Candidate for
Member, Board of Trustees; Jefferson Union High School District

My political philosophy may best be described by the reasons motivating me to run for school board.

The first reason that I am running for Jefferson Union High School District's Board is professional. I work directly with the students, parents, and staff of this district from a community based, non-profit agency. As a result, I truly believe that I understand the issues our district faces. The foremost issue is faculty attraction and retention. The fundamental question is who we want teaching our high school students. As in any service business, quality staff is of paramount importance. Imagine running a business in which you train and mentor new professionals to service your customers. Now imagine your trained and mentored professionals leaving for higher paying firms, for other lower cost iving areas, and/or for another profession which will triple their salary. The wonderful success of our Bay Area economy is putting unprecedented stress on our educational system. Our youth deserve the best trained, enthusiastic, and committed teaching corps available. We must support those excellent teachers choosing our district and remaining in our district.

The second reason that I am running for school board is more personal. I believe and am committed to public education. I am fortunate to have grown up in two communities that have modeled public education for me. California in the 60's and 70's was considered by many to have the finest public K-higher education plan in the country, whle Virginia in the 70's was desegregating its public schools. I graduated from the high school that Denzel Washington now portrays in the movie Remmember the Titans. Though I attended T.C. Williams High School several years after the period the movie chronicles, I am left with many values embedded in the experience of attending a multi-cultural, strongly supported by the community, comprehensive high school. Working together I believe we can help youth to achieve their full potential in our public high schools. As my wife and I plan our own family, we wish to be a member of a community partnership that gives back to a public school system that has given us so much.