School Board Candidates Forum Questions 1, 2 and 3

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Question 1: What do you plan to accomplish on the El Tejon Unified School District Board if we give you our vote? What do you wish to change? What are your priorities?

John Fleming
My priority is the best education possible for our children. In the last several years we have lost ground in several areas and the current board is not holding this superintendent accountable for what has and is occurring. With four pro-active board members we will hold this superintendent accountable and turn this district around. I currently work to do this.

Lark Shillig
If the community honors me with election, I humbly propose to renew hope, rebuild trust, restore educational goals and aspirations as first priority, and put our kids first, not our own agenda.

Vickie Mullen
Upon completion of my term, I hope to have instilled a sense of cooperation within the ETUSD and restored the public trust in our educational leaders. For now, I will immediately take steps to dramatically restructure the decision making procedures that have tended to be exclusively top-down, senselessly reckless, and alienating to both the community and staff alike.

Scott Robinson 2 Yr
Establish a cohesive unified board that is transparent and will provide oversight of the superintendent holding him/ her accountable. Initiate effective communications with parents/teachers/aides regarding school issues. Strive to improve academic and other programs such as sports, music, arts on all campuses in all grades. Encourage parent participation in student achievement. Ensure safe and supportive school learning environment. Strengthen school/ community relations.

Linda Sheldon
Increasing enrollment and improving quality of education. Increasing revenue by creating/improving income-generating programs; such as performing arts and sports – will be a catalyst in attracting new students, increasing their interest in school, and gaining community support. I will also concentrate on closing the dis-connect gap and building the level of trust between the community, press, staff, superintendent and the board.

Tim Schantzen 2 Yr
My number one priority is to help children. If not readily apparent how a decision will affect children, my priority is to analyze the issue more deeply to select options that most benefit children.

The number one change I plan to facilitate is to improve communication between management, teachers, and parents to create the best experience possible for all students.

Bob Anderson
Bring unity of purpose and problem solving skills to the board and district to make ETUSD the best in the county. I want to change the atmosphere of bickering, fighting and self serving interests and replace it with focused problem solving and goal setting giving our students the incentive and environment to succeed.

Dean Crabb 2 Yr
I’ll bring sound judgment to the board. I will recognize the voice of the community. I will hold our Superintendent responsible for her actions and decisions. I want to stop the split classes in the elementary school, stop 7th and 8th graders from being added to the high school, stop wasteful spending by the superintendent. Ask for the communities involvement.


Question 2: State standardized tests last month report 13% of FMHS students were proficient or advanced in math. Why has this happened? What will you do as trustee to improve that and other substandard scores in our district?

John Fleming
One reason for the low scores is the lack of motivation by low preforming students to do well on the California Standardized Test. Other districts use an incentive system to improve performance.

Providing uniform teaching methods throughout the District would improve proficiency in all subjects.

Lark Shillig
Stick to core subjects and values upon which our country was built, like hard work and integrity. Your 36-word questions limit us to 45 words, only 9 more words than your questions. Is this a reasonable query for such in-depth questions? More information is required.

Vickie Mullen
I want to use my word budget to clarify the record.
Geometry students scored proficient/advanced: 30%
Algebra II students scored proficient/advanced: 37%
46% of our Pre-calculus and Calculus students scored proficient/advanced on the summative test.
This year’s dip in Algebra I will need further review.

Scott Robinson 2 Yr
Student achievement can be improved by reducing class size teacher/student ratios.
Involving parents in child’s educational process to help enhance teacher’s effectiveness.

Linda Sheldon
By providing a positive, encouraging, and confidence- building environment where they can learn basic life skills of reasoning, questioning, evaluating, predicting, concluding and problem solving. Also, relate the curriculum to real life examples to maintain their interest. Provide additional instruction and guidance for the struggling students.

Tim Schantzen 2 Yr
Unfortunately, this issue extends beyond FMHS, as test scores at the elementary schools are also low.
Resolving this issue requires improving scores at lower levels while they are more easily resolved.
A stronger mastery of fundamental skills, whether math or otherwise, will help raise scores.

Bob Anderson
This is unacceptable statistic. There are three factors which could cause this; the curriculum, the teachers or the students. A possible explanation affecting all three is the lack of leadership over the past 8 years (5-7 different superintendents in 8 years).

Dean Crabb 2 Yr
At a district meeting the superintendent was patting herself on the back by saying how well the high school was doing with 80% of students going to college. This does not make sense with only 13% proficiency. The Superintendent must do a better job.


 Question 3: Pine Mountain Learning Center, ETUSD’s public charter school with 93 students, showed leadership in the state with its strong scores on state proficiency testing. What elements of that program might be useful in the other schools?

John Fleming
PMLC desired to hire their own principle and not use the superintendent as their principle. I voted for this change. Their ratio of students to teachers is 24:1 with an aid in each class. Frazier Park has classes with over 40 students and no aids.

Lark Shillig
PMLC requests, allows, encourages and welcomes parental participation in the classroom and beyond. I would encourage all of our schools to emulate their successful formula! Parents who care and are actively engaged in their children’s education set them up for lifelong success.

Vickie Mullen
Community cooperation and parental volunteerism have had their part in PMLC’s success. It takes a talented teaching team to harness these assets and direct them to achievement excellence. Our Work Together coalition suspects that they could use more local autonomy and less centralized interference.

Scott Robinson 2 Yr
t’s great that we have this school within our district. All four campuses should be given the opportunity to meet on a regular basis. I believe every school site can benefit from working together, sharing ideas, and teaching strategies.

Linda Sheldon
Need to consider teaching methods, motivation of students, attendance record, discipline, parental involvement, lesson plans, required homework, available materials and supplies (using latest technology), testing, on-going student assessments and additional instructions by providing resources/ tutoring programs and by coaching parents on how to help their child.

Tim Schantzen 2 Yr
PMLC has an open door policy that accepts and encourages support from parent volunteers. ETUSD needs to encourage a similar policy. While budgets may not permit more teachers, supporting parent volunteers will help achieve the goal of individualized attention for students.

Bob Anderson
I sent 2 hours on 10/5/12 and got an ear full and the number one thing I took away contributing to their success and can be useful at ETUCD (among others) is parental involvement.

Dean Crabb 2 Yr
The amount of community involvement at PMLC is commendable. We need to try to bring that to all ETUSD schools. We need to open our library’s and allow the volunteers to work. Have the Board, Superintendent, Principals and Teachers work together for our children’s benefit.

Hot links to QUESTIONS
0) Candidates photos and introduction
1) Candidates’ goals as trustees
2) Students’ performance
3) Charter school’s leadership

4) Closing a campus
5) Role of trustees in regard to superintendent
6) Temperament and the board

7) Transparency
8) Possible Conflicts of interest: Religion
9) Possible Conflicts of Intereat: Financial

10) Impact of schools on local economy
11) The last word

 

 

This is part of the October 12, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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