League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Santa Clara County, CA November 4, 2014 Election
	Hafsa Mirza Answers Questions Candidate for Board Member; Mountain View-Whisman 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?

I think that the parents and community are immensely important in developing and over seeing the implementation of the district budget. Better communication through the school channels to inform parents about key decisions and program selections and hosting forums to address these would help to create and promote increased family engagement. All funds spent regardless of the source should be scrutinized to ensure that they are spent consistent with the sources' restrictions and inline with the spirit of the funding provided. Currently, the district community is lacking this transparency and communication. I believe in inclusiveness and I recognize that not everybody has time and bandwidth to engage in all issues. Having the information out there in a timely manner would allow people to be informed, involved and engage best when they can.

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

Right now our schools are going through a challenging time developing and implementing a new curriculum, which is expected to align with common core standards. Decisions about this curriculum need to be made quickly, efficiently and dynamically, maintaining flexibility and reassessing in a timely fashion to make necessary changes. I believe a lot can be changed to make our children ready for the future. Our kids deserve a well-rounded school system with enough time to do music and art year round. Our high achieving and low achieving kids both deserve equal attention and should get some special programs to challenge all of them. MVWSD students are lagging behind in STEM. I want to change it by introducing more hands on programs in Science and Math. Our middle school kids should be allowed to choose more electives. Both our Elementary and Middle school children need typing instructions and anti-bullying programs. Not only do our students need more attention, our staff also needs training in technology, math and science.

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

In five years, I hope that the district is seeing a benefit from what I would expect to be an increased investment in personnel, curriculum and resources. Hopefully this success will be evident in test scores, high graduation rates, well-rounded students entering the high school and engaging in myriad of extra-curricular activities. I believe in a balanced education system that allows every child to identify their strengths and weaknesses and enhance their true potentials. I like to see the district invest in our children today. I feel the district's over prudent planning for future is missing its opportunity to invest in our children now. We need more focus on present if we want to improve our future. Which means spending money today on our students, teachers, core curriculum, resources and electives. We should not tolerate any compromise in education!

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. The answer to each question should be limited to 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: September 28, 2014 21:16
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