Noah Margo

District: Beverly Hills USD
Position Seeking: Governing Board Member

Question 1: Please share a meaningful experience you had with art (visual, dance, drama, music, media arts) while growing up.

My father and uncle are original members of The Tokens who recorded "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and produced 11 other gold records. I have been performing with the band for 23 years. I grew up around the music business and later the television business. I am a writer and a musician and know that with my children being into theater and animation already, the arts run strong in my family.

Question 2: What kind of creative solutions would you suggest to support student outcomes such as English language development, closing the achievement gap, and preparation for college and/or meaningful careers?

Creative solutions from a board member must receive support by at least two other members as well as buy in from staff to implement The support that we can give falls into two specific areas which would need board funding to execute, programs and personnel. Programs such as writing workshops, science specialists and intervention classes can be brought to us by staff or colleagues and then ratified by the board. We would make sure these programs are proven to be effective and available to all students. Personnel really becomes an issue of staffing correctly with support staff when necessary.

Question 3: What do you think should be the role of the School Board in ensuring that students have access to a broad range of study?

A school board should vet out administrative hires and programs before approving. We need to understand the granular aspects of what we are funding prior to doing so. We also need to leave the "heavy lifting" to the administrators and faculty. They are the professionals and their vision for student success should influence our decisions more than anything else. We should challenge and question everything before us for the sake of the students' success.

Question 4: In light of the Local Control Funding Formula and development of district Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs), what are your creative solutions for achieving goals in the eight priority areas?

I would create a positive learning environment not a punitive one. I feel too much emphasis is spent on keeping kids from failing and not enough on making kids successful. It's a total cultural and attitude change that I believe is long overdue. Empowering competent administrators is the biggest step in achieving goals. In turn these administrators must evaluate and assist teachers in reaching their potential so the priority areas they affect will succeed. There's no magic pill, just extraordinarily dedicated educators in every classroom doing their jobs.

Do you like this page?

Beverly Hills USD