Whatever your flavor, the 2010 school board spread has a
candidate. If you like a seasoned school board member, there’s
incumbents Shelle Thomas or Don Moody. Bart Fisher, too, is
experienced with four years on the board and a long-term vision:
his daughter starts kindergarten next year. Feel like electing a
first-time candidate? Five are running: Armando Benavides, Kirsten
Francis Carr, Brenda Cayme, Claudia Rossi and Ron Woolf. Today,
four of the slate of eight will be introduced in alphabetical
order. The remaining four – Moody, Rossi, Thomas and Woolf – will
be profiled Friday.
Morgan Hill – Whatever your flavor, the 2010 school board spread has a candidate. If you like a seasoned school board member, there’s incumbents Shelle Thomas or Don Moody. Bart Fisher, too, is experienced with four years on the board and a long-term vision: his daughter starts kindergarten next year.
Feel like electing a first-time candidate? Five are running: Armando Benavides, Kirsten Francis Carr, Brenda Cayme, Claudia Rossi and Ron Woolf. All say they want what’s best for the children, employees and the district, but their experience and vision for the Morgan Hill Unified School District varies.
Voters will have the final say Nov. 2 when the top four vote-getters will plan to be available every other Tuesday evening to meet with their cohorts on the school board and make policy decisions. Statewide voting in all elections began Monday via vote-by-mail ballots.
Veteran trustee, Mike Hickey, has decided not to seek re-election.
The school district’s new board leadership will cast the final vote when it comes to balancing the budget next year and deciding if class sizes could increase, if tenured teachers deserve a golden handshake, what programs will be cut or added. They are the voice of the school community and are responsible for only one employee: Superintendent Wes Smith.
Smith was more often than not referred to when candidates were asked why they ran. “He’s inspiring,” Moody said. Smith has re-invigorated the district, some candidates have said, and has made the race one that at least eight community members in Morgan Hill can’t bear to miss.
Today, four of the slate of eight will be introduced in alphabetical order. The remaining four – Moody, Rossi, Thomas and Woolf – will be profiled Friday.
BENAVIDES: PRINCIPALS SHOULD WORK TOGETHER
Around town, Armando Benavides is known as “Coach.” While his election signs don’t reflect the moniker, Benavides says his 11-year experience of coaching youth sports and associating with parents lends to serving as a school board member.
“I’m a proactive person. I can lead, listen and learn. I like starting at the grassroots to find out the issues, we can’t lose sight of that,” Benavides, 55, said.
The father of three sons is also a member of the local Latino advocacy group, Coalition for Latino Education Achievement Defense, and said the group wants equitable education for all children, though his involvement in Co-LEAD would be limited if elected. His children don’t attend MHUSD schools – rather Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose and St. Catherine’s in Morgan Hill – but Benavides wants all Morgan Hill children to succeed, he said.
“We have to work with the teachers and bring their ideas up to the top to bring about systemic changes, structural changes. There’s not enough focus on the Program Improvement schools. The issue of PI has been left alone to handle at the school. I would have taken it more seriously (at Jackson),” Benavides said in reference to the district’s only school in PI year five, a distinction by No Child Left Behind when schools fail to test proficient in all areas by all children on the yearly state test.
Benavides makes his living as a licensed attorney and family counselor – both private practices in San Jose – and points to his role as advocate for his clients as another leadership quality. He has years of experience dealing in law and litigation and can give the board perspective on legal issues.
Benavides said practical solutions, such as after-school programs for students, are a low-cost way to get parents involved and contribute to student achievement.
Nine bilingual “home and school liaisons” are on the docket to be hired by the district this year to assist with translations for parents in the school office and to translate written materials that are sent home. The district is behind the times, Benavides said. He said the district needs to look at not just teacher collaboration but principal collaboration among the district schools.
“The district in some ways acts as a confederacy, like each school is their own state. There’s no central government. Instead of competing, we should be working together,” Benavides said.
He would also like to see that all students are graduating from Live Oak and Sobrato high schools with a resume that makes them at the very least eligible to be accepted by a state university or University of California school. He said often the most attention is paid to English language learners and those children who receive Title 1 funding and find support in migrant programs for example, while second and third generation Latino students are at the greatest risk for failure.
