LASD candidates: on healthy school lunch, online forums, GATE, and their speed of response (Part 1)

The LASD candidates were all sent the following questionnaire at ~11 pm on a weeknight and here are their responses in the order they responded.

1. Do you think that school lunch affects academic performance? Should schools role-model and provide healthy lunches? and provide healthy options?

2. Should we push for a mountain view neighborhood school and how do we make that happen?

3. Do you think the PTAs could/should be more inclusive by allowing online forums rather than just 8am meetings or in person meetings?

4. Should the hot lunch vendor be decided by a democratic process (allowing all that use the system and/or all PTA members to vote) or by whomever the hot lunch chair is?

5. What is the status with BCS? are we “resolved” at least for the next 5 years? no more lawsuits about land? What is your relationship with BCS and with those not at BCS?

6. What are your top 3 priorities?

7. How do we stimulate all of our kids, given that we have no GATE programming, we seem to be focused on bringing up the baseline but neglecting the top?

8. how many days do/did you or your sig. o pack lunch for your kids?

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Martha McClatchie - response time 18 minutes!

www.mcclatchie.com - Facebook - Twitter: @mcclatchie2014

McClatchieLASD2014@gmail.com

My super quick answers (always dangerous so late at night, but considering I know you would like to share with others),

1-5, YES.

#5. I am a BCS parent with 3 kids at BCS. I have friends throughout the District, from our neighborhood, Oak School, girl scouts, Kiwanis Club, and Mountain View Parent Nursery School.

#6. As a Trustee, my priorities include: to ensure fiscal accountability for the District, advocate for quality education for all kids, work with Cities on traffic safety and safe bike routes, and lastly I would like to retire any fear, uncertainty and doubt around having Bullis Charter School a partner in our public education community.

and #7: This question is complex and requires more than just my opinion. As a parent, I would like to have our public schools support each individual child’s learning needs. Teachers need the time and experience to evaluate, assess and engage each child in their classroom at the appropriate level.

#8. Regarding my 3 kids daily lunches....I am working on getting them to pack their own healthy lunch from home. It is a work in process

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Sangeeth Peruri - response time 22 minutes

www.sangeethperuri.com

1. do you think that school lunch affects academic performance? Should schools role-model and provide healthy lunches? and provide healthy options?

-Yes

2. Should we push for a mountain view neighborhood school and how do we make that happen?

- We should strongly consider a mountain view school. Need a school bond to pass to consider that option. I think a 4-6 acre multi story site north of el camino real makes sense. Many families do not want this however, so we have to get more community input to see what the best options are.

3. Do you think the PTAs could/should be more inclusive by allowing online forums?

- depends on the PTA; what we have at Covington seems to work well (We use email, google groups and Facebook); every PTA should do things based on their parents’ feedback

4. Should the hot lunch vendor be decided by a democratic process ...

- Should be decided at a PTA level; we did thorough surveys around this issue at Covington

5. What is the status with BCS? are we “resolved” at least for the next 5 years? What is your relationship with BCS ...

- I think the district should work with the charter school to find an appropriate school site. The relationship between the district and BCS seems much more cooperative since the 5 year agreement was signed. I spend and have spent a lot of time with BCS board members.

6. What are your top 3 priorities?

Long/Medium Term - Curriculum Development

Short Term (Effectively allocating proceeds from a school bond if it passes)

7. How do we stimulate all of our kids, given that we have no GATE programming, we seem to be focused on bringing up the baseline but neglecting the top?

We should focus on segmenting each class into groups and have GATE “clusters” in each class. We should leverage technology to do this effectively.

8. How many days to you order hot lunch for your kid(s)?

With kid chow we ordered lunch 5 days a week. Now kid chow discontinued service,. we are ordering lunch 1 day/week (pizza day) with pasta market.

