2 vying for San Mateo-Foster City school board

When discussing how they’d like to approach the issues most pressing to the district — a continued recovery from the pandemic, addressing student achievement gaps, managing its budget — Chin, who was first appointed to the board in 2018, said his goal is to provide some leadership stability to the district while Paynter said she’s looking to offer a new perspective to the governing board and rebuild parent trust.

After more than two years of COVID-19 altering how students and teachers could safely meet, both candidates shared different perspectives on how they would approach learning loss and changes in student behavior.

Pandemic impacts

Reviewing data to find the students most affected is a key first step, Chin said while noting initial data indicates San Mateo-Foster City students performed better than those in neighboring institutions. And keeping class sizes small and students out of their phones through a new program in which students place their phones in electronically-locked pouches during the school day are two solutions to worsening student mental health, he said.

“We’re looking at data so we find who those students are who have had that loss,” Chin said. “We’re trying to push in as much as we can to find those students and support teachers.”

From a parent’s perspective, Paynter accused the board of mishandling its new cellphone policy by not hosting adequate time for community input before adopting the policy. She offered similar criticism for another decision to change the district’s middle school math offerings.

But Paynter credited the district for helping students perform better than neighboring districts but also acknowledged that much of the data being used to make the assessments have not been released to the public yet.

“The initial data looks good but I’m not ready to stick a flag in it and say success,” Paynter said.

She also noted supplemental funding will eventually run out and with tougher financial times looming for the nation, she said she’s concerned the district may struggle to keep extra staff on board in the future and maintain small classroom sizes.

Looking forward, Paynter said officials will need to closely examine data each summer while also working harder to rebuild burnt bridges with parents, arguing parent buy-in will also be a key approach for addressing behavioral issues among students and rebuilding trust after a controversial reopening during the pandemic, she said.

Parents have grown increasingly concerned about the issue, particularly among middle school students who appear to be experiencing increasing fights and bullying, she said, referring to parent groups formed online.

“In my view, the board wasn’t empowered with someone working with them but also the board itself, as an observer, appeared divided in being able to push that forward,” Paynter said. “It didn’t have to be that way. That wall still exists and that’s a big reason why I’m running.”

Chin defended the district’s reopening plan by arguing that the district did the best it could to balance out the needs of students, staff and parents all while safety conditions and guidance constantly changed.

He also defended the board’s math changes, which did away with an accelerated sixth grade math offering and adopting a three-pathway math program starting in seventh grade. Though the changes were controversial with Chin asserting people “came out of the woodwork” to oppose the proposal, he said subgroups of students who have historically underperformed have made big jumps in achievement.

Budgeting

On the budget, Paynter also shared concerns for dipping enrollment and suggested the current budget overestimates how many students will actually be enrolled in the coming year. But her main argument was that now is the time to begin rebuilding some of that lost community trust so the district can garner greater support for future tax measures that will be vital for stabilizing the district’s finances.

“There have been mention by Ken and members of the board that we should be in the habit of putting bond measures on the ballot but when you’re destroying trust with the community by making these decisions and calling community members racists, that is not going to garner support for parcel tax measures. This is the time, seven years in advance, for making changes and restoring trust with the community to then support these measures,” Paynter said.

Chin shared similar concerns on dropping enrollment numbers but noted the issue is affecting the entire state. And while he agrees the district will need to regain some community trust, he said the issue of adequate school funding is a larger state problem that needs to be addressed by modernizing Proposition 13, a measure approved by voters in 1978 that caps the amount a homeowner can be taxed on the value of their property.

In their final pitches for why they’d be the best fit for the trustee seat, Paynter said her work as a scientist helps her match data with strategy and said she has a proven track record of showing up for her community at school board meetings. Her main goal in running, she said, is “to restore confidence in our schools for the benefit of our students.”

Chin, on the other hand, stressed the importance of stability and said his background in community development and public works helps him bring an important perspective to the school board, especially as school districts are facing increasing pressure to provide wraparound services to students and their families.

“This is an opportunity to in some ways maintain stability. There’s always a call for change but when you have constant turnover it could be a detriment,” Chin said. “School districts becoming more like cities themselves, I think [my experience] brings something different to the table and rounds out the team.”

sierra@smdailyjournal.com

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