PLATFORM HIGHLIGHTS

Excellence - We suffer from a minimum standard approach that is not pushing students to be their best. We will increase academic rigor, across the board. I will explore bringing back walk to math and similar advanced options, and it's clear there's opportunity for more homework value.

Agility - I will put in place a public escalation board and review it regularly with the Superintendent to escalate the known needs of principals and school communities. I will push for increased school autonomy so schools can serve their community. 

Responsiveness - I will help you organize into focused effective action groups and help you gain access to the district people who can make things happen, and I will help you chase results and accountability. You know what excellence looks like.

Funding - I will spend all the time necessary in Olympia, on the road, and on the phone to build a coalition to get WA on the path to being a national leader in education. I also will push for creative resource utilization like using technology to replace teacher busywork with quality personal instruction time with students.

ABOUT ME

About Me - I currently have a 4th and 6th grader in SPS. And I have served on our PTA Boards and volunteered since my oldest started in kindergarten here. I went to public school in California, boarding school in MA, and studied mechanical engineering and history at Stanford. I worked at Oracle for 5 years before moving to Seattle and running 2 software companies. My career was spent negotiating agreements between large bureaucratic organizations. I don't view objections as a stopping point, but as considerations to manage in creative solutioning.

The district is, and has been for a decade, in a state of crisis and we need to vote out the stick-in-the-muds who are unable or unwilling to roll up their sleeves, get creative, and do whatever it takes to get solutions. I’ve always appreciated humanity’s diversity, and believe in, after taking care of family and loved ones, in doing what’s right for the greater good.

There are some common sense, one foot in front of the other things we can do right away to demand and support rapid improvements in our school system.

MORE ON MY PRIORITIES

The funding issue cannot be resolved within our city limits. There is plenty of local support. The problem exists with dated policy and Olympia’s inability to reconcile modern realities. In order to get the meetings with representatives and district leaders outside of our community you have to have one of 3 things: Wealth, Fame, or Power. Since I’m not wealthy or famous enough to move the needle, I am seeking office to at least have a position of relevance to gain the access I need to drive things forward. I will spend all the time necessary in Olympia, on the road, and on the phone to build a coalition to get WA on the path to being a national leader in education.

The number one goal of SPS needs to be academic excellence for all. We suffer from a minimum standard approach that is not pushing students to be their best. We have been arguing about seats on a sinking ship. We’ve been pursuing equity by lowering the bar, not elevating everybody to their highest level.

In addition to fixing the priorities and approach, we also need a better system for identifying school needs and priorities. I will put in place a public escalation board and review it regularly with the Superintendent. In most cases our principals and our families know what they need.

We also as a community need to standardize on and engage civilly on a common evaluation and feedback platform. This will give our teachers and principals the information they need to see where they are doing well and where they are not meeting our needs. This only requires a concerted effort as the platforms already exist.

I follow the school board meetings online and I’ve been known to go in person. I am sick of our communities coming and asking for help only to be given platitudes but no follow up. I will help you organize into focused effective action groups and help you gain access to the district people who can make things happen, and I will help you chase results and accountability. No more yelling into the wind!

To the native groups who frequently speak so eloquently about the failure to follow through on promises and take you seriously, I’ll meet with you right away and work with you to gain concessions and improvements until you have a solution I would be happy with for my family. To the parents who are sick of the district’s continued failure to communicate known problems ahead of time I’ll continue to highlight the failures and offer examples of better handling until we learn this lesson. To the families with Chinese, Korean, Hawaiian, Indian, Japanese, and other specific cultures who are sick of being lumped into a broad category and not seeing themselves well reflected in our education, and being brushed aside as irrelevant to the conversation I hear you. To anybody who takes the time to come in and plead your case. I will put you on my to-do list and work for you until we have a solution you feel good about. All of our frustrations are opportunities to get creative, get strategic, and make SPS something to be envied by all.

Until our budget situation is resolved we're going to have to get creative about getting the most value out of our resources. This includes multi-disciplinary lesson planning, and using technology like AI to eliminate redundant and low value-add work so teachers have bandwidth to give attention to students. Using technology native homework assignments, we can get more instruction and practice and work review without increasing teacher workload. And technology can help teachers stay focused on which students need what kind of help. My father is on the board of Khan Academy, and my mother ran a non profit with Cal Berkeley for catching economically challenged students up for college math and science careers. There are clever, ambitious things that can be done to move the needle.

I also commit to get more regularly involved with the SEA union to better understand and collaborate with our instructors.