching their subject matter.
- I would work for objective criteria for hiring, evaluating and releasing teachers and district employees. Criteria based on whether or not a person is a "good fit" are arbitrary and counterproductive and have resulted in the loss of highly qualified teachers.
- I would build a budget from the classroom up. This means that instructional needs would come first, and administrative needs second. This district holds its teachers accountable for student achievement, but then does not give them the supplies, materials and support they need in order to do their job.
- In a time of budget cuts and unsatisfactory student progress, the time has come to put all of the District's expenditures and allocation of resources on the table to analyze how effective they are in promoting academic achievement. I have experience in managing a business, and would search for alternative and sustainable sources of funding.
- Currently there are no school board members on the Gilroy Board with students in the district. As a parent with three children who have already graduated from Gilroy High School and one still enrolled, I would bring the parent's voice to the decision-making process.
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