Seven vie for San Mateo-Foster City school board

The seven candidates are looking to fill vacancies on the five-member board left by trustees Ed Coady and Lory Lorimer Lawson, who are not seeking re-election, and board President Chelsea Bonini, who is running for San Mateo City Council.

As the board faces major changes, so does the district in preparing to address future challenges such as improving academic performance and relationships with teachers plus the community amidst grappling with a limited budget.

While eyeing the variety of operational hurdles facing the district, Morgan said it is imperative the new board works through the issues in an effort to preserve the quality of life in both San Mateo and Foster City.

“Good schools make our community good,” said Morgan, who believes his experience as a certified public accountant could help the district work through its financial issues.

Central to the budget struggles was the district’s inability to pass a $209 parcel tax extension during an election in March, resulting in the loss of a measure generating about $7 million annually.

As a result, officials have claimed the district faces a spending imbalance standing to grow as large as $9 million over the coming years, due to inadequate financial allocations from the state. To rectify the issue, candidates universally agreed officials should float another tax measure.

When again approaching the tax, assuring the district’s message is clearly conveyed to voters and the greater community is essential to the measure’s success, said Kanga.

“Communicate, communicate, communicate and continue to be transparent,” said Kanga, a real estate agent, while advocating for a strategy not only useful to garner voter support, but one generally necessary to improve relations with residents.

Candidates concurred that more efficient, frequent and clear discussions should be held to help locals comprehend the district’s priorities, issues, challenges and successes.

“People should be able to communicate their opinions and my hope is everyone has a chance to speak their own minds,” said Haislip, a corporate communications specialist.

Fostering open lines of communication would also be useful in repairing a fractured relationship with district teachers disgruntled over claims of inadequate pay when compared to neighboring school systems, said candidates.

“We need to go back to teachers and ask them what is desirable,” said Watkins, an education consultant, regarding suggested methods for fostering more fruitful negotiations with educators.

Thiel, a business management professional, agreed and said establishing more conventional and frequent discussions with teachers could be another way of avoiding strained partnerships.

“We need to enhance the system and hear their voices in a formal way,” said Thiel.

As it stands, teachers and district officials reached an impasse during negotiations and the two sides brought in a mediator in hopes of breaking the deadlock. Teachers union representatives claim their concerns span beyond salary levels, expanding into frustrations over feeling disrespected and undervalued by administrators.

The concerns have resulted in frequent staff turnover and low morale, claim educators who have seen colleagues leave for other nearby districts which offer more attractive salaries and work atmospheres.

Beyond discussions over additional compensation, innovative solutions such as collaborating with surrounding community organizations, other school districts or city officials to build teacher housing are among the initiatives sought by school administrators.

Hitchcock, an early education director, suggested considering a variety of measures could be useful, as the district should take an all-hands-on-deck approach to improving the dynamic with teachers.

“The teachers need support and pay is not the only solution,” she said, while also recommending to look at surrounding school districts for models in collaborating with teachers.

Beyond the benefits offered through a more productive working partnership, officials should also aim to work alongside teachers to improve the district’s academic environment, said candidates.

With an understanding test results only illustrate a portion of the district’s performance, candidates pointed to the most recent scores on the Smarter Balanced test as cause for concern.

About 59 percent of students met or exceeded their English grade standards while about 54 percent hit a similar mark in math on the exam designed to gauge student comprehension of Common Core standards. The marks were above the state’s average performance and very near to the average score of all county students.

While attempting to not give outsize consideration to performance on standardized tests, Corzo, a social worker, expressed the perspective of many candidates in acknowledging the scores leave room for improvement.

“What those scores tell us is that there is a lot of work to be done,” she said.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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