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1. What do you see as being the main issues facing
the Gilbert Community School District?
One issue is the continued need to stretch limited financial and
personnel resources of the district to strengthen the educational
environment for the benefit of all students. A second issue, enhancing
leadership in educational and administrative areas for future district
development, requires clear vision of the local assets available and
potentials for outside contributions.
2. What experiences, attributes, or other factors
from your background would help make you a good school board member?
My nine years of board experience provide a useful background to my
thought processes. In that period the Board has built additions to both the
K-6 and 7-12 buildings. I was instrumental in requests for development of
the K-6 Commons, the K-6 heat-exchange system and the additional classrooms
on the 7-12 building. These are all examples of using present planning to
develop future capacities. The Commons has freed the gym for other
activities, increasing building utilization alternatives. The heat-exchange
units provide a cost-effective freshened air system and summer humidity
controls that make the learning environment more hospitable for future
curricular flexibility. The classroom additions to the 7-12 building provide
academic program flexibility. Alternatively we examined a 90-minute format
for classes in the 7-12 building. After staff and faculty examination, a
decision was made to delay reconsideration until the new middle school
planning processes are initiated. These projects demonstrate the ability to
think forward and implement under current conditions. Other less obvious
examples for forward planning pepper my nine years of board actions.
My longstanding interest and commitment to K-12 and post-secondary
educational excellence, family experiences with four children that were
active students and who graduated from the Gilbert School District, the
ability to raise questions and deal with challenges with an open and
innovative mind, and the capacity to reach decisions with informed and
conscientious attention to principles are assets that will contribute to
board success.
3. Why are you running for the school board?
To continue efforts to improve the academic environment in the district
and prepare for future challenges in a growing and educationally dynamic
district;
To develop and defend policies that distinguish the Gilbert School
District as a place for parents to select in the best educational and
emotional interests of their children; and
To effectively marshal financial and personnel resources to strengthen
patron-driven goals.
4. What kind of time commitment and other
involvement do you see yourself making to the school district during your
term as a board member?
I will continue to make myself available to patrons, faculty, and staff
to listen to their concerns and issues, and will actively commit time and
talents to fulfill assigned board activities.
5. If in five years from now, a motion picture or
novel were written about your role as a board member, what would you want
the title of the film or book to be?
Book title: Defenestation of Lassitude: the K-12 Battleground
Film title: Gilbert grapes: Best of the Bunch!!
6. What adjectives would you use to describe the
Gilbert schools as they are now?
Academically diverse and strong programs, and actively getting better
Growing, dynamic district with personalized student programs
Emotionally safe and physically sound environments for students and
faculty
Quality actions for the community on limited financial resources
Varied student opportunities, challenging for success
Preparing all students for life experiences with tools for success
7. In five years from now, what adjectives would
you like people to use to describe the Gilbert schools?
All six above, plus short-term infrastructure planning (middle school and
future K-? buildings) for a growing district was achieved and long-range
mechanisms are in place.
8. It's been said that being a school board member
is a tough job because the primary work of a school involves children, and
people have emotional attachments to children that can influence judgment
and decision-making. How do you see yourself working in that kind of
situation where you (or visitors to board meetings) have emotions related to
a decision that needs to be made and yet there needs to be sufficient
detachment to make a fair decision?
My past history of board leadership has demonstrated that I can take a
principled approach to complicated and emotional issues. My base value is
that the best interests of all students are met with continuity and
consistency of policy implementation as a primary expectation.
9. In addition to tending to the wide range of
business and major issues that come before the school board, do you also
have a pet idea or two for which you would like be the catalyst to see
happen in the school district? Please give a brief description of the idea
or ideas.
With our continued growth potentials the Gilbert School District has the
capabilities to meet the needs for academic advocacy in specialized areas.
As a district we have implemented an expanded reading program in K-3;
through intense faculty work, developed and implemented effective
curricular-based evaluation vehicles in K-6; we will have a ½ FTE focused
on math teaching in K-6 this year. My next area of emphasis is provision of
writing support in the 7-12 building. In each case the classroom teachers
will provide the educational experiences and the primary teaching
environment with supplementary support from educational advocates. For
example, writing skills can best be honed by an integrated process of
evaluated repetition in a variety of academic disciplines. It is not
reasonable to expect subject matter teachers with heavy class loads to
effectively emphasize rhetorical skills in addition to their core teaching
responsibilities. An advocate who assists students with improving writing
skills by reading and emphasizing linguistic structure, application of
grammatical rules, and demonstration of basic and advanced rhetorical
techniques to more effectively communicate through the written word would
strengthen all academic programs and better prepare students to handle life
experiences.
10.What else would you want voters to know about
yourself? (The answers can be either serious or light-hearted. A little
humor never hurt any situation.)
10. Ellen and I have been residents of the district since 1974. I have
been on the faculty of the College of Veterinary Medicine as Extension
Veterinarian since 1974. I have been active in both Squaw Valley
Associations (President of South Squaw Valley for 10 years). Ellen and I
have four grown children - all graduates of Gilbert Community Schools and
one grandchild. One of my reasons for continued activity in the school
system is to foster improvements so that my grandchild(ren) will want to
attend because of the high quality academic and extra-curricular activities
available. Hobbies include travel, home remodelling (never ending task for
the happy homeowner), college athletics spectator, and woodworking.
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