Mathy Wasserman

District: Las Virgenes Unified (Shared w/ Ventura County)
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.

The Arts played a significant aspect of my academic and social development. As a child, I took ballet from a very young age well into middle school. In school, I was a rebel and wanted to file a petition so that I could take drums instead of a girl instrument. Later, in high school I participated in the television station and newspaper which were part of the class schedule, not extracurricular.

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?

Divesifying programs to meet the strengths and serve the weaknesses of students is crucial to provide successful paths for academic and social development. From shared best practices, I believe that ELL can grow, gaps in achievement can be bridged and college and career preparation can be successful.

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?

The role of the Governing Board should be to reflect the community. I believe that finding solutions to each students individual learning need requires innovation, creativity and problem solving. It’s important that students, who learn in different ways, have a pathway that best suits their learning style. For some, that may mean a traditional or honors track, an academy like Calabasas High’s Academy of Mefia Entertainment, an Independent or Home Study option or a hybrid. I am impressed when the A=Arts is added to STEM learning for STEAM The powerful connection between the two realms shouldn’t be ignored.

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?

Due to the funding formula for Las Virgenes Unified School District, we sit in the lowest 10% of funding in the state. That requires LVUSD to look for partnership with our citIies, our foundation, our parents and the community. In addition, we look for the availability of grants to fund programs and continue to advocate on behalf of our students regarding state and federal funding.

Gary Mittin

District: Las Virgenes Unified (Shared w/ Ventura County)
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 wife plays the piano.

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?

Parent involvement is the key. Every study supports the same conclusion. Where parents get involved in the education of their children, the children score higher on achievement tests.

Change LCFF. Concentrated grants should be given based on the percentage of socio economic disadvantaged students per SCHOOL not the district. Some schools with 55% socio econ disadv students are getting no concentrated grants from the state.

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?

Social skills are more important than academics. Music and sports teach social skills.plus leadership and networking skills. An academic nurd is worthless unless they can communicate and work with other people. I will not vote for a budget that increases class size or cuts the social programs (music and sports).

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?

Lobby the state to change concentrated grants. Now the con grants are based on the percentage of socio econ disadv students in each district. Change that to each school. One of our schools has over 85% socio econ disadvant and does not get any concentrated grant money.
Pass a parcel tax.
Get the parents involved.
When parents are involved……….achievement scores rise..

Angela C. Fajardo

District: Lennox
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.

Chicano Art has had a deep impact in my life Growing up in East LA the murals of Paul Botello and his brother depict our daily life our values our culture and reaffirms who we are as a people Art has been validating to me and my self identity Other Chicano Artist that have impacted me have been Judy Baca Contemporary Artist like Tito Sturke with prints of Cesar Chavez and Esperanza deeply captures the picture of Cesar and the struggle There are also other Artist like the Muralist of who drew Jaime Escalante on Alvarado and Sixth Street.

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?

For the future Art Education needs to be in the classroom in every grade. Children need art in the class with trained professionals that would foster the students’ artistic creativity and their self-esteem. The walls of the school should be a mural for every student in the school and it should be revisited to give opportunity for children to express themselves and feel part of the learning community. Art should not only be for affluent communities but should be the hub in urban elementary schools. Then move it to Middle school for fine tuning and high school.

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?

Board members need to make Art part of the strategic priorities of the district and should be part of the learning experience in school. School board should direct superintendent to have Art centers in school where children, parents and the school community can go and create art. Make this part of the budget as well so when funds are short art is not the first thing to go. An educational foundation can be established to raise funds to keep art trained educators in the schools.

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?

There can be sample of how other district have used the LCAP to fund Arts program. Effective practices can be shared with district through LACOE and CSBA so boards have models to follow and who to ask in order to implement this programs in the district.

Sean Monemi

District: Walnut Valley Unified
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.

I enjoy watching opera and symphony orchestra music and dancing such as Ballet. My daughter has taken Ballet lessons. My son is playing violin and my daughter is playing piano. I love to watch them playing. I watched many Broadway shows and I can appreciate how much time and effort are put together in making such a beautiful art. I enjoy going to the art museum and watch the magnificent painting and sculptures. I believe and promote Science Technology Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM)

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?

