League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 2, 2010 Election
	Randy Scofield Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Cambrian School District

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of Santa Clara County and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. How would you determine that the schools are using federal, state, and local funds wisely and fairly and how would you report your findings to the community?

As a school board member a top priority is the responsibility to wisely manage the public's money. To meet this responsibility, I look at a variety financial reports and district plans to ensure that the resources are being used wisely and fairly. The annual district budget, the mid-year and year-end comparisons of actual expenditures to budget, the annual audit reports, school plans, monthly warrant reportst(the detailed list of expenditures) are a few examples of the information I review. As mentioned above, a top priority is to have strong fiscal responsibility, but it needs to be aligned to the district priorities. As part of this process Cambrian conducted a community survey with the results provided to a strategic planning task force which I was a member of. This task force was comprised of community members, parents, teachers and staff, and administrators whose charge was to update the district mission, vision, goals and priorities. These results were adopted by the Board and all administrators and school site councils have been asked to prepare school plans in a format that reflects the alignment of programs and related budgets with the District's priorities. The school plans communicate this information to the community and are available on school websites and are discussed publicly at meetings of the Home and School Clubs, School Site Councils, and meetings of the School Board.

2. Are the schools offering instruction appropriate to the diverse educational abilities of all the students?

I support Cambrian's efforts to continuously improve and look for innovative opportunities to help children learn. The district offers a variety of programs designed to meet the needs of students of diverse educational abilities. The differentiated instructional strategies that all teachers are trained in, materials provided to support this are base of our approach to meeting all students' needs. We need to focus this in significant effort to close the achievement gap that continues to grow in Cambrian schools.

3. Where do want the district to be 5 years from now? What steps should the district take to get there?

I believe in encouraging a district culture that values collaboration, innovation, and effective communication and challenges itself to reach their common goals. I participated in the District's strategic task force and as a board member voted to approve the Strategic Goals for the District.They are reviewed by the community and updated every three years. They are: All students will meet and exceed student learning goals at each grade level. All students will demonstrate and apply critical thinking skills. All students will exhibit effective interpersonal skills and value diversity.

Achieving the goals requires an ongoing and deliberate focus. We have grown this in the past and continue to have success but our ability to drive change and modify to meet our at risk and sub groups needs to be re-aligned to meet the goals above.. This is the foundation on which we move forward to meet the future.

---

Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. Answers must not refer directly or indirectly to another candidate.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
SmartVoter Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

---

Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 11, 2010 14:51
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://www.lwvc.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.