FOCUS. ACCOUNTABILITY. TRANSPARENCY. RESULTS.

Core Beliefs

  • I believe the board and administration need to listen more to the people who are closest to the educational experience - our teachers (and by extension our teacher-parents).  This should also extend out to learning from the best ideas out there.  From my experience, this is easier said than done.  The board must accelerate the rate of learning from an institutional point of view.

"I am not a teacher, but an awakener"

 

-- Robert Frost

 

  • I believe it is non-negotiable in education that we must provide all students with the opportunity to learn and achieve - that this right spans gender, socioeconomic background, and race. We have to make sure, however, that we continue to push all levels ahead; We must continue to push our best and brightest ahead and cannot leave the group in the middle behind.
     

"Instead of an aristocracy of wealth, of more harm and danger than benefit to society, to make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has wisely provided for the direction of the interests of society and scattered with equal hand through all its conditions, was deemed essential to a well-ordered republic"

 

--Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.

  • I believe we need to 'double our efforts' to provide more enriching core math and science (and related) skills in order for the U.S. to continue to achieve and excel in an ever increasing interdependent world

"By 2020, our nation may be short 14 million college-educated workers, and the trends are moving against us. The cost to the U.S. economy of students unprepared to enter college and the workforce is estimated at close to $4 billion dollars annually in lost wages and remedial education costs. But the long-term cost is exponentially greater." 

 

-- Philippe Dauman, President and CEO of Viacom (in partnership with Bill Gates and "Get Schooled" Initiative)

 

"The collapse of math and science education in the US and the relative decline of investment in basic research is an enormous strategic threat to American national security. There is a grave danger that the US will find itself collapsing in scientific and technological capabilities in our lifetime"

 

-- Newt Gingrich, former Republican Speaker of the House and Teacher

  • I believe in the power of technology, BUT that too much emphasis is placed on using technology for technology sake. That critical thinking skills must first be based on better fundamental math facts and underlying theory. I grew up on the leading edge of technology - I understand that Technology skills are absolutely critical, but it is not a panacea for success -- we need to not lose focus on building stronger foundational skills. 

"I really had a lot of dreams when I was a kid, and I think a great deal of that grew out of the fact that I had a chance to read a lot."

 

Bill Gates, CEO and Chairman of Microsoft

  • I believe in the law of unintended consequences - that good ideas can be incorrectly interpreted or executed. That good ideas correctly interpreted can still cause negative ripple effects throughout the system. As policy makers, we need to be able to anticipate and avoid where possible on one side, and identify issues early on and coarse correct on the other.

 

  • I believe in the concept of 'differentiation' - that business people (or teachers) who excel should be rewarded while those who underperform should either be recast to an area that better matches their strengths and skills or if all else fails be moved out. I believe that this concept can and should be applied to teacher / Principal / Superintendent evaluations and is one of several ways to help close the achievement gap. Our children can ill-afford to 'lose a year here and there' because they had teachers that did not 'push the ball forward. The board, administration, & teachers should work together to find the right path.

"What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good?" he asked to loud applause during an education reform conference..."not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, ‘I can't win.'"..."This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

 

-- Steve Jobs, CEO Apple, Feb 2007 at an education reform conference in TX

 

If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

 

-- Charles Sykes, Author of "Dumbing Down Our Kids"