Elect Experience

     Experience is the best teacher.
     I have over twenty years of experience serving our schools and school district in various volunteer positions. Besides working on the campus improvement teams of three schools, I have also been part of the PTA and a volunteer at various school fund raisers and student activities.
     Over the past eight years, I have served on more than a dozen district level committees, including Strategic Planning (twice) and the ill-advised Focus School. Through my work, Deer Valley High School earned well deserved recognition for a 30-year program of environmental teaching as they were recognized as the first K-12 school in the state by the Valley Forward Association in 28-years of presenting environmental awards.
     And, I attended the first five DV University programs, designed to teach community members, staff and parents on how the school district works. I went more than eight years without missing a single board meeting. Everyone knows about Deer Valley Support Our Schools and the massive fund raising for our schools that I did.
     I have developed a plan to expand and improve career and technical education for our students. I am proud of my involvement in Deer Valley finally committing to graduating every student.
     At the state level, I have participated in the Arizona School Boards Association Law Conference every year since 2002. Through that activity, I have a grounded understanding in Arizona education law and open meeting requirements. In addition, I have testified before the state legislature about education issues. A copy of Title 15 (Arizona Education Law) sits on my desk for frequent reference.
     We have to make a choice for the future of our schools on November 2. Vote for experience. Vote for those who have been leading the fight for so many years. With your vote, we can have integrity, leadership and experience.

Respect for Our Old Schools

   I attended an old high school in Louisiana, graduating in 1965. Today, that high school is still used for specialized education in science, math, and technology. This, in a town of only 15,000 people. What I learned from attending that old school is the advantage to a community that respects its old schools.
   Deer Valley has been educating students since 1934, with New River Elementary School. As the North Valley grew, schools were added and a school district was created. Decades ago, high school students in the far north end of the district would ride the hay wagons into Glendale to go to high school. It was an innovative beginning to a transportation system that now drives students about 3 million miles a year.
   The district started with K-6 elementary schools and middle schools for seventh and eighth graders. Our first high school, Deer Valley High School, was built in 1980 and our district became a "unified" school district. We had phenomenal growth for more than 25 years and now have 38 schools and nearly 36,000 students. Our high schools graduated nearly 2,500 students in May.
   For years, I fought with administration and the board in support of our older schools, mostly located in the southern part of our district. Unabated, administrators, teachers and staff transferred to the many new schools built in the growing northern portion of our district and academic and athletic advantages transferred to those schools. Most of the money for buildings went into the new schools.
   In 2008, we persuaded the board to dedicate effort to modernizing our older schools and the $148 million bond issue was placed on the ballot. With voter approval, money is now available for making our older schools better. Major work has been completed at Park Meadows and Deer Valley High School has major renovations in process. Even Mountain Ridge High School is having the old portable buildings removed and replaced with brick and mortar structures. It's a start to renewing our schools.
   But, the work is not over. Our board must balance budget issues with respect for our older schools. The most recent budget reductions disproportionately affected our K-6 (mostly older schools) schools.
   If elected to the board, I will commit my energies to protecting our old schools. Our family of communities deserves that respect for their schools.

DV Support Our Schools

    

     I chaired six different Deer Valley Unified School District revenue elections, including 2008, 2005, and 2004. In all, we raised about $450,000,000 for Deer Valley.

     The three elections in 2004 I was asked to run at the last possible minute, less than thirty days before election day and early voting had already begun. We created and gained brand recognition for Deer Valley Support Our Schools (DV SOS). We were to become the recognized authority on school district elections and voters learned they could trust DV SOS.

     The following year, Deer Valley Support Our Schools was able to solicit support for a bond election and an override election. Both the bond and override passed easily, the first time DVUSD had ever approved a capital override.

     In 2008, we took on the biggest challenge to have faced district voters: approve $148 million bond election. We won by an almost 2:1 margin. And, the Mountain Ridge Band and the Deer Valley Educational Foundation won, too, as DV SOS donated its excess funds to the two charities.

     In March 2010, politics began to seep into what had been a "non-political" political action committee. As a result, DV SOS did not run the campaign for the override election for the first time in six years. The result: for the first time since we started the Budget Override program twenty years ago, voters did not approve its continuation and expansion.

     Today, I can't run the November election effort because of my illness. Running these campaigns is very time consuming, much more so than running for office. They require terrific energy levels. I don't have it. Not anymore. The doctors are changing my medical regimen and I'm not sure when my energy levels will return.

     It is time for another parent to step-up and create a political action committee to help motivate voters to approving the needs of our schools. Your school district needs you. Our students need you. Our teachers need you. Even our voters need you. Together, we can accomplish anything.

Promoting Changes is not for the Pusillanimous

     If you want change, you can't be timid. Authority has a way of leaning on you that forces you to question your own power. They usually do this by telling you that as the experts, they know better than you. In regards to education, the administration usually does know better. But, they don't know your child or your school like you do. And, they aren't always right.
     Outside of Deer Valley Support Our Schools, one of the most rewarding experiences I ever had with education was changing the cancellation of a program at Desert Sky Middle School. After twenty years of a successful woodshop elective course, the district cancelled the very popular program about five years ago.

     They were very "kind" about it, explaining that the teacher was retiring and there was no one qualified to continue the course. (That's district office speak for "don't bother me about my decisions.") Never mind that 500 students a year went through the program or that children had learned shop safety, how to draw a straight line and how to cut pieces of wood to create a useful item for the home. How often I was told, "Programs like that are teacher driven and when the teacher leaves the program goes away." We were expected to bow our heads and walk dutifully away.
     But, a dear friend of mine wasn't about to give up on saving woodshop. And, neither was I. We peppered the board with e-mails and phone calls, we spoke at board meetings, and we went to board study sessions to express our outrage at the reduction.
     For, you see, in our investigation of the cancelled class, we found three qualified applicants had applied for the job. It wasn't being cancelled because of the loss of the teacher. It was being cancelled because of a decision up on 15th Avenue. The highest qualified candidate came to a board meeting with us and was publicly identified in front of God and everyone. The person making the decision to cancel woodshop no longer had a place to hide.
     Today, when I meet students from Desert Sky Middle School, I always ask them about woodshop. They love it. For me, that is the best thanks I could get for the summer of work put into saving the school from a bad decision. And, I have to thank Christy Agosta, Ron Bayer, and the three former board members for their support in restoring a valuable class.