What do you see as the major issue(s) facing the District? How would you confront those issue(s) and work with the other Board members to find resolutions?
Matt Stegman
Email: matthewcstegman@yahoo.com
Website: www.mattstegman.org
Phone: (916) 281-4136
Safe Schools:
We need strong anti-drug, weapons, and violence policies that are enforced by the schools and backed by the district. With my background in law enforcement as a prosecutor, I would bring to the board education, training and experience it needs to make safe schools a priority.
New Schools:
Overcrowding remains a big problem. We need to get the new high school built and stay on track for converting elementary schools to K-8. Then we need to follow through with our plan to complete additional schools to keep pace with our growing community. In doing so, it is important that we keep our schools at the current sizes to foster a positive learning environment. Most of our elementary schools enroll about 600 students. Current plans are to increase this number to 1000. An elementary school with 1000 students is just too large.
Better Attendance:
We need a truancy program with teeth, one that holds parents and students accountable. Getting every student back in the classroom will ensure maximum school funding, minimize the drop-out rate, and vastly improve student achievement and potential.
Higher Graduation Rates:
The current dropout rate is between 35 and 50 percent–unbelievable and unacceptable. We need to develop an early intervention program that can reach out to students in danger of dropping out and keep them on the path to graduation.
Stop Teacher and Staff Turnover:
Low pay has created a revolving door effect in our schools. Many good teachers leave the district after a couple of years for higher paying positions in other districts. By improving our schools and maximizing state funding, our district can become competitive with other districts and keep talented teachers in our classrooms.
Setting a Vision:
The California Department of Education and the California School Boards Association urge all districts to create and update a “vision” and specific goals to guide the superintendent and staff in their management, decision making, and day to day work.
Having a clear vision, specific measurable goals, and a plan to get there is one of board's main responsibilities, and our district's budgets should be written with these goals and plan in mind. It is very difficult to achieve major improvements if every decision is made independently without a specific plan. As a member of the board, I will work to bring the board together to create a vision for addressing these issues, and supporting the superintendent in making the necessary changes.
Sandra Vargas
Email:
sandravargas1@yahoo.com
Website:
www.votesandra.com
Phone: (916) 617-2990
The biggest problem facing the district is that the district’s reputation for success does not match the strong and ever-improving reputation of the community. West Sacramento has become the Capitol region’s newly discovered jewel, with many people having recently moved here, many businesses opening and expanding, and people enjoying a great sense of community. For one reason or another, the school district has not enjoyed the same level of pride.
I would like to help change our reputation by opening up and employing a new level of communication amongst all stakeholders, which includes everyone who is a part of this community. We need an improved level of connectedness between the Board, our teachers, administrators, and parents. The first step that we need to take is to establish an 2-way, wide and open, line of communication with one other, so that we can build the necessary trust between us whereby we can, and should, hold each other accountable, in order to get things in an efficient and timely manner.
As I mentioned earlier, another concern that the district needs to address is the building of our new high school, which has long-been anticipated. I would strive to ensure that our new high school is finished promptly and efficiently and that it maintains its prestigious promise for the benefit of our students and our community, all the while ensuring that the our district remains fiscally sound at all times, in order to avoid any and all negative impacts on our students and teachers. I am committed to work with our Superintendent and Board Members, to implement the positive vision of our district and make this a dream come true for our community.
Mort Geivett
Email: mort@jps.net,
Phone: (916) 371-1637
Among the many issues and problems that I feel need to be addressed within the district (in no specific order) are those related to building the new high school; employee/employer relations; safety in our schools; addressing overcrowding problems; low student achievement in several schools; maintaining older facilities; building new facilities; and the advent of the K-8 and charter schools philosophies that have been developed and nurtured within the community during the past several years.
My plan would be to work through the issues and problems of the district systematically and directly and to work with the other Board members, Superintendent, staff members, students, and community members to effectively address them. We will need to gather information and data, get input from others, prioritize, formulate a strategic plan of action, work cooperatively and effectively together, hold ourselves accountable for making the changes that we feel need to be made, and monitor accordingly. There will be no one simple plan for success. We are dealing with complicated issues that will require a great deal of energy, time, and commitment to address and fix.
Dani Langford
Email: danamites@earthlink.net
We have many serious issues facing our district. Currently, our teachers and classified employees are without a contract. Administrators were given a minimum of a 10% raise (some receiving higher) while the teachers were told that they would be “taken care of when the time came”. We have to see that our teachers and staff are paid wages that will not only attract good teachers but retain them as well. With an impasse situation, the focus of positive teaching becomes diverted with the threat of strikes and disruption. This was all because promises have been broken.
We need to build the new high school but we need to build within our budget. Irresponsible decisions have been made that have gotten us to the point we are today. The current board refused, early on, to listen to teachers, staff, parents and students about ways to bring down the costs. Yes, construction prices have increased but the truth is the design of the new high school was over budget from day one. This community voted for one comprehensive high school and while we all want our kids to have the best we are not sending the right message when we purchase something we can’t afford. We may only have one shot to build this and we have to build it right or we could bankrupt our district and no one wins if that happens. We need to be more concerned about the educational needs of the students instead of focusing on the recreational joint use facility. I am concerned that the community was told that the City was paying its portion of that facility up front when in fact the District is borrowing not only their portion but the City’s portion also.
It’s very important that City and District resources are pooled to build public amenities. As a Board member, I would make sure that both sides pay their fair share so that neither resource is drained.
There are many other issues that can’t be covered in the number of words allowed to fully answer these questions. I can assure you that I would work along side my fellow Board members in a professional manner to confront the issues as a team player and make the necessary changes that would benefit every child in the District.
Karl Machschefes
Email: machkarl@sbcglobal.net
Phone: (916) 372-8487
One major issue is the loss of students due to a lack of choices. We need to add some K-8 schools and turn other elementary schools into magnet schools. When children and parents actively choose a school, they take ownership and the school functions better. We also have major issues at the high school. We need to get on to an AB block schedule which will allow more electives for our students and we need to get into small learning centers as soon as possible.