“These are the forgotten kids. They don’t have the resources. No one seems to target any resources (for them) because the federal government says it goes to the English learners. But we’re seeing the Chicano kids drop out more and more. We need to find out ways to help them, this needs to be a big focus,” Benavides said.
Benavides was outspoken about his dissatisfaction of the current school board’s decision to hire Smith, who he said lacks experience with a community with diverse needs like Morgan Hill. Smith was superintendent of a unified school district in Shasta County before he was hired in November 2009.
“There’s a learning curve, but he has the energy and he will listen and put attention on the problems,” Benavides said.
Benavides said more and updated technology should be a bigger part of the classroom experience, pointing to the SMART Boards as a way to do that. “Just look at all the kids on their iPods, cell phones, they respond to technology.”
CAYME: POSITIVE CHANGES NEEDED IN SCHOOLS
Brenda Cayme and her husband did their due diligence in searching for the best place to raise and educate their two children. Now at Paradise Elementary in third and first grade, Cayme has listened to other parents express a range of frustrations about the ineptitude around the district. *”There are issues that haven’t been addressed. People are looking for a change day to day that would help these kids,” Cayme said. Her husband is Roberto Aguirre, a founder of the community group Padres Unidos and also the English Learners Acquisition Coalition, a separate group that aims to help Spanish-speaking parents and Hispanic students.
Cayme, 45, said if elected, her decisions would be for the betterment of all students not just the Hispanic community. The former bedside nurse turned pharmaceutical professional said her experience of managing budgets at work would be a simple transition to balancing the school district’s budget, which she referenced as one of her top priorities. The other is closing the achievement gap that is most prevalent between white students and Hispanic students, who continuously score lower on state standardized tests.
Her experience in dealing with the Food and Drug Administration has given Cayme a sensible perspective of how to deal with the bureaucracy and rules that the school board must deal with, and that the district deals with at the state and federal level.
One of the most critical lessons Cayme took away from growing up with a principal for a father was that it takes an entire community to support a school.
“Family and parents are also responsible. People are afraid of change and think that’s negative, but I see it in a positive way,” Cayme said. She said working with parent groups is essential and is overlooked at some school sites.
More time should be dedicated to staff development and ensuring teachers are not spread too thin. She suggests that a districtwide plea for volunteers is made loud and clear to help with correcting worksheets, for example, a simple task that can be done using the teacher’s answer key, leaving the writing exercises or more in-depth assignments for the teachers to review.
“I’m here to help the kids at the schools directly. What can we do to make a more positive experience. I want to represent the voices who are afraid to speak out,” Cayme said.
She points to Paradise Valley’s state test scores that have increased and this year’s Academic Performance Index score of 881 is proof that strong leadership and community involvement can better the learning experience. The after-school homework club and Saturday tutoring at Paradise Valley should be implemented at other district schools.
“What can we do right now that the students can benefit from? They can’t go back in time. They don’t have that kind of time. Things need to change now to make an impact,” Cayme said.
Cayme believes the district’s highest achieving schools and the most innovative ideas need to be shared among one another beyond increasing time for teachers to collaborate at each grade level. Who the teachers report to – the principal – need to be effective, responsible leaders.
“We have to set good examples,” Cayme said.
CARR: SCHOOLS ARE A COMMUNITY INVESTMENT
When Kirsten Francis Carr’s term expired as the Gilroy Garlic Festival’s president, she wanted to continue her leadership in the community. The decision to run for a seat on the school board came from her children.
“They said, ‘we want you to run,’ ” Carr, 41, said.
With the biggest backing from her 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter, both students of Charter School of Morgan Hill, Carr is on the campaign trail advocating for better communication between Charter School and MHUSD, closing the achievement gap and advocating for more community investment in the school district.
Carr’s livelihood is as community affairs director for the California Apartment Association and she has years of experience since working in public affairs for Norm Mineta and retired state Senator Byron Sher. Yet the face time Carr has had with Gilroy and Morgan Hill is just one piece of why she thinks she would make a good board member.
“I want to do something that’s going to impact (my children). Something where I can make a difference. Not stage a coup or anything, but help,” Carr said.
