Board Member — Lemon Grove School District

The most pressing problems in the Lemon Grove School District  would be budget, test scores, and student attendance.  With my years of experience, I have learned that school boards must learn to be fiscally conservative.  The majority of school districts budgets are for staff salary and benefits. School districts because of limited funding must prioritize times to purchase new text books, computers and computer equipment.  The Lemon Grove School District was able to modernized our schools through the use of the public votes of school bonds.

Test scores and student attendance are connected to parental involvement. As a district, Lemon Grove School District , has reached out to parents through Parents Teacher Association (PTA) to get more parents envolved and have encouraged parents to get involved in their local school councils, and to attend school board meeting. In addition, Lemon Grove School District has held workshops for parents to get a greater understanding of the need for partnerships between families and schools.

It is my opinion that most charter schools are created to meet the needs of students who may not desire to attend public schools or who have not have the desired success when attending public schools.  I serve on the board of the Lemon Grove School District and I work for the San Diego Unified School District. I believe in public education and that families must decide what type of school works for them and their children.

I believe in neighborhood schools; my children all attended schools in the Lemon Grove School District and have all become successful in their own chosen fields. In the Lemon Grove School District as well as other districts, school choice is offered; in many cases students and families have opportunities to attend their neighborhood schools as well as getting intradistrict transferrs. 

In the past years the Lemon Grove School District has used the methods of Restorative Justice.  Students and families are give the opportunties to discuss the issues and develop plans to before returning to the classroom; a period of reflexion instead of being suspended. In addition, counseling is used; talk to students and if needed outside agencies are used when the issues are greater than a school counselor are trained. 

I don't look at our isses as problems, more as opportunitites to become creative and think outside the box to be able to provide the best possible education for every child.  Proper fiscal oversight is always a concern as the cost of business continues to rise and monies from the state are not keeping up with the impact of STRS and PERS on our budgets.  Reaching out and finding the best qualified staff to carry out our goals is imperative.  But mostly, making sure our students and staff are safe, that our facilities are well-maintained, and that every child has an equal opportunity to succeed.  

I believe that under the right circumstances, charter schools are a great option.  Charter schools should have to follow the same guidelines expected of public schools.  They should not be able to deny a student based on ability or disability.  These are the issues I struggle with when it comes to charter schools.  My own children attended a charter high school and both left that school with a top notch education.  Academic acheivement has to be a priority, not profitabllity.

Schools today offer more than just your basic courses.  Many now focus their curriculum in areas around STEAM, Arts, Science, Dual Language, etc.  I believe parents should have a choice to expose their students to more opportunities than what might or might not be offered in their neighborhood schools.  In my district we encourage each site to be autonomous.  We have a dual language school, sciences and humanities academy, a school that focuses on the arts, etc.

There is no one size fits all program that is going to meet the social and emotional needs of every child.  Each child brings to school a unique set of circumstances that has to be taken in to consideration when dealing with behavior issues.  Restorative Justice programs allow children to sit with peers and have conversations to address issues.  All staff is encouraged to greet every child and make them feel important.  A school may be the only constant in that child's life.  Punitive discipline in my opnion does not work.  In most cases, I feel it does more harm than good.  Pulling a student out of school for an infraction removes the ability for that child to learn, even for 1 day.