Issues
The next few years present unique challenges and opportunities for the Redwood City School District.
I am running because I want to bring straight-forward, effective ideas to help our district move forward for the benefit of our children and our community.
My first priority is to bring accountability through transparency to school operation and ensure that all the programs implemented are directly benefiting students and are cost effective.
Other issues I will focus on as Board Member:
- Bring positive behavior intervention techniques in the classroom to decrease disciplinary actions and increase learning time.
- Build strong Parent involvement at all school sites by establishing strong partnerships with PTAs and PTOs.
The district needs to take a leadership role in supporting schools' PTAs and PTOs. We need to partner up with parents by creating district-wide strategies, building school capacity, and reaching out to and engaging families.
Harvard Family Research Project: Seeing is Believing: Promising Practices for How School Districts Promote Family Engagement; by Helen Westmoreland, Heidi M. Rosenberg, M. Elena Lopez, Heather Weiss
- Improve teacher and therapist credentialing to ensure
all professionals interacting with children are highly trained and qualified.
- Apply to public and private grants to ensure important programs will not be cut.
- Serve the needs of Special needs students.
The number of special needs students is rapidly growing in our district. We must be committed to provide high quality and cost effective educational programs to meet the needs of our special needs students, as well as stop blaming them for the financial problems of the district.
- Reduce the achievement gap.
- Ensure that students are ready for the challenges of high school.
- Support and help grow our educational foundation to bring more money into the school.
- Explore the feasibility of making our schools green by installing solar panels. The district would take advantage of state incentives, and use the money from energy savings toward programs benefitting children.
- Establish one school calendar and minimum day on Friday for all school sites.