Candidate for
School Board Member; Cabrillo Unified School District

My name is Jolanda Schreurs.

If elected, I will bring to this position a basic research scientist's objective and analytical skills, prospective planning, interest in technology and desire for excellence in education. I welcome change, but changes in K-12 educational programs must use data-driven successful models and must be embraced by the teachers and staff. Improving K-12 education requires consistency and incremental steps applied year-after-year. For students, the learning process is cumulative and incremental, acquisition of basic knowledge and skills is like a wave, it moves dynamically forward. Lastly, it is important to motivate students and provide a welcoming, yet exciting and challenging classroom and campus environment.

My past record speaks to my ability to accomplish significant goals and facilitate improvements in our local Coastside schools. My commitment to excellence will continue to drive my future vision and goals.

To learn more you can read highlights of the accomplishments of the past Board 2002-2006. After that, I have posted a personal biography.

CUSD Board Highlights

2002-2006 Board Member, CUSD and Board President,

2005-06 Championed and participated in a 5-Year Strategic Planning process. I was on the Planning Team and on one of the Strategic Item Teams (revenue). 2005-06 was Year One of Implementation. There are 5 broad Strategic areas

• Achievement,
• Curriculum,
• Communication,
• Diversity,
• Revenues.

2002-2005 We maintained financial solvency during three very difficult financial years, having to make cuts in programs and staffing while preserving programs that parents held dear and that we believed were important for successful educational outcomes (e.g. class size reduction, middle and high school counselors). Had to make the difficult choice of forfeiting busing, because the cost at $1000+ per child was more than we could afford without sacrificing educational outcomes. We lost sections at the high school and middle school by staffing to maximum contract levels and not replacing those who retired. We forfeited a food services director, a part-time principal, warehousing, and maintenance people. Its been a difficult few years.

2002-2006 Accountability- Our district has implemented data collection and analysis methods for grade levels and subgroups, at the individual classroom level and the individual student level. Fundamentally education is about an individual child's growth and his/her needs and about the quality of the teaching. Staff can now access data about individual students (current and longitudinal) and use it to provide solutions.

2004. Communications- Roy Salume and I championed an internet communications system to improve Home to School and School to Home communications. The district purchased School-Loop and parents and children can now communicate easily by web and email. It has made a significant contribution to helping parents help their students to complete homework and turn it in in a timely manner.

2002-2006. Leveraging Resources- It has been my mantra that whenever we can leverage resources, whether financial, people, or otherwise, we must do so. I have consistently advanced grant writing as an effective means for managing change because one studies the problem(s), analyzes strategic solutions, and accesses the resources to effect change. To that end, at the district level, we have been awarded grants at the federal, state, and private levels (Noyce/Peninsula Community Foundation for Literacy; FLAP for the Immersion Program; Gardner Center/Stuart Foundation for Community Schools). Moreover, we have hired a successful grant-writer for the high school (Individualized Learning Plans, Compass Program +see attachment).

2002-2006. Examples of a few other discrete changes that I have championed, promoted, and lent my support to.

• Increasing graduate requirements at the high school in Math.
• Changing half-day to full-day kindergarten.
• A new high school mentorship program with weekly career speakers, possibilities for job shadowing, internships
• Collaborations with Community Colleges- Classes at HMBHS or at SMCC (middle college).
• On-line learning- Univ California classes for students interested in classes that we cannot afford to offer- e.g. AP Physics, Chemistry, etc
• Independent Learning
• Supported transitions- 5th to 6th; 8th to 9th (data and portfolio transferability and access; new Compass program; orientations)
• Supported Spanish Liaisons at each campus to better communicate with parents

2002-2003 Spearheaded Operation Band-Aid, a $300,000 fundraiser. After the failure of our parcel tax, I initiated a huge one-time fundraising effort to save programs such as class size reduction, school counselors, librarians, computer technicians, etc. And then worked with Back-to-Basics to rejuvenate it as the District's current and official Educational Foundation (see above).

1997-2001 I held a variety of different positions (see below), chaired a variety of programs, wrote grants, and became intimately involved with our schools (elementary, middle and high school) meeting the wide variety of parents and interest groups. Appreciating our teachers and staff and the day-to-day challenges of the classroom. And understanding both the excellences of our district and its weaknesses.

Chair and Secretary. Cunha Middle School Site Council;
President, PTA. Farallone View Elementary School;
Board Member, Farallone View Education Fund;
Technology Committee, Cunha;
6 years- Science Fair Organizer, etc.

1996 Co-Chair Measure K + Successful (75% Yes) $35,000,000 School Facilities & Construction Bond-

PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY My family is Dutch and that's why I have a name that's so difficult to spell and pronounce. My mother grew up in Indonesia, daughter of a school principal; she became a home economics teacher. My father grew up in the Netherlands, son of a carpenter & home-improvement store owner; my dad was the first in his family to go to college and then university. My parents immigrated to NY in the 1950's so that my dad could complete his doctorate in physical chemistry at Columbia Univ.

