My Top Priorities For Ocean View School District:
CLASS SIZE REDUCTION
Studies have shown and I know from personal experience in my own classroom, that class size matters. Students receive more individualized attention and interact more with their teacher if class size is smaller. Teachers have more flexibility to use different instructional approaches with fewer students to focus on. Fewer students are less distracting to each other than a large group of children, behavior of students is improved. Teachers have more time to teach because there are fewer discipline problems. Students are more likely to participate in class and become more involved. Teachers have more time to cover additional material and use more supplementary texts and enrichment activities. Lower class size matters, and that is why when I was elected in 2012, I made it one of my primary goals to bring the high 29:1 ratio for K-3 classes back down. I made good on that promise and lowered class sizes to 27:1. With my re-election, more class size reduction has occurred.
BANNING CELL PHONE USE AT SCHOOL
As a 29-year classroom teacher, I know the damage overuse of cell phones can do to young minds. For this reason, in my own 6th grade classroom, I have been restricting smartphones for decades. As a 12-year Ocean View School District board member, I have a long track record of protecting children. In OVSD, our students are nurtured and protected. Although technology is helpful in everyday life for adults, young students do not need access to the internet via smartphones while at school. Cell phones are distracting and should not be used during school hours. Learning is the number one goal for our students and achieving their academic goals should be their focus. It is important to note that in Ocean View, every student is issued a school computer. Under the watchful supervision of their classroom teachers, students are also monitored. District IT staff monitor students using online safety platforms as well. As president of the Board of Trustees, I worked with my colleagues to pass initiatives to protect children from online predators. Having multiple layers of protection is necessary for student safety and success.
SAFETY AND SECURITY MEASURES:
On my watch, OVSD has undergone a complete transformation through a $169M bond program that has modernized schools and overhauled technology. I spearheaded the efforts to ban dangerous pesticides in play areas and brought environmental justice to the students of Oak View. Most importantly, our team has provided safe learning environments for all students utilizing security fencing, single point of entry systems, and implemented the Raptor System to screen for registered sex offenders. I understand the diverse needs of students in the Ocean View School District better than anyone.
SAVING OPEN SPACE
My commitment to the environment and our community is unwavering. I pledge to continue steadfast environmental stewardship if elected to the Board of Trustees. As president of the OVSD Board of Trustees, I was honored to oversee multiple historical milestones in regard to saving public land, and never selling our schools or open space. In March 2022, we created a brand new 15-acre open space area at the old Park View School site in the heart of HB. Recently, we said goodbye to the old school building, which had been closed since 1989, to provide the community with expanded green space. This is big. We are delighted that this demolition has revitalized the area. We will NOT sell the property to make way for high density development (HDD) or anything else. We will continue to be the only school board to NEVER sell our property to build homes. Instead we are going to provide additional open, green space for HB residents to enjoy. Come on out to run on the open green fields, because we know, parks make life better. Watch here to see how the old blighted Park View site is now a new open green space park.
ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION SOLUTIONS
BAN OF ROUNDUP:
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN OVSD
Serving as a trustee of the Ocean View School District, it’s been my honor to work for the people of Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Midway City, and Westminster. As a classroom teacher, I pride myself on being an excellent communicator, with the ability to prioritize listening over speaking while seeking to understand different perspectives. Synthesizing ideas to understand concerns leverages the expertise of others. As a conservative fiduciary of public tax dollars, I have balanced budgets for a decade, and this year recorded a record-breaking surplus. My track record shows that representation of our diverse community is a top priority. Being from a family of immigrants has shown me how truly fortunate I am to be part of the American Dream. Our district is a beautiful patchwork of many races, cultures, religions, and traditions. Over the past two centuries, our Constitution has protected our right to be different, and I have sworn an oath to protect this.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
Ocean View School District is already harnessing artificial intelligence technology for learning. As a board member, I know that just about every time one uses a computer, a tablet, academic learning websites, or news websites, AI is running in the background. Focusing on its use in our public schools, students can utilize AI to research subject matter, help edit essays, generate reports, and even write music and lyrics with a simple search. In Ocean View schools, AI in education leads to more personalized learning, more practice problems for struggling students, more advanced concepts for students who are ahead, increased student persistence, handwriting conversion to digital, text to speech, speech to text, language translation, and more. Rest assured; AI is not replacing teachers and it does solve every problem. Like all online tools, AI must be monitored by teachers and district staff to prevent online bullying. This is where human intelligence and oversight are necessary and critical.
DISTRICT ROLL IN COMBATTING CLIMATE CHANGE:
As a leader of the Ocean View School District for over a decade, I am proud to report that the district is already a leader in combating climate change. The district is vital to the plans of each city that we serve to mitigate the effects of our changing climate and environment. OVSD promotes climate change literacy programs and prepares students for the world they will inherit. The district has lowered greenhouse gas emissions by building more climate-resilient infrastructure and landscaping through our Measure R funded modernization program. Making school buildings and operations more energy efficient saves money in the long run since school facilities can be significant sources of greenhouse gasses. The Ocean View School District is the largest landholder and provider of open green space in northwest Orange County, covering over 315-acres. We are caretakers of open space parkland throughout the district, building owners, transportation managers, and one the largest employers in the communities we serve. Because of this, we are mitigating climate change through community allocation of green space which provides needed oxygen, changing our fleet of buses to clean energy vehicles, installing solar panels, and moving to provide electric charging stations at school sites.
