My closing argument

At the final candidates’ forum last week, I was asked: “If you’re elected, what do you most want to accomplish during your term?”  The temptation in answering such a question is to respond with a laundry list, because there are so many things I want to affect and to fix and to change if I am elected to the Board of Education tomorrow. But I will be disciplined and answer with my top three BHAGs (Big, Hairy Audacious Goals):

• To make significant, quantifiable progress in increasing the achievement of all groups across our district;
• To see families across the City be engaged in our public schools and invested in our public schools;
• To overhaul the way we deliver special education in this district, creating a spirit of true partnership between parents, teachers and the administration and replacing the adversarial relationship that exists today.

There are also so many smaller goals–like creating a fairer and more responsive assignment system, helping build the capacity of teachers and principals to serve all of our students better, advocating for more resources for public schools in San Francisco and helping to repair the relationship between the school district and the larger community — but in the end all of these can and will result from our successful realization of the three big goals above.

I’m honored by the tremendous support my candidacy has received from so many people in so many walks of life across San Francisco. If you are coming to this web site because you are still undecided about your vote for the Board of Education, I hope you’ll spend some time learning about my background, my work as a public school parent and as a public school advocate, and reading my positions on the issues. In the end, I hope you’ll give me your vote.