Candidate for
Board Member; Huntington Beach City School District

Celia's concerns about the challenges facing today's students

Students are faced with academic and personal challenges. At school they encounter some of the highest academic standards in the country, and their mastery of this material is tested yearly. HBCSD's test results show high performance at every school. Our district focuses instruction on important curricular content and provides additional support to students who need it.

Personal challenges faced by children in our district are those of their generation: Family upheaval, drugs and alcohol, internet risks, lack of adult supervision, obesity, and so on. Our schools help students cope with these facts of life in many ways: Low class size in grades K-2 helps students bond with their teachers and feel more secure. After school care (fee-based) is provided at all our elementary schools by the YMCA. Both middle schools conduct anti-drug education, and their after-school sports programs are healthy, safe alternatives to an empty home. Internet use at school is strictly regulated. Our district's upcoming Wellness Policy addresses obesity and other health concerns.

Celia's goals for Huntington Beach City School District

1. Continue striving for academic excellence. It's tempting to "rest on the laurels" of fine test scores, but continuous efforts to improve instruction through purchasing the best curricular materials, providing training for our teachers, and tracking each student's progress will keep our district a vital learning community.

2. Maximize our resources. School funding in California tends to be "feast or famine." It takes careful separation of temporary vs. continuous moneys and long-term planning to keep the district on course. I scrutinize the budget and all major expenses to make sure we are providing the best education for today's students while ensuring financial security for future HB children.

3. Provide a safe, secure, modernized learning environment. Thanks to the voters, the local facilities bond and matching state funds have modernized our school campuses. Within the next year, all work should be complete. Looking to the future, I want to see the maintenance vehicles and buses moved off the Smith/Dwyer campus to enhance the safety of those students.

Celia's take on school district finances:

In recent years HBCSD cut its budget to the bone to avoid being taken over by the state or cutting employee salaries. Rising costs of health benefits & special education plus our declining enrollment have combined to make the budget tight. Our district runs lean in terms of administrative overhead as shown by state statistics on administrators per classroom teacher.
We recently began spending money to save money by improving and increasing services the district provides to special needs children. By keeping more of these services "in house" we educate more of our children locally and spend less on outside special education agencies and on nonproductive litigation.
Before joining the board, when I was on a budget advisory committee, I compared our district's budget to the budgets of three similar elementary districts to see if there were funding sources we might have missed or expenses that were out of line in some way. What I found was that HBCSD is doing all that it can for state funding and outside grants and that our expenses are lean compared to these other districts.