Why should voters elect you to the SF Board of Education?
I am an active parent in the District for 10 years- on PTAs, SSCs, and co-chaired the Public Education Enrichment Fund CAC (PEEF CAC).
I served on the Local Control Accountability Plan Task Force which was created to provide input into SFUSD’s state required strategic and budget plan.
I work tirelessly to advocate for our students, effective programs, and transparency & accountability. Families need to be confident that SFUSD will partner with them to provide quality education.
How do you propose to address the learning loss and mental health issues affecting our kids?
The needs of our preschool, elementary, middle, and high school students differ greatly as we continue to recover from school closures and ongoing pandemic related recovery and adaptation.
We need to focus on capacity building both in their academic and social lives. I fully support investment in social workers, counseling, nurses, and academic support staffing for the benefit of our students.
For our younger students after-school care and summer programming are foundational, and our older students also need assurances and support as they consider career and college pathways, and navigate the beginning of adulthood.
How do you propose to address the budget deficit affecting our school district?
Our priorities and budget decisions need to reflect student outcomes. And staffing and resources need to be aligned with students. We need to start from the basics and fund what is effective in supporting student success.
We need to address declining enrollment and align resources where they are most needed.
The status quo is not showing improvement for our students and we need to make informed decisions so we can get back on course.
By demonstrating improved student success, smart fiscal leadership, and true partnership with our community and city partners, we will build back trust. I feel optimistic we can address our structural deficit, improve our student outcomes, and attract more families to SFUSD.
How do you propose to correct the educational equity gap in our school district?
Data and School Site Input.
For too long, we have neglected to align curriculum, instruction, and learning supports to where they are most needed- and to assess efficacy of how these tools are working for all of our students, especially those who are struggling the most. Spending money alone does not solve the problem.
In addition, it is essential that we listen to families and educators who know our students best to understand what is working and where improvements are needed.
Early intervention is most critical to interrupt potential achievement gaps before they happen or become more challenging to address. For instance, currently there is no district-wide math early intervention or support, and the number of students not on track with reading needs significant improvement.
We need to be in partnership with our school sites to ensure that the needed supports and interventions are available and effective.
How would you address the Lowell High School admissions issue?
I believe ALL students deserve access to academic and enrichment opportunities that Lowell has put in place.
For years, there have not been enough seats available at Lowell to meet attendance demand. However, leadership has instead chosen to defund honors, advanced coursework, and now AP offerings.
I support providing programming at ALL of our high schools so that no matter which SFUSD high school a student attends, they can be confident that they will have access to educational and enrichment opportunities that will serve their aspirations. This is why I voted to reinstate criteria-based admissions along with a review of ways to improve enrollment diversity, and reduce stress among our middle school students wishing to qualify to attend.
Furthermore, we need to assess our elementary and middle schools to identify ways to close the achievement gaps well before our students reach high school. Currently, the district’s own reporting identifies 40% of graduating 8th graders as “not high school ready.”
The focus needs to be on capacity building beginning in elementary school, not on lowering the bar.
Tell us about a time when you had to overcome obstacles & build a coalition to get things done
For the last four years, I served on and co-chaired SFUSD’s Public Education Enrichment Fund’s Community Advisory Committee (PEEF CAC). The PEEF CAC advises on about $80 million of City funds given to SFUSD each year, and has 23 members with a wide range of backgrounds and experience.
When I joined, we received very little data or information about the programs, who they served, or their budgets. I worked very hard to keep our discussions focused on students, budget transparency, and integrity of programs.
As a result, we were able to develop strong, clear, and unanimous recommendations, and significant program and reporting improvements, even during the divisive atmosphere these last two years, and to make significant positive changes to the oversight and accountability for these programs.
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