Recently, the long time director from District 2, Bob Hughes, retired after an impressive 29 years of service.
The remaining four board members appointed Matthew Gregory to serve out his term. Mr. Gregory is a good man, and I strongly
respect his willingness to volunteer for this position. However, the perspective that our board desperately needs is that
of a current parent. Mr. Gregory, like the rest of our board, has grown children.
As an example of how the parental perspective matters, the board recently approved a district proposal to
restrict the expenditure of I-728 funds for class size reduction to kindergarten and first grade, where these funds had covered
K-4 in previous years. None of the present board members has a child young enough to have benefited from I-728, which passed
in 2001, so they simply have not experienced the dramatic impact that reduced class size has had in our elementary schools.
This year's I-728 budget deserved greater scrutiny.
As the parent of small children, I directly experience what is happening in our schools today.
This perspective is critically missing from the present board, so I am running as a representative of parents whose children
are currently in the system.
