League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Leah K. Read Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Campbell Union 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?

There are a number of ways in which the board evaluates the use of funds, some of these include budget updates, our annual data study session, individual school's Single Plan For Student Achievement, regular progress reports on programs and assessments. All of these reports are presented at board meetings during open session and I actively encourage members of the community to attend.

Another tool that I use is school site visits. Every year I visit each school site to tour classrooms and discuss activities and programs with the school's administration. This gives me first hand experience as to the effectiveness of the programs and student engagement. It also allows me the opportunity to talk with teachers and staff to get their perspective on what is happening at their site.

In addition, this October the District held its State of the District event at the Campbell Community center. The District addressed families, staff, and the community and updated them on the current status of the district. Topics included the district background, number of students and schools, academic success, review of funding sources, and budget allocations.

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

Campbell Union School District has made a concerted effort to address the achievement gap. We have implemented a number of extensive intervention programs and trained our teachers in Guided Language Acquisition and Development (GLAD) and Systematic English Language Development (or Systematic ELD) and are providing coaching and support to implement these strategies.

To address the needs of our high achieving students we added professional development for teachers in Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) and have increased the number of teachers who have been GATE certified. All three of our middle schools offer Avid (Advancement Via Individual Determination), which is a college readiness system that increases learning and performance. More recently we have provided training to our science teachers in MESA (Math, Engineering, Science Achievement) and implemented this program at one of our middle schools.

Closing the achievement gap is a hot topic in education and the board needs to remain diligent in its focus to address this issue while not losing site of the needs of ALL of our students. Quality professional development in GLAD, Systematic ELD, and GATE provides our teachers with tools and strategies to reach all of our learners. We focus on targeted instruction and ensure the needs of each individual student are being met.

3. Where do you want the District to be five years from now? What steps should the District take to get there?

It is the vision of the Campbell Union School District to be a model for innovative programs and instruction that engages, empowers and inspires all children to thrive. This is where I would like the district to be and I truly believe this is possible. We have already taken steps towards achieving this vision.

The arrival of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) provides us with the opportunity to examine our current practices and to find new and innovative programs that address these standards. CUSD has many enthusiastic and inspiring leaders who are working hard to keep the district in the forefront of implementation of CCSS. We need to continue to support and encourage this creative thinking as well as provide training and coaching to our teachers.

In addition, CUSD is in the process of launching our STEAM Initiative. This initiative augments the more commonly know STEM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) but adds Art as CUSD believes the Arts are an important part of learning and should not be left out. STEAM is an interdisciplinary approach to learning that will provide rigorous academic concepts along with real world problem and performance based lessons. I am happy to say that I will be a member of the STEAM committee that will bring together board members, teachers, administrators, professors, industry leaders and parents who will help guide this initiative.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Please answer each question in no more than 400 words. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 16, 2012 15:41
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