Below are the responses of the five candidates running for three seats on the Los Alamitos Board of Education. The candidates are Robert J. Aguilar Jr., David Boyer, Megan Cutuli, Cathy Larson, and Karen Russell.
Candidates were asked: "What are two significant issues facing the school district?"
Below are the responses of the five candidates running for three seats on the Los Alamitos Board of Education. The candidates are Robert J. Aguilar Jr., David Boyer, Megan Cutuli, Cathy Larson, and Karen Russell.
Candidates were asked: "What are two significant issues facing the school district?"
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Robert J. Aguilar Jr.:
Most people who have lived in this area for an extended period of time, like myself, may say that we have a great district and nothing needs to be changed. I am the first to admit that I am proud to have my young daughter attending school in LAUSD and part of the reason I am running for a seat on the Board of Education is because I want to ensure that our district not only remains a good district but also becomes one of the best in the country. However, as I’ve spent the last two years learning more about our district and our current Governing Board Members I’ve grown concerned with the direction we are heading.
First, as elected officials I believe it is the duty of the Board to convey the wishes and will of the constituents who elected them into their positions. Instead, our district is run from the middle and the board seems to work to the wishes and will of our Superintendent. Governing Board Member David Boyer said in some recent campaign events that their primary job is to “hire and fire the Superintendent with a three out of five majority.”
It seems to me that the people we place in those chairs should do more than that. In fact, the reason there are five elected members is to consider and vote on all matters pertaining to the operation of the district. That simply is not happening. With most board members exceeding twelve years on the board, and no term limits governing their reigns, our board has become more self-governing than democratic. Transparency and communication with our community and families is seriously lacking and decisions are being rubber stamped by our elected board without holding public meetings as required by the Brown Act. The current administration will argue that all decisions are made in the best interest of our students, however, there are large populations of students and families who are ignored or effected negatively by these decisions. They are left with nothing more than disappointment and questions.
Secondly, these last few years have seen a lot of changes with our district leadership. District Administrators and Principals are leaving for other out of district opportunities and as a result our children are left with inconsistencies and uncertainties. My daughter who is now a fourth grader is currently working with her third principal in five years. I believe there is a serious issue in a district when we can’t recruit and retain talented administrators all while claiming to be one of the best districts in the state. Changes need to be made in the way we manage the district and our most valued assets.
When I am elected to the board I will work hard to represent the interests of all students, faculty and administrators, I will communicate and encourage transparency with our families and community, and I will work to ensure our most valued administrators look to make Los Al their home.
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David Boyer:
Los Alamitos Unified has five 2016-2017 District Priority goals. They are: 1. Passionately pursue academic excellence for all students. 2. Ensure a healthy, safe, and drug-free environment. 3. Enhance communication processes to engage, inform, and educate all stakeholders. 4. Responsibly manage and allocate financial resources to maximize students’ educational experiences. 5. Improve maintenance, planning, and agreements to optimize the use of District facilities.
As a board we meet each year for a day to review our board protocols and to review the School District Vision, Mission Statement, and review and discuss our goals and student progress.
My focus for the next four years is to continue our focus on kindergarten to 12th grade Academics, Athletics, Activities, and the Arts. I believe this is best accomplished by continued support and investment in our ongoing professional development for our teachers, coaches, staff, and administrators. The focus on keeping students connected to school and focused on Academic learning and the implementation of 21st century technology learning.
We have developed signature practices and they will continue to be the focus and building blocks that drive student performance.
My other focus will be on developing a new 10-year Master Facility Plan to address future students’ needs in academics, athletics, activities, and the arts.
I want to explore programs and ways we can improve energy efficiency, and ways we can accommodate increasing uses of technology.
Los Alamitos High School is turning 50 years old next year and we have a number of infrastructure needs that need to be addressed and by engaging our communities
I believe we will improve partnerships, agreements and communication to identify and prioritize our needs in a methodical and responsible manner.
I respectfully ask for your vote on November 8th.
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Megan Cutuli:
I want to thank the community for allowing me to serve on the Los Alamitos School Board. It has been my honor and privilege. It seems there are always significant issues facing school districts and I will address finances and student achievement.
If our financial house isn’t in order, we won’t be able to properly support teaching and learning. This isn’t an area that needs significant change. But it is an area that requires constant vigilance. We have been excellent stewards of our funds. We have completed a $150 million moderation at our sites on time and on budget. We work with our associations to keep students the top priority. We are always looking to see what financial obligations will occur in the future to make sure that we maintain our financial stability. With the changing on how schools are funded by the State, with the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), Los Alamitos USD becomes a lower funded school district. Students of foster care, lower socioeconomic homes and English language learners receive more funding from the State, especially if these students are of high concentration in the district.
Every district, including Los Alamitos, has these children. Instead of labeling them, we support them and get them on track academically. But we are receiving fewer funds than other districts while we still have many of the same costs and needs. This funding model isn’t truly “fair” to all the children in California.
As many of you know, the retirement systems in California are looking at a huge short fall. To remedy this, the State decided that school districts will increase their contributions to both STRS and PERS systems (teachers and classified personnel).
