Bakit ka tumatakbo para sa CCSD Trustee? Ano ang iyong pananaw sa tagumpay para sa tungkuling ito? 

As a parent of two middle school students and a teacher of 19 years, I am tired of a dysfunctional school board that does not improve education; for that reason, I chose to run for the school board. My vision of success includes increasing graduation rates to 90% actual REAL college and career readiness, not just diplomas for attendance, reforming school discipline because our schools must be safe so our students can learn, and our staff can do their jobs, and increasing teacher recruitment and retention because every student deserves a licensed, qualified teacher.

Paano mo tinukoy ang tagumpay ng mag-aaral? Anong karanasan ang mayroon ka at anong papel ang nais mong gampanan sa pagtataguyod para sa tagumpay ng mag-aaral?

I define it as academic growth. My oldest son started in CCSD in a self-contained kindergarten autism classroom. Next year, he will be going to West Tech; he achieved a 97th percentile on the PSAT math and 58% on English. Every student may not be able to achieve grade level proficiency, but every student can achieve strong academic growth. One goal I have is to increase graduation rates to 90%. Every parent should feel safe sending their children to school. As a teacher, I have told my parents that my number one priority is to keep their children safe; if their child does not feel safe in the classroom, they will not be able to learn.

As for my experience in advocating for students, it is hard to put into words the number of times I have advocated for the students in my classroom and the school that I teach at. Many of those same students have been ignored by prior teachers, but I have managed to give them the support they desperately needed. I have consistently advocated for my own children in the district. Some schools have made that very easy and worked with me, setting a role model example, while with others, it has been a constant battle.

How I intend to advocate for student success is through accountability, transparency, community involvement, and improving overall academics. Many schools don’t have qualified math teachers, and in the early grades, many children have not learned numeric awareness the way they should. There is not one quick, easy answer for student success, but I will start with transparency, accountability, and community involvement.

Sa 2022 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), ang mga mag-aaral sa ikaapat na baitang, sa Nevada, ay nakakuha ng 6 na puntos na mas mababa sa matematika at 7 puntos na mas mababa sa pagbabasa kung ihahambing sa 2019. Kung mahalal, paano mo magagamit ang iyong posisyon upang matiyak na titigil ang Nevada sumusunod sa pambansang kalakaran at nagsisimulang manguna sa mga resulta ng mag-aaral?

One of the best ways for this district to help lead the way for student outcomes is to realize that education must start at home. My wife would not even go to our child’s elementary school for three years because of how they treated her. It is important that schools treat families like partners, unfortunately, they often don’t.

Because of this, a few things I would advocate for include customer service training for all front office staff and administrators. We must improve school safety. Every teacher must not only be trained on how to use the minor behavior incident feature on Infinite Campus, but have the time to use it. Further, discipline and intervention must be implemented with the support of every school.

With Greater Community Support and a safe working environment at schools education can flourish.

Ano, kung mayroon man, ang mga hadlang na kasalukuyang umiiral sa kahusayan sa edukasyon at katarungan para sa bawat mag-aaral? Kung mahalal sa Lupon ng mga Tagapangasiwa, paano ka makakatulong na maalis ang mga hadlang na ito?

Unfortunately, too many barriers exist for educational excellence and equity currently in this district. Some of these include school violence, lack of a comprehensive curriculum, shortage of certified teachers, insufficient quality professional development, and low community support.

If elected, I will work quickly to improve school safety. I will host town halls and advocate for all trustees to do the same, as well as provide customer service training for administrators and front office staff. By taking these actions, community support should greatly increase.

I would also like to point out that the new teacher contract has many benefits for hiring new teachers in the district. Unfortunately, it penalizes the teachers already here by not paying them the same wages for their education and experience. I would urge the board and work with them to find a solution to this problem. We must recruit, but we also must retain the quality teachers that we have, ensuring every classroom has a licensed teacher in it.

Ano sa palagay mo ang nangungunang tatlong pinaka-paulit-ulit na hamon na kinakaharap ng CCSD Board of Trustees? Ano ang isang halimbawa ng isang matapang na diskarte na imumungkahi mong tugunan ang isa sa mga hamong iyon?

The subtle, ongoing, and continuous effort to privatize our public education system.

School safety, not just student safety, but indeed, everyone in the buildings.

Transparency and accountability. One of many approaches I think helps address those threats is to hire private counsel for the Board.

