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Los Angeles County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
Smart Voter

Reform Slate Position Paper

By Seth Jacobson

Candidate for Governing Board Member; Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District

This information is provided by the candidate
Position Paper
SMMUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION CANDIDATES - MALIBU REFORM SLATE November 2012 Election

What We Stand For:

Every child deserves the best education possible. Our public schools once again need to be one of the best in the state.

  • It is time to end business as usual.
  • It is time to end the politics of neighborhood against neighborhood, school against school.
  • It is time to end the endless debates and mountains of pointless red tape.

We stand for one simple thing: each and every student's educational success.

If elected, we will:

  • Make student achievement the primary goal of the Superintendent and hold her accountable for that achievement.
  • Reduce class sizes
  • Close the achievement gap between different demographic groups
  • Initiate a school by school review and hold principals responsible for learning outcomes
  • Work with the Teachers' Unions to review current practices and rigorously implement current best practices and proven educational innovations
  • Pay for these initiatives by reducing the administrative bureaucracy and creating an independent Malibu School District

In short, we stand for accountability, innovation and independence. On the board we will insist that SMMUSD becomes the district it always should have been and the district that our communities deserve. Every child deserves success. Every parent deserves to have his or her voice heard.

Children matter, parents matter, families matter. With the reform slate, we will settle for nothing less than a top ranked school district with uniformly distinguished schools. Our cities deserve nothing less.
--- Our Candidates:

Craig Foster

  • Teacher
  • PTA president
  • President, Advocate for Malibu Public School
  • Member, SMMUSD Financial Oversight Committee
  • Member, Superintendent's Advisory Committee
  • Retired successful financial services executive
  • M.A.A. in Elementary Education
  • Parent, of a SMMUSD fourth grade student.

Karen Ferrar
  • District parent and volunteer since 1991
  • Executive Vice President Malibu High School PTSA
  • Past PTA President Webster Elementary School
  • Past PTA Executive Board Member Pt. Dume Elementary School
  • Past member Webster & MHS Site Governance Council
  • SMM PTA Council Executive Board member since 2003, currently Co-2ndVP
  • Founding Executive Board Member of The Shark Fund, current member
  • Executive Board member of AMPS
  • Member of Supt's Advisory Committee on DWF

Seth Jacobson

  • Vice President, Advocates for Malibu Public Schools
  • Chairman, The Shark Fund
  • 15 year district parent, with SMMUSD 2nd, 5th and 12th graders
  • Former PTA VP Pt Dume Elementary
  • Former Santa Monica Housing Commissioner
  • Member, Superintendents Advisory Committee
  • Successful marketing and communications executive
  • Former member President's Council on Small Business Innovation

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ca/la Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 23, 2012 09:07
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