Background/Experience

By Pamela L. "Pam" Fisher

To summarize: I have been involved in education as a professional, volunteer and parent for decades. I also have been elected to a school board twice; serving successfully until the middle of my second term when we relocated to the Coastside. Please see my attached resume.

Why do you think you should be selected over other Candidates?

I am the only candidate who is an educator. My undergraduate degree is in education and my Master's degree is in speech pathology. In my role as a speech pathologist I have worked closely with classroom teachers for decades and had the opportunity to witness how board and administrative decisions affect the day to day functioning in the classroom and the well being of staff and students. I have also experienced 6 years as a board member on a very successful and functional school board in a high achieving district. My professional experience has also been varied. I began my teaching career in a rural district and later worked for many years in poor urban districts with large numbers of English Language Learners and high poverty levels. I also come to this district with a fresh set of eyes on the many complex issues facing the Cabrillo Unified School District.

What are the three most important issues in this campaign that are most important to you and why?

1. My number one goal is to improve the performance of CUSD public schools by advocating for changes in board function so that we may engender a greater sense of public trust and confidence. I will achieve this by:

• Helping achieve more open communication with the public by increasing the number of board meetings from once a month to twice a month.
• Encouraging the board to increase the number of topics discussed openly at board meetings, rather than relying heavily on administrative decisions made by the superintendent.
• Helping to transform the present CUSD board into a more effective organization that promotes continuous improvement across the district.
• Holding public workshops to improve awareness and involvement in exploring many complex issues.
• Assuring that the public will have the necessary information so they can be informed participants.
• Not tolerating any intentional or unintentional violation of the Brown Act.

• Examine present practices in targeting underachieving students.
• Examine district policy related to ELL students entering CUSD at different grade levels.
• Examine effectiveness of the present programs and classroom strategies for ELL students.
• Examine effectiveness of professional development, the teacher evaluation system and faculty support.
• Promote the creation of smaller learning communities within schools particularly at the middle and high school levels.
• Strive for smaller class sizes across the elementary grades.
• Explore curricular issues (content and/or alignment) which may be affecting student performance.
• Seek out model improvement programs in other similar districts that have been successful in improving student performance and teacher effectiveness.
• Explore other factors (socio-economic, parental literacy etc.) related to student success which may be negatively affecting school performance.

• The measures suggested in my previous response should improve this by increasing transparency, reaching out to the greater public (not only the parents of students) and improving partnerships with community organizations and other government organizations.
• We must also identify the number of students who have chosen to not enter or who have left the public school system for private schools, charter schools and home school programs. We must also identify the reasons why they are not enrolled and explore ways to reduce those numbers.
• Advocacy for increased funding must take place at the County and State levels.