Continuing to provide the highest quality education for ALL of our students

Providing the best education possible for all of our community’s children is the District’s most important purpose, and the Board’s highest priority.  We must ensure that our children leave the District with strong critical thinking skills to prepare them for a fast changing world and sparked to be life long learners.  We must make certain that our programming remains robust and delivery strategies remain differentiated to address the varied needs of all students.  Strong public schools make our community desirable and support our strong property values.  I am passionate about education, but practical in my approach.  As a sitting school Director, I have developed the knowledge, skills and experience to understand and creatively address the complex challenges that face our schools.  We need to build on our successes, but re-evaluate and change where we have not achieved our goals.  In pursuing educational excellence, I would continue to emphasize small class size and diverse programming, focus on attracting and retaining the best quality teachers and support their professional development, stress meaningful integration of technology in our curriculum, emphasize the development of outstanding writing and thinking skills, and constantly evaluate our programming to keep it creative, modern and relevant.  The new Board will set the course for our new Superintendent.  For me, that course would emphasize the requirement for a quality, child-focused education supported by enhanced communication and responsible resource management.

Budgeting responsibly and effectively under the rules of Act 1

The relatively new Act 1 introduced spending limits to public school budgeting across the Commonwealth.  School Boards are challenged to keep annual budget increases within a state imposed cap or initiate a public referendum to move beyond it.  School Boards have a responsibility to all taxpayers, regardless of whether they have children in the public schools.  Nonetheless, with property values at stake for all residents, we must ensure that Act 1 does not become a force for educational mediocrity and one-size-fits-all programming.  Instead, we must focus on effectively and efficiently budgeting to maintain our top quality education through the continuous re-evaluation of curriculum, programs and processes so that we are insuring the “biggest bang for our buck,” and we must pursue the development of alternative funding sources like the new Education Foundation and other partnerships to reduce dependence on local property taxes. With good communication and education, we can demonstrate that budgeting responsibly for quality education will both ensure our students’ future success and protect strong real estate values in our community.

Completing two new high schools ON TIME and ON BUDGET and putting each fully into service through redistricting

As a current member of the Board that voted unanimously for the project, I am proud to say that the shovels are in the ground at Harriton.  Accepting bids for Lower Merion could easily become the new Board’s first act and I am prepared to move forward without undue delay with the confidence that (1) we have done responsible financial planning for these buildings that DOESN’T force a choice between new buildings and high quality educational programming, (2) we have a highly developed construction supervision process and a record of success; all three buildings constructed during my tenure have come in on time and on budget, and (3) we have an effective model in the Community Advisory Committee for a successful, representative, community-wide process to assist with the difficult decisions in resetting attendance boundaries to equate our high school populations and better distribute students across our elementary schools.

Working to close the achievement gap

State testing data has highlighted the disparities in achievement between African American students and their counterparts here in Lower Merion and across the country.  The District has deployed significant resources to address this issue, with varying levels of success, but we must not be satisfied until the gap is measurably reduced and eventually eliminated.  We must continue to look for additional tools in this effort by broadening our strategic partnerships with other districts, universities and community groups, continuing to communicate with parents and guardians, engaging creative funding sources like our new Education Foundation, and always working to ensure that the achievement and future success of all students remain a top District priority. 

Enhancing communication

Enhancing communication at every level is vital to the District’s ongoing success.  It is important that the District adopt a more formal and comprehensive communication plan to disseminate information, foster cooperation, and encourage constructive comment and community engagement.  We have much to be proud of in Lower Merion, as well as work that remains to be done.  The best strategy for moving the District forward includes developing a system that promotes a common understanding of the District’s goals, processes and outcomes, and provides a wide range of opportunities for feedback and involvement.