I appreciate the confidence and support of the voters of Lakewood in re-electing me to the Lakewood Board of Education. It has been a great honor to have served on this board for 24 years. It has been personally rewarding and intellectually challenging. I have learned much – about roofing materials, teaching reading, bonds and ratings, special education and school law, computers and new technologies. I hope that the experience I have brought to the board – as a former teacher, attorney, parent, and involved community member -has served both the district and the community well.

At the start of what will probably be my final term on the board, I want to make some commitments:

To the citizens of Lakewood: I am committed to continuing to provide this community with stellar schools, schools that provide a broad education to a diverse population of students and families with wide needs and broad expectations; from AP English and a superb music and fine arts program, to a state of the art vocational school, to up-to-date teaching techniques for children for whom English is a second language, to new techniques for teaching children who, for whatever reason, find academic success more difficult to achieve.

I will explore alternatives to ensure the safety as well as academic success of all our students – from emergency reaction plans, to uniforms, to tutors, parent resource coordinators, and teacher instructional coaches.

I promise to do a better job personally in communicating with my constituents about the efforts being made to help children achieve their greatest potential and about their concerns about the schools. We have been working this past year to improve the capacity of our school web site and to more energetically get the story out to the community about our accomplishments and our challenges.

There is much be done in the district to address the issues being raised by the No Child Left Behind Act and proficiency tests. I intend to explain not just why there are problems with the external testing system and why our scores are what they are, but most importantly what we are doing about it. The professional staff of this district are making a concerted effort to improve their ability to teach children for whom traditional teaching methods don't work, and the community deserves to know what those efforts are.

I promise to maintain fiscal responsibility and encourage the efforts of the district to join consortia, to control health insurance costs, and since the bottom line of any school district is the classroom teacher and the skill he or she brings to resolving the individual issues of each child, to provide our children with the best, most qualified teaching staff possible.

As Chair of the Buildings and Sites Committee, I will to continue to work with our construction managers and district oversight committee to keep the on-going construction program on budget and completed in a timely manner. Soon, I will invite the community to participate in the planning of Phase Three of the School Facilities plan.

To the staff of the Lakewood City Schools: I believe you are well trained, hard-working and well-intentioned. I am committed to supporting your efforts to better the work we do as a district. I promise to listen and seek information and not jump to conclusions. I will take time to visit schools, attend meetings, and learn about the problems you face on a daily basis.

However, I will not micro manage the district; we pay capable administrators to do that job. I will provide to you feedback from the community and make policy decisions that support your major purpose – teaching children. I will keep my personal agenda out front so you know what biases I bring to the issues we face, but I will not allow that agenda to get in the way of my responsibility as a board member to the greater needs of the district.

I will have high expectations and expect you to insist on the best – from yourself, your students and from each other.

To my fellow Board members: Lakewood has been blessed with hard-working caring school board members. I have the greatest respect for the commitment and breath of knowledge you bring. I have enjoyed the process by which this board solves problems and works together with respect – for each other, for the professionals in the district, and for the community.

I commit myself to working with you and the administration of this district to achieve consensus on the major issues facing us in the coming year: safety and security issues, improved communications, fulfilling the requirements of our state mandated improvement plan, and planning for the implementation of Phase Three of the Facilities Plan.

We may disagree; we have always had times when we disagreed, but if we fail to hammer out a plan of action on to which we can all be committed, we divert our energy from the task at hand. Lakewood Schools are historical proof that a board of education that listens to each other, respects each other, and works together enhances the reputation of a district and of a community.

Lakewood schools are great schools. They are in the forefront in seeking new ways to meet the individual needs of students. We have some great things going for us; we face some great challenges. I commit myself to making sure that we meet those challenges.