Student outcomes can be measured thru a proper assessment. Preparation for colleges can be achieved thru awareness, mentoring, tutoring and visitations to colleges are important.
We must close achievement gaps in all areas of performance through multi-disciplinary integrated and cross curriculum. We must provide the highest quality workshop-based professional training programs geared toward 21st century. We must sustain and continue development of a diverse culture of inquiry scholarship and continues improvement of all skills. We must develop and nurture globally aware and divers multi-culturally teachers, staff, parents and students. We must be connected, productive and engaged meaningfully in our communities.

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?

Our mission is to educate each and every child to achieve her or his best potential. This mission can be achieved only in the context of the realities of our society and the world. In the turbulence time of social, economic, technological and geopolitical, the local school board’s responsibility is very challenging. Fortunately my background as an educator (Professor of Engineering), leader, and administrator has prepared me to take on this rewarding responsibility. I have served in different positions at Cal Poly Pomona University Committees involving in major issues and decision making.

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 will assist in teachers appropriately assigned in their subject area, credentials, facilities are in good condition. I will encourage to comply with the Implementation of the academic content and performance standards adopted by the State. I will promote Parental involvement. I will monitor the Pupil achievement, as measured by state. I will promote engaging Pupils in school attendance. I will be involve in School climate, suspension, expulsion, surveys. I will be involve in pupils have access to and are enrolled in a broad course of study including individuals with exceptional needs. Involve in assessment of the Pupil outcomes.

Barbara J. Calhoun

District: Compton 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.

From elementary to high school I loved the art of dance and music, more so than the others. I was not good in Art, but I enjoyed the learning experience. I have a passion for dance and drama. I attended plays and musicals. I love music and attending a host of diverse music festivals.

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?

Experience teacher,learning support staff, learning through play. Start the training in k elementary school for preparation of college and learning other languages not just English and Spanish.

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?

Smaller class sizes, safe schools, clean schools, parent and educator voice, relevant educator training, add more counselors, librarians and more experienced teachers that are equipped with thinking out of the box. Making sure that the teachers have all the necessary tools they need to teach our students.students are able to attend field trips to broading their minds.

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?

A quote from CTA President Eric Heins says it all. Its time to stop robbing our kids of the joy of learning. Test preparation is not thinking. We need to allow all students time for exploration, discovery and awe. We need to let them experience the wonder of learning. We need to empower them to find and fulfill their dreams. LCAP will become more meaningful if school districts can concentrate on our highest-priority areas rather than give equal attention to the eight priority areas that the Legislature wrote into the law.

Larry L. Redinger

District: Walnut Valley Unified
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 family has always been involved in various elements in the visual and performing arts. Being part of the discipline and presentation provided me skills to excel in other areas of my adult life. Marching band, orchestra and media production with my sisters and other family members were elements of my youth that have shaped me.

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?

1) Class sizes appropriate to the subject.
2) Peer assistance within the various transition classes.
3) Quality environment to learn and study.
4) Role model presence.
5) Teaching staff with opportunities to staff development in career areas related to their subject area credentials.
6) Mini sessions for career learning.

We have fostered elements of the above to enhance success!

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?

Board members need to model what they believe and provide the stewardship for appropriate funding and community support for all of the Arts. Board members need to work with the various schools through the superintendent and district office to provide opportunities for the sites to develop well-rounded art, drama, dance, performance and media programs.
Invitations to professional and other success in those fields to visit our schools and classes have been a significant benefits to our students and teaching staff.

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?

WVUSD is a low wealth district as it relates to per student funding and we have a very difficult time making the dollars stretch to meet our needs in most areas Walnut is at the bottom of the list for funding but we have developed a very supportive and generous community base that has provided both leadership and supplemental funding to support the arts We have an extremely dedicated collection of talented and giving certificated and classified staff who go the extra mile with the students and community members to make sure our k-12 students have what they need.

Cheryl Gayfield

District: Lancaster School Trustee Area 1
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.

I have had opportunities to participate in many art experiences growing up, I have had the opportunity to participate in culture dances, participate in plays, and create several art pieces in my younger years, one of my favorite activity was the clay hand print activity done in the first grade for Mother’s Day.

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?

I would encourage more opportunities to create dialogues of writings for plays and other meaningful activities.

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?

Being present in the schools being involved in activities ensure implementations of academic goals.

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?

Ensuring that administration, teachers understand the goals and that they are implemented at the different sites and that the funding is supporting the LCAP goals.

Sharon Vega

District: Palmdale
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.

