I am seeking re-election to the Redondo Beach Unified School District school board. I was elected in 2013 to a 4 year term. I has lived in Redondo Beach since 2000 and I am a lifelong South Bay resident. I am a small business order and currently building a new company specializing in lifestyle hockey apparel and bags. Prior to that, I owned and ran multiple companies in the medical and technology fields.
Additionally from 2010-2013, I was President and Treasurer of the Redondo Beach Educational Foundation for 4 years restarting a foundation that was bringing in less than 100,000 per year to a foundation raising a million dollars a year at the time of my election to the school board. I was and am involved at the PTA level at our schools and in our community.
I am re-running for school board for a few reasons: I am a parent of two children in the district and feel it is important that parents are part of their community and get involved in their children’s education and this is one small way that I can give back. There are many ways to give back, whether it be in the classroom, fundraising or, in my case, bringing my 20+ years experience in the business world and almost 4 years now collaborating with our teachers, staff and administrators to develop a stronger educational foundation for our most precious assets.
Education is one of the cornerstones of our community and our kids. I believe investing in our kids is one of the most important legacies that we can do as parents and individuals.
I believe I bring business, fiscal responsibility and real world experience. I have built and sold a few successful companies during my past 20+ years of business experience. One of my most recent companies managed finances of others in excess of 100 million per year.
At the school district, over the past 3 ½+ years, we have moved the needle on many fronts within the district. At the beginning of my term, our district had a 3.03 percent reserve. We have increased reserves by over 230% during my tenure and are laser focused on long-term strategies and planning for our district and community engagement. We have implemented a successful solar program at our schools, below budget, saving millions of dollars in electricity costs directly attributed to our general fund which is reinvested into our students and our community. We have renegotiated leases on surplus properties and other assets that the district owns. We have re-negotiated/refinanced our school bonds interest rates saving our local taxpayers millions of dollars.
Enrollment has increased 9.5% in the past 4 years per our latest audit report in comparison to surrounding districts that are flat or declining enrollment and we have become a destination district. Test scores continue to increase, student engagement is up, continued promotion of college going readiness to ensure that all students have the opportunity to go to college if they choose. Additionally, in conjunction with our city and its Police Chief, in partnership with our school site staff, we have collaborated to enhance our students safety, school sites security, and new protocals to keep up with the changing times. Labor negotiations are now completed on-time, state/federal test scores are improved (PSAT, AP, CST and others), employee morale is high and many other items. We have made tremendous progress over the last 3 ½ years but have much more to do. It took almost a year to really understand the breadth and depth of all facets of being on the school board and the $70+ million budget and I look forward to utilizing this knowledge to continue making our schools and our district even greater. The support of our teachers, staff and parent community is humbling and look forward to serving our community along with my present board members for the next four years.
Other areas to continue work on:
- Campus Safety and the safety of our staff and children.
- Families in our district and surrounding community that struggle to make ends meet and not having enough resources to provide their kids with daily basic needs.
- Bullying and the many technology avenues that continue to create new challenges for our kids.
- Student to teacher ratios
- Keeping up with technology trends, changes and enhanced cirriculum opportunities in our classroom.
- Student Health and our Partnership with Beach Cities Health District.
