K-8 School District Board Challenger Going for Round 2

There are four candidates running for three spots on the Redwood City School District school board: , , , and . Patch will run profiles of each candidate. Be sure to vote by Nov. 8, Election Day!

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It’s a voluntary position that requires making tough decisions amidst , but district parent Lea Cuniberti-Duran is running for the board—for the second time.

Though she lost to the two incumbents—Maria Diaz-Slocum and Hilary Paulson—in 2009, she said she’s running again to bring some new ideas to the board.

“Putting my foot in the race has sparked interest and discussion in the public,” Cuniberti-Duran said. “That has been something very positive.”

Her endorser, Roosevelt parent Trish Taylor, added, “There are a lot of limitations that the board has, but by bringing someone new brings fresh perspectives as ways to think outside the box.”

The incumbents have been running as a block, even sporting “Re-Elect MacAvoy, Masur, McBride” signs displayed prominently from a car dashboard outside the Wednesday. Cuniberti-Duran was unable to attend.

“It’s very hard to go against the incumbents,” Taylor said. “But she seems to have a lot of passion and so much commitment.”

Her current job as a graphic designer has contributed in ways to the district’s art program. District parent and former Special Education PTA (SEPTAR) board member Alicia Levine said that Cuniberti-Duran helped put together cards and sell them to support the program.

Expanding Roosevelt to K-8

Because revolves around project-based learning--a longer-term, more critical form of learning-- an expansion from K-6 to K-8 would allow students to fully benefit from the project-based learning curriculum, an administrative move that Cuniberti-Duran lists as one of her top three issues. The school .

“It’s a no brainer,” Cuniberti-Duran said. “[Roosevelt has] done a 180 after it started as a pilot class and expanded to the entire school.”

Taylor added that project-based learning becomes more robust in seventh and eighth grades when students have the capacity to apply their knowledge.

Positive Behavior Management and More District Transparency

Cuniberti-Duran's other issue in her Top 3 includes classroom management and diversified teaching training for teachers.

She said programs like Positive Behavior Intervention has been successful in instilling positive character attributes, as studies show that students work harder to be rewarded than punished. Read in this how a Grayslake, Illinois, school succeeded with the Positive Behavior program.

“It’s the biggest bang for your buck,” Cuniberti-Duran said, even above reducing student to teacher ratios.

Cuniberti-Duran is also pressing for more district operation transparency.

“This is public money and we need to have a true understanding of where it goes,” Cuniberti-Duran said.

She said the last special election in June 2009 for a parcel tax cost more than $400,000, with $280,000 to pay San Mateo County for the special election plus $139,000 for an outside consultant, numbers confirmed by the San Mercury News.

“I am pro parcel tax, but why not wait for the general election when it won’t cost a dime?” she said.

She added that many parents were involved in the district, but that the general public had very little knowledge of the district’s goings-on.

Fight for Special Needs Education

One of the founding members of SEPTAR and a parent of an autistic child, Cuniberti-Duran is also an advocate for the increased attention to special needs education.

“People consider special ed as a burden on the system, encroaching on the system,” Taylor said.

Levine added, “An attitude needs to be developed where people don’t think of special ed as a big money suck.”

Cuniberti-Duran noted that 1 in 8 children in the district are special needs students, and their education should be championed as well.

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