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John Swan - response time 1 day 16 hrs “let’s set up a meeting”

http://www.johnswanforlasd.org/

From my meeting with him, so written in my words

1. Yes. yes. yes. “eating healthy seems to be a no brainer.” “you are going to start habits at a young age”
2. It’s something to consider. There are “1200 mountain view students in the district K-8” and we could make a STEAM magnet school and take advantage of having CSMA do programming. Perhaps a joint venture with a commercial property.
3. Yes. “ surveymonkey has been around for a long time” and can be used to get more input. “There are a lot of ways to better democratize the system.” I’ve been to a lot of city board meetings and some LASD meetings and for issues people care about, you have sit through the entire meeting at the end. Why not schedule it first?
4. Democratic process
5. cease-fire agreement, it’s great. a long term peace accord is not there yet. a lot of details need to be worked out. I would like to see the whole issue go to bed. We’ve been at this for 10 yrs. It’s like a really bad divorce. If the people separating would be allowed to talk to mediator, it would have been resolved 2 yrs ago. It’s not in the lawyers best interest to end it. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to the town. It’s time to focus on the kids.
6. A. Unite the community - the bond has brought people together, the process - enrollment growth task force, get rid of misinformation. This is fact. This is fiction. e.g. Freakonomics - take emotional issues and just drill down on facts. B. fiscal oversight, transparent and really fiscally sound. C. Innovation in the classroom. We are in the innovation capital of the world and public ed is industrial age model, coming down the conveyer belt. Common enemy - it’s the ed code. Why is sacramento, washington trying to micromanage what we are trying to teach?
7. individualized learning. The technology is there. We could have 20 kids in the classroom with 20 different curriculum. Leverage technology and proper teacher training. We have too many “programs du jour” - every year is something new and the teachers are fed up. The charter school should be treated as asset. It could be our innovation lab. Charter school is exempt from some ed code. We must 1st unite. We can ’t do anything if we are in a civil war.

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Vladimir Ivanovic - response time 6 days

http://go.vladimir4lasdboard.org/

1. school lunch ?

Studies show the correlation between nutrition and academic performance. There are also federal and state guidelines that must be followed to meet nutritional standards.

2. Should we push for a mountain view neighborhood school and how do we make that happen?

There is rapid student growth in the North Los Altos/San Antonio Corridor. Ideally, a school would be located in the geography. That will only be accomplished with a partnership and commitment from local city councils as well as successful passage of Measure N.

3. Do you think the PTAs could/should be more inclusive by allowing online forums rather than just 8am meetings or in person meetings?

School PTA’s are separate entities from the school district. They set their own meeting schedules and agendas.

4. Should the hot lunch vendor be decided by a democratic process (allowing all that use the system and/or all PTA members to vote) or by whomever the hot lunch chair is?

As long as the nutritional guidelines are being followed, PTA’s make their vendor decisions. They have the option of working together or separately.

5. What is the status with BCS? are we “resolved” at least for the next 5 years?no more lawsuits about land? What is your relationship with BCS and with those not at BCS?

The press release on the district website for the exact wording of the agreement. I applaud the agreement and look to work with BCS on identifying a permanent location for their school.

6. What are your top 3 priorities?

• Pass the bond measure
• Work with local governments to accommodate student growth
• Continue to enhance our curriculum and keep our focus on student achievement

7. How do we stimulate all of our kids, given that we have no GATE programming, we seem to be focused on bringing up the baseline but neglecting the top?

It is a challenge faced by all school boards of how to stimulate all children whether they are gifted, ELL or have learning challenges. The district has budgetary constraints. Each of the elementary schools offer after school activities or clubs which might offer a broader experience for children needing additional challenge.

8. if you have/had kids in the district, how many days a week do you/ did you order lunch?

My children buy hot lunch periodically when there are menu items they like.

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Tamara Logan will be in Part 2 b/c Patch limits characters. sorry!

http://patch.com/california/losaltos/lasd-candidates-healthy-school-lunch-online-forums-gate-and-their-speed-response-part-2