Campaign 2007

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Campaign 2007

Campaign 2007

Thank you for visiting my Campaign 2007 re-election website.
Here you can read about my accomplishments and goals.

Thank you for allowing me to serve as the at-large member of the Albemarle County School Board during the past four years. It has been an honor to represent the entire county and all our students and staff.

I am asking for your support to help me share my record of accomplishments and to ask all voters to consider supporting me for a second term on November 6th.  Every vote matters! 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer my re-election campaign and for considering me as a candidate worthy of your vote in this important election. 

Accomplishments during 2004-2007

In 2003, my first campaign for School Board focused on the following issues:

  1. Smaller elementary class sizes
  2. Exceptional schools, competitive pay
  3. Responsible and responsive communications
  4. Full funding of our County’s education priorities
  5. Increased support of technology

I am pleased to report that my work on the School Board has already resulted in significant progress on all of these goals. A few of the results in these specific areas:

bulletSupported the expansion of Class Size Emergency Relief from 3 to 5 teacher positions.
bulletAdvocated for revising our staffing formulas. This work resulted in recommendations for an increased number of elementary teaching assistants which I supported in the FY2007 andFY2008 budgets.
bulletExceptional schools require exceptional leadership.  I am pleased to have been part of the search process that resulted in the School Board's hiring of Dr. Pam Moran as our Superintendent.
bulletI have supported significant increases in teacher salaries every year in every budget.  Teachers have averaged about 7% annual increases since I joined the School Board. That’s about 28% higher compensation over the course of four budgets. Before that, average annual increases were around 3.75%.
bulletI have worked hard to provide my constituents with information about the work of the school board through my blog, e-mails, and this website.
bulletI have initiated and supported numerous initiatives to improve the materials available on the School Division’s website, including audio podcasts and e-mail/RSS alerts of new content.
bulletI advocated strongly for and supported the purchase of the AlertNow system which allows for parents to be notified quickly by phone and e-mail for weather closings and emergencies. AlertNow was implemented in Fall of 2006.
bulletI have advocated for our budget priorities and funding needs in the public and before the Board of Supervisors.
bulletI have supported an increase in our technical help desk staff.
bulletI have supported the launch in 2007 of our SchoolNet data warehouse initiative to improve student assessments, learning, and tracking of student progress.
bulletI made presentations at state and national school board conferences on the use of Internet technology, like blogs, for community engagement.

Goals for a Second Term

In a second term, my goals will be those the Superintendent and School Board have just recently re-approved for 2007-09:

bulletGoal 1: Prepare all students to succeed as members of a global community and in a global economy
bulletGoal 2: Eliminate the achievement gap
bulletGoal 3: Recruit, retain, and develop a diverse cadre of the highest quality teaching personnel, staff, and administrators
bulletGoal 4: Achieve recognition as a world-class educational system
bulletGoal 5: Establish efficient systems for development, allocation, and alignment of resources to support the Division’s vision, mission, and goals

In addition, I will continue my work on these matters which my constituents have asked me to make a priority:

bulletImprove our budget process with the public and the Board of Supervisors to ensure we have full funding of our County’s education priorities;
bulletKeep elementary class sizes small;
bulletMake smart and cost-effective decisions about building new school facilities;
bulletContinue to improve our approaches to discipline and alcohol/drug education;
bulletEvaluate and improve our core principles related to athletics; Implement changes that will improve athletic programs and create high expectations for behavior of all student athletes and coaches. Work with parents and community members to ensure athletics is a positive experience for everyone;
bulletRecruit a diverse staff that reflects the racial diversity in our community and pay all employees competitive market-based salaries;
bulletEnsure we maintain School Resource Officers in our schools;
bulletUse "green building" practices and adopt non-toxic policies for pesticides, herbicides, and cleaners.

That is just my short list! There are many other matters to be addressed during my next term. Please feel free to contact me anytime with a suggestion or a comment.
 

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