Serving on the Board for the last four years often has been challenging, but I have worked hard to be honest in my dealings, responsible in my decisions and responsive to the people of San Diego. I have tried to make intelligent judgments that promote the common good. I believe in genuine educational reform and I am proud of my record as an agent of positive change.

Since I have been on the Board, I have voted for positive changes that include:

• Televising Board of Education meetings
• Clear district standards established in every subject at every grade level describing what children should know
• Extending mandate for small classes beyond grades K - 3
• More programs for high achievers with universal testing to ensure equal access
• Academic tutorials for struggling students
• Restoration of water sports and soccer; athletic program expansion to include 9th grade girls' volleyball and boys' football
• Local parent participation in principal selection throughout the district
• Professional growth for teachers with peer coaches at every school
• Emphasis on instructional leadership and training for all school principals.

I do not support counterproductive change, however, and have voted "no" to policies which lead us in the wrong direction:

• Contract experiments that delayed bond issue schedules to build and repair schools
• Strangulation of systematic in-school music and art instruction -- important areas of the core curriculum which every child is entitled to experience
• Capricious school closings -- contrary to long-range facilities plans
• Slashing the corps of classroom aides and college student workers -- cutting service to English language learners, AVID programs, special education students and school libraries
• Extravagant hiring of unaccountable consultants and outside lawyers
• Drastic "Blueprint" plan that deprives thousands of students of equal access to all subject areas, weakens comprehensive general education and resegregates classrooms.

These unfortunate changes -- endorsed by a rubber-stamp Board majority -- have caused costly litigation and plummeting morale among teachers and principals, and have shaken community confidence. As a Board member, I try to hold a steady course for positive change and to reject poorly-conceived notions which threaten our goal of delivering a quality education for all our children.