FOCUS. ACCOUNTABILITY. TRANSPARENCY. RESULTS.

My Platform

I. Increase Focus on Core Curriculum and On What Is Proven to Work

Increasing the focus of the board and administration on improving core curriculum performance (mathematics, biology/physics/chemistry, english/reading/vocabulary).  I believe our schools at the elementary and middle school level need to provide an even better foundation of core skills before they enter high school.

 

The workforce is already changing.  Being able to work for the same company for your entire career is a luxury we no longer have.  Our educational system needs to make sure our kids have the skills they need to be successful.

I also believe our children need a stronger emphasis on the events that shaped our nation.  I am a firm believer that our students need a deeper education into how our nation was formed and how it struggled.  Our students need to understand the foundational elements that differentiate our 'experiment' in democracy from all other forms of governments.  We need to understand what it means to be American - this does not mean we do not celebrate other cultures or experiences.  It does mean that we understand that there is more that brings us together than separates us.

 

This is not a time, however, for mass experimentation - where entire classes of kids potentially miss critical building blocks.  Although we are facing change we cannot lose focus on building core skills - math, science, vocabulary/reading.  These skills are foundational to critical reasoning, argument, communication, and arranging work.

II. Help Translate Good Ideas into Good Policy

Ensuring that good ideas turn into good policies, that good policies are implemented with accountability and transparency for results without causing unintended consequences

  • How we approach 'closing the achievement gap' without adversely impacting our best and brightest.  How do we make sure the kids in the middle are not left out. 
  • How we provide our kids with better life skills that will be required for the next generation of work
  • How do we plan for the future shift in student enrollment while still allowing students to go to school in their neighborhoods

Patrick Henry said it well.  I want to make sure that these and other policies are interpreted in a way that does not pit group against group or provide an unfair playing field.  I will do my part to make sure everyone who has an "oar" is paddling in the same direction.

 

The board and administration are spending alot of time on these and other issues.  The board, now more than ever, needs people who can add different perspectives to these issues.  People who have experience determining and implementing policy.  I believe my experience in business will be of particular benefit in this space.

III. Strike the Right Balance of Accountability and Responsibility with Increased Transparency

Striking the right balance of empowerment, roles and responsibilities for the administration with oversight and accountability at the board level. The role of the board and administration needs to ebb and flow in response to the challenges we face. It is important to have clear lines of accountability and responsibility and alot of work has gone into clarifying the roles of each over the past 2 years. I would characterize the role of the board and administration as very supportive. I do believe, however, that a stronger more active board is a requirement to help reposition our system to better address the new challenges we face. I also believe this can and should be done in partnership with the administration -- we need to forge a new, deeper relationship.

 

"...it is important to set up measurement systems to focus on teacher engagement, the quality of assignments and lessons, student effort levels, persistence, and intrinsic satisfaction, as well as multiple performance measures for students during the year such as district-wide tests. For one thing, what gets measured gets done.

 

-- Larry Bossidy, ex-CEO of Allied Signal, Honeywell, and GE Credit plus the author of "Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done"