Campaign Theme: Every School A Quality School

Every effective campaign has a central theme or organizing principle.

As the campaign has started to pick up steam, I am frequently asked — in a number of different ways – the same key question: “why are you running for office?”

Of course, there are a number of specific areas where I believe the KHSD can improve: expanded career and technical training, simpler boundaries, more cost effective school construction, etc. But underlying these ideas is a bigger concept: we must focus every ounce of our energy on making “every school a quality school”.

Quality schools require . . . . improved programs for students not well served now, boundaries that encourage parent participation, more effective allocation of resources, etc. — but the larger point of all these sub-elements is to focus on quality educational opportunities for every single KHSD student.

In order to reflect this focus – and the inter-related nature of the policy issues related to the educational programs – we are collapsing the categories associated with academic programs and career and technical training into this new one.

Please feel free to comment on what you beleive we need to do

Legislative Analyst Report: This recent, comprehensive report documents how poorly our current vocational educational programs perform (in terms of really getting young people ready to work) and the large share of students who need this kind of preparation and simply do not have access to it.

The standard explanation is: “vocational education costs too much”. And – traditional equipment heavy programs are relatively expensive. But — the answer is not to give up! The answer is to get creative about how we might deploy modern career and technical training using existing facilities (community colleges/private businesses), specialized charter schools in lower cost facilities, and other innovative ideas.

We have very able teachers and administrators who can solve this problem – with enough focus, resources, and community support.

Please see the link on the upper right of this page to the “Voc Ed Now!” Plan we have developed to outline a potential path to improved vocational and technical training.

The next comprehensive high school we build will cost almost $100 million when land, construction, equipment, and supplies are all factored in. That is a lot of money!

Our primary mode of delivering a good high school education will probably remain a network of traditional campuses for a number of years. But — before we sink $100 million dollars in yet another traditional campus — maybe we should stop and think a bit about alternatives:

> How can we better use existing facilities? Is there a market for a special night or year round schools on one or more campuses?

> How can we avoid building expensive new facilities? Is there a market for several specialized charter schools in rehabed commercial property? ($100 million dollars could rehab a lot of property.)

> How might an investment is smaller charter facilities make drawing boundaries easier — and reducing transportation costs? What could these saving buy?

We don’t have all the answers – but if elected your as one of your Trustees – I’ll make darn sure we ask a lot of hard questions before we spend precious tax dollars. Remember, every dollar not spent on facilities – could potentially be spent in the classroom.

Focus on efficient, compact boundaries that best serve the parents, students, and school.

Ensure that all schools have the resources they need to provide a quality education to every student.

Recognize that the process can be very emotional and stressful – but make sound decisions based on factual data – and our community will be well served.

As a society, we have become very politically polarized – often around issues of faith. Many secularists and people of faith seem convinced that the “other side” is taking over public institutions, destroying time-honored values, and engaging in political activity that threatens “our way of life”.

Of course, since terms are not defined — well meaning, patriotic people within both these camps often fail to really understand what the “other” is saying. The truth is – we need to find a way to collectively talk about these topics with respect and empathy.

It is important that we both:

1) Honor, support and value everyone’s personal faith. America was founded, and remains, as a “Beacon on the hill” for people seeking freedom of thought and action.

2) Truly understand and support the constitutional ban on the “establishment of a religion”. It is crucial that public institutions not directly or indirectly support any particular religion – even when that support seems innocuous today – because tomorrow it could mean something very different.

We must all be free to practice our personal beliefs in all spheres of our lives – but not impose them inappropriately, either.

How we meet these goals is open to lots of debate – and varies by circumstance. But if we don’t have an honest, open, and empathetic dialogue as a community – we will continue to talk past each other to the detriment of our children and school systems.

Please share your comments.

Political campaigns get personal. They are a great source of gossip – some of it even true!

This category is designed to highlight the lighter side of campaigning – and maybe also serve as rumor control central. We’ll just have to see as the process unfolds.

Stay tuned….