I will bring transparency to leadership.

Budget Decisions

I understand that each school has basic needs; however, each school does have unique needs too.

I plan to increase budget communications between the Board, the Superintendent and our school communities.

I want to ensure that the most funds go where they are needed most, and that there are not conflicts of interests for Board members. We can do this by:

• Clearly showing our community where the money comes from

• Explaining the restrictions on how the funds can be spent.

• Clarifying which programs used the funds.

• Reviewing whether or not programs and allocations are having the desired results.

We deserve to see how specific programs have worked (or have not) to increase student retention, academic growth, teacher retention, social-emotional intelligence, among other district-wide goals.

We also need to know when a program’s desired results are not met. I pledge to keep doing the next right thing, which means communicating when it is time to remove part, or all, of something that is not leading us towards excellence.

Curriculum and Assessment

When I have a question about what my children are learning, I know I can ask teachers, look at a syllabus, or even scroll through the GUSD website.

But many of us don’t have the time or know where to even look in the first place. Without a clear partnership in our chosen educational curriculum, coupled with a growing lack of trust, parents are left to make assumptions about when and what is being taught, which understandably creates room for anger and fear to grow.

As your board member, I will take steps to:

• Meet families where they are, whether at school sites, in local parks, or at designated town halls.

• Clarify which decisions a board makes and which are required compliance by state/federal law.

• Provide training to parents on how to use Google Classroom, etc. to see what and how their children’s curriculum requirements and the review committees. I will urge GUSD to share more details about our rigorous and relevant curriculum that meets California’s established K-12 state standards. Transparency creates trust. Trust allows our GUSD community to flourish.

• Meet with parents and educators involved in specialized programs, including FLAG, SpEd, and GATE to get feedback on what these programs need and what is working.

• Regularly visit not only our Area C schools, but all schools and levels of education so that I can feature our amazing educators’ exciting lessons and student work that I know are happening each and every day in GUSD.

  Every school is made special and unique by those teachers and the families in it. I look forward to being a bigger part of the GUSD family.