Noong Enero apat na hinirang na miyembro ang idinagdag sa Board of Trustees. Paano mo magagamit ang kadalubhasaan ng mga hinirang na miyembrong ito upang pinakamahusay na makapaglingkod sa mga mag-aaral? Sa palagay mo ba ang mga hinirang na miyembro ay dapat na bumoto ng mga miyembro? 

With only 7 Board members, a majority can be reached with only 4 members. This caused some pretty serious problems for CCSD in the recent past. When 4 more members were added, a 4 person voting block was no longer enough to push a Great City Schools agenda through. So, you know what they did? They managed to disenfranchise government appointed members. It was a well executed, shameful and desperate maneuver to keep the public out of the process.

My early thoughts on getting these new members was that it was going to be foolish. I thought, “it’s going to take too long to get them caught up, they won’t understand”, etc., but they do very well. They take their appointment seriously, and they bring valuable experience into the Board meetings.

Iminumungkahi ng pananaliksik na higit sa 50% ng isang pulong ng lupon ay dapat nakatuon sa mga resulta ng mag-aaral. Paano mo matitiyak na ilalaan ng lupon ang ganitong dami ng oras sa mga resulta ng mag-aaral?

Student outcomes are important, but evaluating the Superintendent is important too. Purchasing is important, zoning, and bussing are important. Being a publicly elected steward of public education is important. I don’t plan on spending 50% of board meeting time on student outcomes. If the voters want someone to put on blinders and review spreadsheets full of test scores all day, they should vote for someone else.

Kung mahalal sa Lupon, paano mo haharapin ang mga mapaghamong pag-uusap at/o mga kritisismo na maaaring lumabas mula sa mga kapwa miyembro ng Lupon, stakeholder, at sa mas malawak na komunidad?

Humbly, of course. I’ve never been a Trustee before. I’ll have a great deal to learn. My constituents will be sending someone they believe can best represent them to the Board. Every Trustee was new at one point, and in this deeply divided Board with many active community members each doing their best to make their voices heard, there will be challenges, but remembering the voters that sent me to do the job will be the priority.

Anong mga pangunahing tagapagpahiwatig ang iyong gagamitin upang masuri ang pagganap ng Superintendente ng CCSD? Paano mo papanagutin ang Superintendente?

School safety, staff recruitment and retention, academic progress, student attendance, community involvement, productive and effective negotiations with labor, consistent student discipline. Each of these items, and many many more are items which define a successful Superintendent. It’s a very hard job, but they are paid very well, and staffed very well to ensure the job gets done. If a Superintendent isn’t performing in a way the public should approve, we should find a new Superintendent.

Sa isang kamakailang survey, 77% ng mga residente ng Nevada ay sumang-ayon na ang mga magulang ay dapat na maipadala ang kanilang mga anak sa pampublikong paaralan na sa tingin nila ay pinakamahusay para sa kanilang anak, kahit na ito ay nasa labas ng kanilang kapitbahayan. Sumasang-ayon ka ba? Pakipaliwanag ang iyong pangangatwiran.

I disagree because I believe this policy would negatively impact families on the lower socioeconomic side. I have the ability to drive my children to any part of town on any day. I understand many parents don’t have that same ability. As a teacher, I know one family that takes a bus to bring their young child to the elementary school at which I work. I feel the best way to improve school choice is to increase the number of magnet schools with varying programs and to improve overall academics and safety at all CCSD schools.

Ang sumusunod na tanong ay isinumite ng kasalukuyang pampublikong mag-aaral sa mataas na paaralan: Paano mo matitiyak na ang mga mag-aaral ay mauuna sa proseso ng paggawa ng desisyon bilang miyembro ng Lupon ng mga Tagapangasiwa, at anong mga hakbang sa pananagutan ang iyong ilalagay upang matiyak na ito nangyayari? 

Outside of the easy, obvious answer, “by facilitating discourse in the classroom” we have an opportunity to listen to parents through public comment in Board meetings. Lately, community attendance at these meetings has been much lower than it can be, lower than it should be. Part of the problems that have contributed to lower meeting attendance has been the rowdy attendance of certain obstructors, as well as having a Superintendent that has no intention of listening to the people. I also think Town Halls and online meetings are another tool which can and should be used to communicate with the Board and Superintendent.

Without a meeting and a vote, I won’t be able to put accountability measures in place for other Trustees. I can however promise to be accessible online, maintain an active profile on social media, and work to remove policies that have silenced Trustees from speaking out as individuals. I find those existing policies to be contrary to democracy.