The district has no options in this. While I agree that a solution to this problem is urgently needed, I am not happy with the manner that the State has gone about doing a partial fix. Employees across the State were promised a retirement when they were hired. It is an obligation that should be met. But I think some very difficult conversations need to be handled at the State level to truly resolve this problem. Just telling school districts to contribute more isn’t the answer.
Student achievement should always be the priority in education. In Los Alamitos, we are doing an outstanding job. This is not an issue of concern but is, and should be, a top priority area of the school board. There is an urgency in education. The student only gets one chance to be in 3rd – 5th – 9th grade. That year needs to be outstanding. We focus on professional development and teacher collaboration to enhance all instruction. We have teachers as coaches and we are truly refining the art of teaching.
I am very proud of our staff and our focus on continual improvement.
We are an educational institution and we must always be looking at what we can do better and how can we help the students to achievement more.
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Cathy Larson:
I spent one day this past week in a district-wide professional development event. While listening to the keynote speaker, I found myself contemplating the two issues I find most pressing in education today, and not just because of the request to share these thoughts with the voting community, but because the speaker reiterated them in his presentation. Turns out these issues aren’t just Los Al issues; they are issues facing all of education today.
First and foremost is money. With increasing liabilities at the state level, a potential decrease in state funding, an inevitable change in presidency whose education policies are still to be determined, and a dozen other unknown factors, our district spending needs to be closely monitored and the results closely evaluated. Like my grandma used to say, “Live within your means and don’t spend what you don’t have.” I want to see our district do better with less. I want to stop asking our parents for more money. I want to ask questions about the needs for our current programs and positions. I want to know how we can better allocate the funding we receive. Is it possible for us to be just as good a district with less? I will argue it’s possible and won’t require parents to pick up the slack. Rather than throwing more money at the beast, let’s put him on a diet; he’ll be stronger, leaner, and healthier in the long run.
The second pressing issue is the need for 21st century instruction. This doesn’t necessarily mean more technology; it means more innovative instructional methodologies. The time has come for classrooms to be collaborative, lessons to be project based, communication to be global, and curriculum developed to creatively solve civic challenges. Our classroom instruction needs to prepare kids for life, rather than prepare kids to take the next chapter test. I ran across a study published in March of 2016 wherein blue chip businesses reported spending more than “$3.1 billion annually on remedial writing training.” In an age when writing is more the norm than speaking – think email and texts – I find myself asking why. We need our district to move into instruction that better meets the needs of our new world and economy. No more worksheets. No more teaching from only a textbook. No more rows. Businesses are telling us these methodologies aren’t working. A 21st century classroom is student-centered, offers student’s choice, engages students through inquiry and prepares kids for a world that didn’t exist when we were going through school. Education no longer needs teachers to be the “sage on the stage”; rather, it needs teachers who help students navigate the bombardment of information – teachers who teach kids how to learn.
Interestingly, my second priority for Los Al Unified isn’t going to take any more money, which coincides nicely with my first. So, you ask, how do we make this shift? We hold our schools accountable for results. We ask our leaders to present data. We demand our Board listen to presentations at board meetings that move beyond just celebrations. With a united focus on becoming a lean, mean, educating machine, we can continue to be great – for us all.
Visit www.cathylarson.com for more information.
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Karen Russell:
Facilities – The Los Alamitos School District passed a facilities bond in 2008 which allowed us to use $126 million to modernize our schools. We also procured some matching funds from the State of California. We were also able to update our auxiliary lot where we store our buses and equipment and built an all-weather track at Los Alamitos High School. All of this was done, on time and on budget.
Los Alamitos High School will be 50 years old in 2017. Although we will celebrate this anniversary, with it comes significant issues. In the early 2000’s the District built a new two story building and did some modernization at the high school. However, we never fully modernized the high school and there are some great needs there. Having said that, the School Board has authorized an architect firm to ascertain what are our greatest needs. So how do we go about this? All stakeholders will be consulted to see what they perceive those needs to be. Groups will be consulted – teachers, administrators, classified personnel, parents, business leaders and other community members. We will not only focus on the high school but will look at all our schools and facilities to determine needs as well. This will ultimately be put into a 10 year Master Plan for facilities. We will need to determine how to fund it. Is there support in the community for a facilities bond? When will we put it on the ballot, if we decide to do so? But most importantly, if we determine the community would not support the bond, we will not put it on the ballot.
Technology – We live a in a fast paced world when it comes to technology. What will be the new best thing? In order to be on the cutting edge, we must be judicious and prudent in the use of technology. The Board will be embarking upon a staffing assessment in order to provide our teachers, students and classified personnel with the best support and equipment possible. Teachers need support to learn and teach newer technologies. The students need to learn these technologies in order to navigate the academic world and careers. We need to determine just how many support personnel we need to keep the technology in good repair and working. Replacement schedules are also vital.
Children need to be cautioned about the misuses of technology. We will continue to offer workshops for parents about how to protect their children from accessing technology on the web that can do harm.
The District has been offering a few on-line courses and will be looking to evaluate the possibility of doing more. This is especially valuable when a student is homebound with a long illness. These classes can be done in the summer as well for students who are very active and want to free a period during the regular year in order to participate in the activity they love.