In Junior High I reluctantly took ceramics class and before long I looked forward to ceramics. Art had always been stressful and even though I followed directions my art looked like it was done by a 5 year old. In ceramics I followed directions, learned and follow basic design principals and was very successful. My successful experience in ceramics gave me desire and confidence to take additional art type classes like Interior Design , Costume, and Clothing Design.

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?

Hands on elective/exploratory classes support positive student outcomes for the above groups. Attendance for students in my Home Economics classes was higher than other classes and low achieving students often have attendance issues. In Home Economics we worked on math, reading directions, vocabulary and science in a different format making it easier and more tangible for low achieving and ELD students. Exploratory classes give students the opportunity to explore careers and interests so they can prepare for college or career training.

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?

The School Board needs to make a broad range of study a priority. School Boards may need to think outside the box to make this happen. When I retired in June Home Economics was no longer offered at Cactus Intermediate do to declining student enrollment. My suggestion when I left was to have the Art and Home Economics teachers share schools by splitting days or semester—-this didn’t happened. I am currently teaching after school Home Economics as a volunteer and at this time I have one class and waiting list. AS a School Board member this will be a priority.

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?

In order to achieve the LCAP goals all stakeholders need to own the goals. If parents, students, classified staff, administrators and teachers don’t support the plan the goals will be hard to achieve. LCAP is a new way budgeting and prioritize educational activities and we all need to greet it with and open mind.

Keilley Meng

District: Garvey
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.

I was very fortunate to grow up in a very Arts-rich district. I had choir for both 7th and 8th grade year. I became the music director’s assistant for our first musical ever. I have served as a coordinator for several Arts functions, such as the well-attended Dinner & a Show, and a stage manager and backstage personnel coordinator for every musical since 2010. I did everything from building the set to putting on makeup and put together various costumes.

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?

As I mentioned earlier, I was in choir for a couple years. However, before those years, I was labeled as an English Language Learner, and choir became the class that helped me the most with my pronunciations. I believe if our students were taught choir from a very young age, it will help them tremendously with English acquisition. Another solution that I have it having access to the Arts, especially music, because learning how to play an instrument helps the students development multitasking and cognitive skills that they can use in many different ways.

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?

To me I believe that a school board member is a liaison between our community and school district. As a school board member, I will work with the other board members to discuss issues and understand their point of views, at the same time we will work with the superintendent to understand the concerns in the district. As an elected official we have a responsibility to take ALL voices into consideration. All stakeholders in our district need to have their voices heard and opinions validated in order to build a culture of collaboration.

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 have reviewed the LCAP plan in our district and have found many great funding ideas that were established, especially the plan-in-progress of hiring 4 music teachers for our elementary schools. We are also hiring 10 more teacher’s aids to help our lower grades (kinder-2nd). However, I have notice that we are short staff in our Human Resource Department which is the cause for our late and slow hiring process. I would focus on this issue first in order to get all of our art and music teachers into the classrooms as soon as possible.

VaJezatha Payne

District: Palmdale
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.

I participated in singing at school and church as a child. I attended Cornell University and sang in the Pamoja-in gospel choir, and currently, I am a Sweet Adeline of the Antelope Valley Showcase Chorus. The power of music has proven to be a stabilizing force in my life. My desire is that children learn music and other arts in school, as it will provide a lifelong benefit.

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?

To create and strengthen the bridge between parent-teacher, teacher-administration and community school. I suggest that relevant issues such as bullying, obesity, and the achievement gap be used as topics of dialogue in the homes, schools and community, as these are non-conflict goals that we all can agree on, thus providing a common ground on which to build.

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?

The school board should be pivotal in connecting the Palmdale School District to California and the world. There are a myriad of intersecting curriculums, i.e. outdoor classrooms, college preparatory, vocational, early childhood and bi-lingual mastery for all students, foreign exchange programs from emails to travel that will expose our children to a world that permits them to become universal students ‘from the desert’ of Palmdale.

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?

The LCAPs priority areas have been categorized into 3 groups Engagement-it is my goal to normalize parental involvement in student learning via effective methodologies that allow parents to participate verify and validate the learning progress for student and less disciplinary problems and for Pupil Outcome-Equity versus Equality is the key here by providing to the needs of students versus a one size fits all will allow for overall success And Improved Conditions of Learning-at all schools that should begin with more teacher involvement in funding matters with a focus on equity versus equality at district schools.