Ina's Top Priorities (2006) -- 2010 Update Coming Soon!

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• Narrow The Gap between our highest and lowest achievers!
  
  A strong educational foundation is the key that unlocks the door to the American Dream, the notion that no matter how humble a person's beginnings, our society enables every American to achieve personal fulfillment, professional success, and economic stability.
  
  For this reason, I firmly believe that a solid education is the birthright of all Americans.  Currently, the gaps between our lowest and highest achieving students, and between our highest and lowest achieving schools, are vast.
  
  If elected I will give my total commitment, passion, and energy to turning the goal of a solid educational foundation, that supports lifelong success, into reality for every child in our District.  As the only Trustee Area 2 Candidate with experience teaching from pre-Kindergarten through High School, and the only Candidate who has professional taught Standardized Test Prep, I will bring to the Board the needed experience and expertise to make this happen!
   
• Raise The Bar: "Enable the greatest possible academic advancement for every child!"
  
  Our District has historically provided a range of opportunities for children with different talents, abilities, interests, and needs to learn and grow.  We offer a Middle College program, just like the one that enabled my own daughter to succeed and graduate from a local public high school.   We have Wilson for children who need an alternative High School environment.  We have Washington Open for families who desire a parent participation structure, and Millikin for those whose children thrive in a Basics-Plus school.  We have shown that, when children are enabled to attend the kind of schools and partake of the kinds of programs that best suit their learning style, they will thrive.
  
  We have, however, fallen regrettably behind in recent years.  At recent District Board meetings, families who live in the District have complained about the fact that literally hundreds of children are denied access to the learning environment of their choice in our purportedly "open enrollment" system, because we have inadequate number of openings at our only Basics-plus school, Millikin.  In fact, the imbalance between supply and demand is so enormous that a child without a sibling already enrolled in Millikin has only a 4% (four percent) chance of "winning" a seat there in our "Millikin lottery."  At other Board meetings, teachers have threatened to leave, and teach in other Districts, if the Board does not continue to give their children priority for open spots at Millikin, ahead of you, our District residents.  Our current Trustees have been reluctant to address head-on, much less seriously consider, the notion of creating another Basics-plus school, to fill the continually growing need among taxpayers, residents, and teachers. 
  
  We have also backslid in the support we provide to our gifted-and-talented "GATE" students.  At the same time are not meeting the needs of our students who would benefit from stronger vocational education.  Our English Learners are continuing to struggle.
  
  If elected, one of my top priorities will be to work toward the creating of another Basics-plus elementary school.  I will also dedicate myself to increasing the opportunities for GATE, Special Ed, Vocational Education, and English Learners.  As the only Trustee Area 2 Candidate with experience bringing GATE-qualified, Special Ed students all the way through local public High School graduation, and the only Candidate who has personally mentored learning-disabled, gifted, ESL, and physically disabled students, I will bring to the Board the needed experience and expertise to make this happen too!
   
• Garner every available dollar, spend every penny wisely, and retain our best teachers,
  so our Unified School District will be a Lean, Mean Teaching Machine!
  
  Everyone agrees that better funding for schools would be wonderful.  That, however, is in the hands of our Governor and Legislators in Sacramento, and not within the control of the School Board.  Every School Board needs to have, among its members, at least some individuals with a wealth of business expertise and experience, so that it can get the most "bang" for every taxpayer "buck." 
  
  If elected, I will make sure that the Board analyzes each fiscal decision with rigor.  As the only Trustee Area 2 Candidate with a Stanford Business School Master of Science in Management degree, the only Candidate with Law, Medicine, and Doctoral Science degrees, and the only Candidate with decades of business consulting experience to companies all over the world who want to maximize their use of fiscal resources, I will bring to the Board the needed knowledge and experience to ensure that every cent is well spent!