Questionnaire for School Board Candidates

By Rebecca "Bekki" VanVoorhis-Gilbert

Below are my responses to twelve questions posed to each of the five school board candidates by the Orinda Education Association.

School Board Candidate Questions:

1. What in your background leads you to believe that you would be a successful Orinda Union School District School Board member?

My educational background includes a J.D. from the University of San Francisco and an MSW and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. In addition to my volunteer experiences, I have worked as a tenured professor at CSU Hayward teaching courses on Social Policy, Parenting, Research and Human Behavior and as a litigation lawyer in San Francisco. I've authored several books and articles on social policy, and have experience in survey research and data analysis. I believe that my educational experiences, civic leadership, legal training and analytic skills make me well qualified to serve on the OUSD Board.

2. Please describe your community activities during the last three years.

I have been an active volunteer in school and civic since moving to Orinda in 2002. Over the last three years, my school-related activities include:

• Serving as Room Parent, Think First Instructor and Garden Parent concurrently for both of my children's class at Wagner Ranch (2007-2010)
• Chair, Parent Education, Wagner Ranch, 2009-2010; 2010-2011
• Technology Committee Member, since 2010
• Founder and Chair of Save Environmental Education (SEE) in Orinda, 2009
• Volunteer, Measure A, B & E
• Chair, Friendship Day, Wagner Ranch, 2007
• Chair, Teach Hospitality Committee, Wagner Ranch 2007
• Legislative Representative, Wagner Ranch, 2007

(For my complete CV please visit http://www.bekkigilbert.com)

3. What are your top three goals for the Orinda Union School District? What are your ideas for addressing these goals?

If elected I would: 1) Support a full and open examination of all aspects of the budget to determine where tax dollars might be saved, combined with a commitment to cost-containment, 2) Seek to increase public and teacher involvement/input to inform decision making; and 3) Promote 21st Century Student skills

Specifically this would involve:

• An evaluation of administrative overhead, salaries and bonuses compared to those in comparable districts
• Support for creative revenue generating ideas that include alternative uses of school resources
• A conservative approach to discretionary spending
• Making line-item budget data readily available to public scrutiny on the District website as in other districts
• Moving the time of board meetings to evenings to allow working parents and teachers to attend and actively participate in the process as in other districts
• Revising and updating the Strategic Plan to promote efficiency, intra-district collaboration within a long-range vision that replaces ad-hoc annual decision making in response the vagaries of the state budget
• Making board packets available on the District website
• Publishing board minutes that clearly express all the comments from the public;
• Increasing the in-put of parents, community members and teachers as partners in the educational enterprise through the use of district-wide surveys ; and
• Advocating that the District Technology Plan be revised in-house utilizing community expertise and incorporating project-based learning.

Improving communication and responsiveness to parents, teachers and community are central to my platform. Please see answer above and also #5 below, for my specific ideas on to achieve these goals.

5. How are you educating yourself on issues that are the most important to the work of teachers?

To learn about the OUSD, I have attended Board meetings for almost 2 years and visited all the Orinda schools + talking with parents, teachers and citizens about what is and what is not working in the district. I've also studied how other local school boards operate. I've learned while there are many positives forces within the district, there is room for improvement.

As a former educator myself, I know what a significant role teachers play in the success of our students. While performance on standardize tests is one measure, I am equally concerned about issues such as teacher job satisfaction, preservation of adequate prep-time, implementation of a viable teacher/district feedback loop, and the empowerment of teachers to do what they do best + TEACH, NURTURE and INSPIRE children.

In my conversations with teachers at all 5 school sites, I have the distinct impression that the OUSD has moved toward a `top down bureaucracy' that neither values nor solicits the opinions, advice or concerns of the teachers. To my mind, this not an acceptable situation.

As an OUSD Board Member, I would seek to institutionalize a drop-in office hour style relationship with teaching faculty (perhaps one afternoon a month at each school site), where teachers could drop-by, talk about both what is running well and where there are areas for improvement. I would also seek to encourage more collaboration within school sites, and across the district.

6. It is clear from educational research that student performance is closely linked to the quality of teaching.

What role do you believe the school board has for attracting, retaining, and supporting effective teachers?

I would suggest that the OUSD implement a "Recognition of Excellence" stipend or sabbatical, to attract and retain gifted teachers. The stipend (which would be based on parent and/or peer nomination) could provide a summer sabbatical grant for teachers to pursue extended learning opportunities both domestically and internationally. Limitations could be placed on the number of times an individual could be awarded within a 5 year-time frame.

7. What are the priorities specific to OUSD that you would represent if elected, and what solutions would you offer?

My election platform is predicated on 4 principles:

• Fiscal Integrity and Academic Excellence during Difficult Financial Times
• Responsiveness to Parent, Teacher and Community Opinion
• Transparency in Process and Communication
• Advancement of 21st Century Student Skills

In my opinion as a parent, active volunteer and OUSD Board Candidate, all District Office Personnel evaluations should include feedback from both members of OEA, other staff and parents. Given my background in survey research, I would advocate for the implementation of a District-wide surveys from stakeholders on a variety of issues, including, but not limited to central office personnel evaluations.

9. If there were to be cuts to the budget next year, what would you cut and why?

As indicated previously, I have some concerns that the District Office is not operating as efficiently as possible. Prior to making any cuts I would engage in fact finding to determine: · An evaluation of administrative overhead, salaries and bonuses compared to those in comparable districts · Support for creative revenue generating ideas that include alternative uses of school resources

I am advocating that the District develop a 1, 3 and 5-year plan to weather the California State budget, that is based on consensus, collaboration and creativity.

Most candidates will say that want to keep cuts `as far away from children and classrooms' as possible. In order to accomplish this, I would suggest the following three strategies. One way to accomplish this goal is to re-examine the number of employees and the salary structure of the OUSD District Office compared to similar districts (Lafayette, Moraga, etc.).

In my informal analysis, given the size of the student population, there may be room for additional adjustments. Second, I would use a "student contact hours" analysis in order determine what to thoroughly examine the number of students who benefit from a particular activity or program to determine if the program is efficient and worth sustaining. Finally, in general during these troubled times I would advocate for a reduction of programs or services where possible, rather than the complete elimination.

10. When the State does provide our District with additional on-going revenue, are you interested in restoring any programs that were previously cut? Explain.

Unfortunately, I think it may be upwards of 5 years before the State of California is in the position of increasing revenue to any District. The District Plan I advocate above should include a detailed analysis on this issue.

11. How do you see the Orinda Education Association becoming an equal partner in the development of the budget?

To my mind, there is clearly a lack of communication between the OUSD Board, Administration, OEA, EFO and the community-at-large which needs to be dealt with straightforwardly. I do not believe in top-down management, and think the OUSD Administration and the Board both need to engage in a series of activities to ensure that that OEA is an equal partner both in shaping the contours of curriculum and in determining the best way in which to spend our limited resources.

12. What do you see as the role of teachers in providing input for the decisions that the school board makes?

As mentioned above, as an OUSD Board member I would actively solicit teacher input, as I believe that teachers, along with parents, have the best sense for what is in the best interest of children.