League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
	Marin County, CA November 3, 2015 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Board Member; Ross Valley School District

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Marin County and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Most Important Changes Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What is the most important changes you would like to see in your district and why? Answer from Mark E. Reagan: Ross Valley School District has struggled with turnover of its superintendents, as well as its principals and teachers. This requires some serious attention and I will make it my number one priority to help make our schools a place where teachers and administrators want to work and stay. A significant element of the solution to this problem is economic. I propose to build on some of the work of the current Board to use limited resources more wisely. I will undertake a line-by-line review of our budget to identify those places where resources can be spent to retain excellent staff. Further, the State of California is continuing to "back fill" the deficit funding of our schools each year and the Ross Valley Schools will receive increased revenue on this basis every year and should reach full funding by 2020-21, if not sooner. I have proposed that we earmark these funds to improve retention and I am committed to doing so. Beyond economics, there are cultural changes that I believe are essential to improve retention. My experience has been that school districts that have more effective and more meaningful educator training and development have better retention. I have found that one of the keys to making training and development more effective and meaningful is to involve "master" teachers in its design and implementation. I am committed to seeing that this be part of our culture. We have outstanding educators in the Ross Valley Schools and we need to do everything we can to keep them in our District. Another significant challenge that has arisen from our elevated turnover is a lack of consistency across the four elementary schools in Ross Valley. In the recent past, individual school sites have functioned as "islands" and programs have not always been delivered consistently at sites or throughout the District. While I believe that it is important for individual schools to have their own identities and cultures, our delivery of curriculum and the classroom experience itself needs to be more consistent across the District. At times, this lack of consistency has also produced disparities in class sizes, which can adversely impact the classroom experience for student and teacher. My experience has been that supporting teachers through increased aide time can really help when there is no choice but to have larger classes within certain grades. I am committed to making our programs and class sizes more consistent (and smaller) across the district. The Fairfax and San Anselmo communities have greatly supported public education in the Ross Valley Schools through parcel taxes and bond measures. As a result, the District should always be accountable to the promises made to the taxpayers who support this funding. Board members must always be accountable to ensure that these funds are spent appropriately and within the parameters presented to the community. As a parent and former board member, I know well that sometimes it is the small things that make the biggest differences. This is particularly the case with the environments that we establish for our children to learn and thrive. We have the makings of a great school district but we can do much better. I sincerely believe that my experience and approach to governance and collaboration can help us become a truly great place to send our children to learn and develop as better human beings. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.