I certainly do appreciate the many opportunities to share with the voters through community forums like the one tonight at Antioch Baptist Church with the InterValley Faith Consortion. The questions came from the audience and I was impressed with their knowledge and insights for what's going on in our schools. I had the privilege to follow three lawyers in speaking, so I knew it would be a challenge to keep up with their eloquence. Give me paper and pen anytime, I think much better with blank white in front of me than a room full of people. Despite a few seconds of brain freeze once or twice, I was able to share a few original ideas and generally get my point across. Hank kindly reminded me afterward, and rightly so, that I should have mentioned that I am running for the two year term. By the way, my two opponents for that term were glaringly absent!
Tomorrow is another Forum with One LA. Then next week we go to Diamond Bar for one more forum. Busy, busy - less than two weeks to go!
It was an enjoyable evening at the Willie White Recreation Community Center last Thursday as eight candidates answered some pretty tough questions from the group. I enjoyed the opportunity to learn a bit more about the other candidates, and found them all to be intelligent and caring individuals. The two youngest candidates, however, were not in attendance and that was rather disappointing as I would like to hear their fresh ideas and gauge their enthusiasm for the youth of Pomona. Perhaps they will brave one of the next forums.
Here's a bit of irony for you, I had a great laugh on Saturday as my sixteen year old was heading out the door for the homecoming dance at Garey and I asked for the fullname of her date and, ironically, he shares the same name as one of the other candidates! What are the odds? Good math problem, who wants to figure that one?
We're in the homestretch now, so keep sharing and Get Out The Vote!
The Garey Music Department hosted a well orchestrated car wash last weekend with lots of hands and delicious BBQ burgers and more. Thank you for a job well done and for promoting positive learning for our students through the arts and through small business enterprise! Thanks for a clean car, too!
Well, I attended the first round of Superintendent Candidate interviews by the public. Three well spoken candidates with a wide range of Superintendent and education experiences shared their thoughts about the direction they want for PUSD and how they would address our looming challenges. I'm waiting to hear from tomorrow's round of three more possibilities.
Did you catch the article in the Daily Bulletin the other day about drop outs costing California more than $1 billion each year, and that is only the cost of handling juvenile crimes caused by drop outs with nothing better to do! Can you imagine the billions of dollars we could save in Medi-cal, food stamps, welfare, even energy costs if those students stayed in school? Combine that with the amounts in funding that the local schools lose and we are talking about turning around the economy, what with the higher productivity and consumption if they were to finish High School. Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit too far.
Wow, statewide nearly one in five students drops out in those last four years of High School. How sad is that!? Are we simply giving up on our young people or are they giving up on themselves? Probably both. well, I am not going to give up on them and that is why I am running for school board. Join me in this quest to bring back our kids into our schools.
I was thrilled to see the plans for a PTA Council taking shape in Pomona after many many year's absence. This will certainly facilitate the participation of parents in the schools and help PTA groups stay accountable and on track. Roberta Perlman, who is running for the four year school board seat is the PTA Council President and presides graciously and humbly over the council . I remember joining the PTA when my oldest daughter was going to Alcott. They held their meetings before the monthly school show so there was pretty good attendance. I was sure bummed when it was disbanded, I felt almost cheated out of a special experience of my daughter's childhood. My mom regularly went to PTA meetings; it was a great escape for her as a widow with three young kids.
Now, it may yet be a few months before most new PTA's get underway, because there is always lots of paperwork to prepare and a 30 day notice to be given. Well, I hope fundraising efforts by PTAs can help fill in some gaps left in the wake of budget shortfalls.
I also learned tonight that the district is petitioning the state for temporary...
Tonight's board meeting went quickly with three other candidates sitting in the audience with me and about twenty more people. Proclamations were read in support of Hispanic Heritage month and in support of the Big Read. All of Pomona will be reading Jack London's "Call of the Wild." That's a good cool read during our hot spells.
Mostly good reports were shared about the first few days of school, with enthusiasm and positive outlooks felt by the students and teachers. Several public comments of concern were made about the board rushing to choose a new Superintendent before the election. This was countered with the two upcoming meetings scheduled for public input about the Superintendent selection.
Interim Superintendent Martinez shared about going to Fremont and talking with two parents who shared that they chose Fremont over Lorbeer because of the exciting restructuring going on there. I didn't get a chance to let him know that I was one of those rare parents who had declined the opportunity to send my daughter to Diamond Ranch in favor of Garey because of the superior orchestra program and softball team which DR did not have at the time.It is good that parents...
Talk about doing things right, the CSEA contacted me along with the other candidates for an interview to consider who they might endorse. A panel of six classified employess from custodians to administrative assistants graciously greeted me with smiles and a bottle of water. Seated with anticipation, they commenced to ask their well thought out questions and I was glad to share my thoughts. I was particularly impressed when they asked if I thought they should ask any other questions of the candidates. What a great question! Then of course I had to answer with my questions and accompanying answers. I felt like I was among friends. Whether I am endorsed by them or not, I look forward to working with them when I am elected to the board.
I would like to commend the CSEA for not following in the footsteps of their sister organization, the Pomona Teachers Association (UNION), which had the audacity to endorse their hand-picked candidates before the period of declaring one's candidacy had even opened! This, of course, precluded any chance for other candidates like myself to even be considered! They did not even have the courtesy to interview or consider me, even though they...
Goodbye Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, PUSD will miss you, but hopefully serving in Washington DC under President Obama will make an even greater impact for students around the country!
What I appreciated about Thelma and I hope the board keeps in mind for our new Superintendent: willing to listen to others, able to think outside the box and mold, wanting to involve the whole community and be involved in community decisions, her graciousness, she's well spoken, organized and focused, collaboratively minded, and visionary. At this point it sounds like the Board plans to find a new superintendent before the election, so I may not have much opportunity for input in the selection and that sort of bums me out.
Thelma, may your memories of Pomona inspire you to great decisions and plans at the federal level for the good of every student. God bless you!
While parenting my children, I always stressed how important it was to finish something started, especially if others are counting on you or have invested in you. I would encourage them to try sports or instruments or classes, but I wouldn't let them quit just because they got tired of it or it was harder then they thought. Their team was counting on them, they needed to learn more to be sure it was not what they wanted to do or a lot of money was spent and would be wasted if they did not finish the class, etc. Quitting was rarely an option.
So when my youngest asked if I was going to run for school board again, to finish what I started, I had to think long and hard about the example I wanted to show my own and others' children. There are still two years left on the term I originally ran for two years ago, and as the next highest vote getter, it is like a mandate to fulfill the role. Well, here I go, then, it is time for the parents and students of Pomona to be represented by someone from...