Candidate for
County Superintendent of Schools; County of Santa Cruz

Rowland Baker on the Topics Why are you running?

• I'm a lifetime resident of this county.

• I was born and raised here, went to local public schools.

• I'm committed to this county and to the success of all students who attend our schools.

• I believe every student should have the opportunity to succeed.

• I want to make a difference.

• In my 33 years of working in the schools throughout Santa Cruz County, I have had experience in working with all the districts in the county.

• I have had 15 years in the classroom, 18 years in administrative leadership, serving as a successful site principal of two schools during that time. For the last several years, I have worked with Diane Siri as part of her leadership team overseeing many of our county wide programs.

• I have directed 4 state wide projects for the California Department of Education, one that has expanded to other states and received recognition from the U. S. Department of Education.

• During this campaign, I will listen, fact find, and respond to parents, community leaders and educators about what's working well, and what needs attention.

• I believe every student can succeed and needs to have an opportunity to achieve that success. This means beginning at preschool, ensuring that they have a strong foundation, as well as making sure they have all the skills needed to pass the high school exit exam. We need to go beyond the debate on policies, and put in place programs that have a strong focus on literacy and math skills.

• I am supportive of accountability to improve academic performance for all students. We face the challenges of making sure our students who struggle with poverty, high mobility and are English language learners are given the opportunity to succeed in our schools and communities.

• We need to be an advocate for all our students and help open the doors for them. This last year, I put together a county wide program to assist 150 seniors who had not passed the High School Exit Exam.

• We need to advocate for adequate funding for all of our schools to provide the opportunity for a world class education for every one of our students, regardless of socio-economic background.

• I will work at the local and state level with legislators to advocate and support legislation that will address the severe needs of school districts experiencing declining enrollment and the resulting loss of programs.

• It is important to maintain a system of local control in our school districts while continuing to look at ways to consolidate services to make the most effective use of our local school systems and economy of scale.

• I will work with districts to attract, support and retain the best and the brightest teachers and school leaders within our community with competitive compensation and supportive working conditions.

• We need to focus on preparing and attracting a new generation of teachers and school leaders to replace those who are retiring in the next five years.

• We need to provide training for educators and resources for programs to address the unique needs of our diverse student population in Santa Cruz County.

• I will work with districts and local governmental and community agencies to make the responsibility of student safety a county wide focus.

• I will work with districts to ensure that the health of our students is a major focus and supported at each of our sites.