Capturing Santa Ana's "Parent Power!"

By Cecilia Aguinaga

Cecilia's Plan for Improving the Santa Ana Unified School District

Our schools have been seen in newspapers, on television and on the internet as examples of educational disasters. Some have been labeled the worst schools in the county, some have had a complete collapse of control, and some have experienced open rebellion by students.

Our community must take action to stop these disasters from happening. We have allowed nonproductive school practices to continue for decades. This is a crisis in the leadership. This is a crisis in our community...AND IT MUST STOP!

You can help stop this crises by supporting my campaign. If I am elected to the Santa Ana School Board on Tuesday, November 4th, the very next day on Wednesday, November 5th, I promise to start my "PARENT Action Plan" for change.

The word PARENT spells out my action plan for our schools:

The first letter is-P...we start with the Parents. I will ask that every school develop a "Parent College" to discuss parenting and school issues.

The next letter A stands for Accountability. I will study each school dollar spent and make sure more money gets into the classroom with the students and teachers. Our school district has operated in the red and taken out expensive loans just to meet the payroll. I will stop this crisis management of the budget with long range projections for success.

R is for Responsibility. I will demand greater responsibility for safe schools by establishing a citywide commission on protecting our schools from violence.

E represents Education for the 21st Century. I will help the district staff and teachers create school programs that give every student the best skills for high wage, and high demand careers.

N stands for the needs of students. I will see to it that schools offer more personalized services for our children. At the moment our current school board believes in "one size fits all" when it comes to education. This is nonsense. I will make sure that more choices are introduced into the curriculum and programs for students.

And lastly, the letter T which is for Transparency. We need greater transparency on school board decisions. I will increase the role of parents and the community in district decision making by having school board meetings that include parents and representatives from our community in special school board study sessions.

That is my "PARENT Action Plan." We need to capture the "Parent Power" in our city. But I will not be able to change a thing without your support.

Please share my "PARENT Action Plan" with your friends and neighbors so that the voice that the school district hears in November is strong and united for stopping the crisis of failed leadership.

Your support for me is a vote to connect our schools to the dreams of the Santa Ana community. Together we can make a difference!