The relationship between her children’s home school Charter and MHUSD has been adversarial, as Carr describes. Instead of collaborating, the district and Charter have acted as competitive siblings – not sharing well and doing their best to one-up each other.
“We can learn from one another. It’s a two-way street. Sharing programs and ideas. I would be that voice that could bring the two together,” she said.
Carr, who was once married to current Morgan Hill councilman and former school board member Larry Carr, said the classroom experience is the most important ingredient of a successful child. And, the better the schools, the higher property values climb and the more appealing living in Morgan Hill becomes. It starts with the public education system, Carr said, and people in the community who may not be involved now will be a part of her mission to get them involved.
“Our children are going to grow up and work for their companies or purchase their product,” Carr said, adding that she has “many ideas” about getting local businesses to donate or sponsor programs for MHUSD.
Carr was also an elementary school teacher for three years until switching back to community relations and raising her two children. She said she loved being in the classroom and has volunteered at Charter School since her children have attended.
The 2011-12 budget deficit, forecasted to be about $2.4 million, is something Carr said she can quickly get familiar with. “I’m not claiming I have all of the answers but I can think creatively. There are ways to partner with the city, local companies,” Carr said. “We do have areas to improve, but the recent scores are a bright light. We need to focus on being successful with every kid.”
Carr says her background in politics and working with the community, not to mention being a mother, is the impetus for her first try at the school board.
“I can help facilitate the communication. If parents or the public can feel like they’re being heard, that we’re in this together and here to support each other,” Carr said. “The board belongs to the people … if you lose sight of that. This is my domain. I would be honored to be the one representing that for a while.”
FISHER: FOUR YEARS OF PLANNING WILL PAY DIVIDENDS
Incumbent and board president Bart Fisher’s four years on the school board has been spent planning and prepping the district to implement what they have been discussing board meeting after board meeting: improving a child’s learning experience.
“I do believe the district is poised to do some great things,” Fisher said.
He applauds the current board’s decision to hire Smith, who has jumped into the hot seat and has done an impressive job, Fisher said. His promotion of leaders from within the district such as Lloyd Webb and Glen Webb as principals and Lisa Atlas in the district office, is a sign he’s a building a strong cabinet for MHUSD’s future.
Fisher, 44, has a 4-year-old daughter who will start kindergarten next year at Paradise Valley and says it’s important to elect board members who have varying perspectives, from a long-term vision such as himself, to someone with adult children or even a community member without children.
“I want a district that keeps her challenged and engaged,” Fisher said about his daughter. “And helps her fulfill her potential.”
Fisher by day works as a program management consultant and has experience in organizational development and talent management, which he said “does give me a perspective and an ability to help. I’m very detail orientated.”*
His work on the board since 2006 also has prepped him for a second term. Now that curriculum across the district is aligned and a spirit of collaboration has been encouraged by Smith, Fisher asked, “why leave this behind when the best stuff is coming?”
Fisher believes building a culture of respect within the schools is vital along with retaining as many programs as possible – the university program at P.A. Walsh or this summer’s new kindergarten readiness.
Since 2006, the budget has never been in the black, so Fisher said he knows cuts will come again, but he’s ready to again look line by line at how money can be saved especially when it comes to facilities or outside contracts. He said he would keep reductions far away from the classroom.
“I really see the last four years as the runway for the board, now we’re ready for takeoff,” Fisher said.
Differentiated teaching strategies are important to Fisher, as is collaboration, which the district has already kicked off at several sites including both high schools that have late-start on Wednesdays for teachers to meet and share ideas.
When it comes to teacher assessment, Fisher would like to see a more holistic approach that would incorporate observations of teaching methods in the classroom, not just data on paper. And the same can be said for looking at school’s API and Adequate Yearly Progress scores.
“It’s like watching just at the finish line. It doesn’t help in terms of technique. Did you start fast and fade? How well did you do at this corner? Or turning this corner? We have to look at a more informative assessment about how well students are doing. Not just test scores,” Fisher said.
Fisher would also like to see children be rewarded for their progress, and more frequently. Even a pat on the back can be encouraging.
“We can’t just accept the status quo, we always have to look to improve. I want to move the district forward in a more positive light and build on our goals,” Fisher said.
To see part 2 of the story, click here.
