1. Can you summarize what you believe to be the relative merits of both K-5 and K-8 elementary school configurations, and also provide your opinion of which configuration is best designed for SUSD to compete with private and charter schools, as well as other school districts?

The key to a quality education is the teacher in the classroom. The configuration K-5 or K-8 alone does not change academic achievement. There are studies that support both types of schools. Parents are split 50/50 in our district regarding what type of configuration they would like for their children. We have increased the number of K-8 schools in the district and are looking at the possibility of adding K-8 schools to increase parent choice.

2. There was a significant amount of backlash concerning the Facilities Utilization discussions and Community Input Forums held last spring/summer. Specifically, parents and school communities believe that many feasible proposals were ignored or too quickly dismissed by the administration and Governing Board. If elected, how do you plan on reaching out to the community and showing parents that their input is both valued and given proper consideration?

Discussing school consolidations is never a popular topic. I wish that we had adequate education funding from the state to pay our teachers well, reduce class size and keep all our facilities open. The district has to live within its budget. As a board we have accepted community input in forums, on-line and in written form. The district has posted the community feedback and analysis on line. We now video broadcast our meetings. I have looked at and evaluated hundreds of proposals. Many of the ideas that were suggested by the community have merit. The process of taking the community input and integrating those ideas into future plans is ongoing.

3. Given the current economic climate, what are your views on the feasibility of the planned 2009 bond proposal? What items on it do you consider to be priority, and what questions would you like answered before it is finalized?

We have no 2009 bond proposal. We have a starting point to work from. District administration was asked by the board to give an overview of the condition of district buildings and possible facilities plan looking to the future. They presented the needs and plan to the board. The board has asked the administration to go to the community and have them prioritize which of the needs they see as most important.

4. How do you envision SUSD five years from now?

We have made many positive changes over the past four years including, increasing teacher pay, stabilizing enrollment, improving academic achievement, and balancing the budget, to name a few. I would like to see our district continue on that upward path. We will face many challenges over the next few years, most of them financial in nature. If the state budget crisis leads to large decreases in funding for our schools, the quality of education in our district will suffer.