Candidate for
School Board Member; San Mateo Union High School District

Education & Work Experience:

I graduated (BA + Speech) from San Francisco State University in June, 1957. After taking a job as a high school teacher of English in Oroville, CA, for one school year, on a provisional credential, I returned to S.F. State to complete a Credential to Teach the Deaf, and Masters Degree in Special Ed. in June, 1961. Starting in the '59-60 school year, I was employed by the San Jose Unified School district as a "Special Day Class" teacher of the deaf. I later completed a Standard Secondary Credential at San Jose State University in August, 1969. I completed a Supervisory Credential at San Jose State in August of 1973. I completed a General Administrative Services Credential at San Jose State in February of 1977.

I worked for the San Jose Unified School District from September 1959 to June, 1978, primarily as a teacher of the deaf, starting at the Kindergarten level for two years, then moving to the high school level. However, during the last three years of my employment with SJUSD I worked as a "Special Education Resource Specialist," helping the Superintendent for Special Education to coordinate the district's (1) Deaf, (2) Educable Mentally Retarded, (3) Visually Handicapped, and (4) Gifted programs. During that time, one project I coordinated was the publication of poetry and other writings by the district's GATE Program students, called Kaleidoscope.

In 1978 I applied for, and was selected out of 20 candidates, for a position with the San Mateo County Office of Education as "Program Manager" of the SMCOE's educational programs for the deaf and severely hard of hearing students--both special day classes and students receiving "integrated" (pull out) services from County Office teachers. During the last three years of my employment with the SMCOE (1987 + 1990) I returned to the classroom as the teacher of the SMCOE's multiply handicapped Special Day Class. I retired from public school teaching at age 56 in 1990.

Following the above work for two employers for most of my adult life, I continued my work in education, but in several quite different ways. From 1990 to 1993 I both presented my own teacher in-service workshops to schools throughout the S.F. Bay area, (primarily in the area of building student self-esteem/confidence/self-directedness) and coordinated college credit teacher education courses offered by the University of Phoenix. I also did occasional substitute teaching work for the SMUHSD. During the 1993-94 school years I took a one year job at a private school in San Francisco, the Jamestown Learning Center, which operated one class for severely emotionally disturbed deaf students, 14-19 years old. Following that experience, I started my own private tutoring business--Master Teachers' Tutoring Service. I traveled to individual homes all over the SMUHSD. I did this for 10 years--1994 to 2004. I retired completely in October of 2004 when we made out last home mortgage payment.

Brief Personal Information:

I was married for 22 years to my first wife, Marjorie Havis, and we raised two wonderful daughters--Carol and Kathryn. Both are now very successful adults living in San Jose, CA. My first wife and I were divorced in 1981. I married Ekaterina (Katia) Bugaeff in June of 1990. We own a home on Grand Blvd. in the San Mateo Union High School District.

Interests and Philosophy:

I have always been very interested in the fields of Science and Philosophy. This naturally brought me to the ancient philosophy of Materialism or Naturalism. This philosophy is often associated with the earliest Greek advocates of Skepticism, such as Epicurus and Lucretius who proposed that that there were no "unseen worlds" or realms; no mystical influences or agents; no dimensions or locations where dwell gods, ghosts, heaven, hell, purgatory, etcetera. (Some of these philosophers believed there were gods, but they were inert; that is, they did not interact with humans or the world.)

All of the above is by way of explaining the foundations of my long interest in the scientific, or secular, or atheistic (without god-belief) view of the world. I joined the Humanist Community of San Jose when it started in 1962. Later, from 1987 to 1997, I was active with the now no longer extant, Humanist Community of the Peninsula. I served as President during its last two years. I am presently on the Board (Steering Committee) of the San Francisco Atheists, an affiliate of the American Atheists, and have published numerous articles in various journals and magazines concerned with a scientific, non-religious view of life.

My other great passion is anti-war activism, and related activism concerned with the increasing violence in and militarization of our society. I was very involved in the 60's and early 70's with the San Jose Peace Center in anti-Viet Nam War activity. As with what I call my "rationality activity", above, I continue with that interest and activism. When I moved to San Mateo in 1981 I joined what was then called Beyond War. I have been an active member of the Green Party since 1992, and served on the County Council of the Green Party of San Mateo County (an elected position) for two years--2004-2006. I joined Peace Action of San Mateo County in 1997 and presently serve as the Vice-President of PASMC.

All of the above informs my abiding interest in what I see as the primary purpose of public education--to help develop a strongly self-motivated, scientifically literate, critical thinking, environmentally conscious citizenry. Not only is true democracy at stake, but additionally with the critical problems now facing all of humankind, our future generations must, more than ever before, be able to think most clearly and perform most excellently in this world if we have any chances of surviving for many more generations.

Don Havis, August, 2007.