My childhood was spent in Corning, a small town in upstate NY, where glass is king and science drives innovations in glass products such as flat panel displays, optical wave guides, Pyrex, diesel catalytic converters, etc. I still remember being in 5^th grade when we were given demonstrations by scientists of optical fibers and photochromic lenses. Corning has the world’s best glass museum… full of technological wonders, demonstrations of factory automation and robotics, an awesome glassblowing facility, spectacular glass art, a history of glass from the worldst largest telescopic mirror (and one of my brother’s mirror blanks!!). I’m proud of the town that helped shaped me.

As a young student, I moved to Ithaca NY. I studied at Cornell Univ. in the College of Life Sciences & Agriculture My core courses of study were human biology, biochemistry, and neurobiology, but I also enjoyed courses in systems ecology, a discipline founded by E.O Wilson, and courses in phytochemistry- i.e.,plant chemistry, entomology, and surprise, the history of art. I received my B.S., Biology in 1978.

In 1985, I received my PhD in Pharmacology from Stanford University. Pharmacology is a discipline which seeks to understand how drugs work molecularly, cellularly, and in the organism. As a pharmacologist, I did basic research. I purified natural molecules, analyzed basic mechanisms of action, what cells in the body they affected, etc. Please note, that a pharmacologist is not the same as a pharmacist, who is licensed to sell medicinal drugs to humans. These two professions are very different.

In the years following, I’ve worked as a scientist, project manager, and department supervisor, for a number of Bay Area biotechnology companies including DNAX, Cetus, Chiron, and Axys(Arris) Pharmaceutics. My work centered on basic research as well as, the development of drugs that stimulate the immune system to fight cancer and infectious diseases. I’ve managed collaborations with leading companies and institutions such as Amgen, Pharmacia,the NIH and worked with clinicians developing drugs for FDA approval.

Nearly 10 years ago, I refocussed my priorities, with the decision that I needed to be an active full-time participant in my sons' lives and educations. Today, my boys are happily attending HMBHS (9^th grade) and the University of California San Diego (Mechanical Engineering). They have had successful years in our local Cabrillo schools and have had wonderful teachers; my husband and I continue to value our public schools on this very personal level.

In 1996, with this new focus, I evaluated the situation of our local public schools, only to discover that the needs were great and the resources very limited. I connected with a core group of parents who were dedicated to educational issues. Joining these individuals, I have worked ever since to advance public education on the Coastside.

In 1996, I co-chaired the successful $35,000,000 Facilities Bond Measure K campaign. Monies from this bond were used to renovate and modernize the elementary schools, build a new Arts & Sciences building at HMBHS and remodel the remainder of the high school. This year, (Nov 2006), we will be sending plans for the new middle school to the State Architect; we anticipate heavy construction will begin in April/May of 2007. A four-phase project will mean that kids can stay in the their current classrooms, while a new 21-classroom building is first constructed, and then upon its completion the old 1930's buildings will be renovated.

Board & Chair Positions

2005-2006 CUSD Board President

2002-2006 CUSD Board Member

2006 Chair, Kent Awards. SMC School Board Association

2002-2006 Area 1- Rep to SMCSBA

2002 Spearhead, Operation Band-Aid and

2002 Member, Back-to-Basics Educational Foundation- $300,000 fundraiser..

1999-2001 Chair and Secretary. Cunha Middle School Site Council

1997-1999 President, PTA. Farallone View Elementary School

1997-1999 Board Member, Farallone View Education Fund

1996 Co-Chair Measure K + $35,000,000 Bond Measure

Successful (75% Yes) School Facilities & Construction Bond-

Committees- Councils

2005 Revenue Committee for 5 year Strategic Plan

2005-ongoing Career Speakers and Mentorship - HMBHS

2004 Board Member Rep- Planning Committee Strategic Planning

2003-2006 Half Moon Bay Chamber Commerce Education Committee

2002-2006 Parent Advisory Council HMBHS Member

2003 Committee Parcel Tax Measure (66.1% Yes).

1999-2002 Technology- Cunha, HMBHS

1997-1999 GATE

1996 Half Moon Bay HS Architectural Review

1996-2002 PTA Grant Writing

1997 FV Elementary School Strategic Site Plan

Hands-on / Classroom

2001-2006 Cunha Middle School Science Fair Judge & Event Coordinator

1999-2006 Chess Club Sponsor

1996-2002 San Mateo County Science Fair Judge

1996-2002 Scholastic Book Fairs

1996-1998 Game Club Coordinator- Tuesday afternoons for 40-60 children

1995-2002 Weekly Literature Club Leader

Yearbook Classroom Collages

Oceans' Week; Project Continent

I seek your support and respectfully ask for your vote on November 7^th.