The east San Fernando Valley district contains Sylmar, San Fernando, Mission Hills, Pacoima, Arleta, North Hills East, Panorama Metropolis, Solar Valley, North Hollywood, Toluca Lake, Shadow Hills, Lake View Terrace, Sunland and Tujunga.
MARVIN RODRIGUEZ
Age: 43
Occupation: Rodriguez is a Spanish trainer at Cleveland Excessive Faculty.
Expertise: He has taught for 18 years, beginning proper after school. Earlier than that, he served as a Marine, with fight obligation in Iraq. Rodriguez coaches in a program to coach college students to run marathons and has two youngsters in district colleges.
Critique of incumbent: Her instructing expertise was restricted, she must function with extra transparency, and he or she listens extra to particular pursuits than to oldsters.
Priorities: 1) Increase “group colleges” to offer wide-ranging providers for college kids and households in addition to a significant responsive curriculum that comes with group enter. 2) Make early training significant for extra college students, particularly in weak communities. 3) Be certain facilities for college kids with disabilities are absolutely funded to offer the wanted assist for college kids with average to extreme disabilities.
Analysis of recent superintendent: General, up to now so good, and he’s “saying the suitable issues.” However he must hearken to the enter of academics, “who’re straight concerned in ensuring our college students are profitable.” He added that the brand new apply of bringing in directors to fill trainer vacancies hasn’t labored so nicely, as a result of these managers are off form and have issue connecting with college students.
COVID vaccine mandate: He has supported the worker mandate, however would contemplate stress-free it to deliver again wanted non-complying academics who misplaced their jobs — if they comply with put on a masks on campus. He would oppose a pupil mandate till required by state or federal officers.
On constitution colleges: He previously taught at a constitution faculty and concluded that “charters don’t essentially must play by the identical guidelines. Oversight is a bit lax, and the working situations aren’t the optimum ones … If we permit charters to return in and siphon among the sources that our neighborhood colleges are hungry for, how are we going to create these sturdy neighborhood colleges?”
Proposed 20% elevate for workers: “If the district shuffles round among the price range, I’m certain they might discover a technique to to ensure that their workers are incomes dignified wages — particularly once we speak about residing in the costliest metropolis in the USA. You need to at the least match inflation to let academics know that you’re negotiating in good religion.“
Faculty police: “My imaginative and prescient is police-free campuses. However to attain that, we’ve got to we ship for our college students the providers they want and the choices which can be going to empower them to make higher choices. Till we try this, there’s a function for law enforcement officials to work with our college students in a task that’s not punitive, that’s extra of a mentor. They’ll additionally ensure that our colleges on the surface are staying secure.”
Takeaway on take a look at scores: Since in-person lessons resumed, “take a look at scores are stepping into the suitable path… telling us precisely what we knew already: Our college students carry out higher after they have an opportunity to be with each other, to collaborate, to be in school, to construct on these relationships that go far past the educational surroundings.”
Quote: “We discuss quite a bit about educational success and, imagine me, that’s necessary, however public training has failed college students in offering the opposite helps they should deal with the entire youngster.”
Web site: https://www.marvinrodriguez2022.com/
KELLY GONEZ
Age: 34
Occupation: Gonez is the incumbent faculty board member and was elected in 2017.
Expertise: She has 5 years of instructing expertise and served as an training staffer within the Obama administration. She is the guardian of two youngsters, the older has entered a district transitional kindergarten program.
Accomplishments: She cites the district’s response to the pandemic that, she mentioned, was notable for robustness and compassion in offering meals and expertise and secure campuses; additionally, extra college students taking Superior Placement programs and enrolling in dual-language packages. She additionally factors to elevated entry to high-quality packages within the east San Fernando Valley in addition to a extra pressing effort to “inexperienced” campuses by eradicating asphalt and including bushes and outside training and recreation area.
Priorities: 1) COVID restoration should proceed by confronting the “rippling impacts” on employees, pupil studying, psychological well being, whereas making certain fairness in all packages. 2) Increase early training to attain common preschool. 3) Proceed to give attention to school and profession readiness.
Analysis of recent superintendent: “I used to be actually happy by the institution of a strategic plan for the primary time in a few years… which actually lays the muse for the entire work that we should undertake. However finally, I need to see a variety of enchancment by way of our college students’ educational outcomes, socio-emotional helps and responding to the trauma that we’re seeing amongst our college students in addition to a stabilization of our district’s funds.”
COVID vaccine mandate: She helps the district coverage of mandating the vaccine for workers and helps vaccination for college kids, whereas remaining in sync with state coverage that has postponed a pupil mandate.
On constitution colleges: When charters and conventional colleges share a campus, she want to permit for extra flexibility so essential areas like guardian facilities or intervention rooms for struggling college students can be protected, though state regulation locations limits on such issues. She doesn’t assist new charters in her district or all through the varsity system.
Proposed 20% elevate for workers: “I don’t know. I do need to see all of our workers obtain a major elevate. That’s completely merited, by not simply their work but in addition by the necessity to retain and assist our our hard-working workers at a time when it’s actually onerous to reside in Los Angeles.”
Faculty police: “True faculty security actually requires a complete, holistic method… It’s actually about using a variety of completely different methods to make sure the protection of our college students and constructing constructive relationships with adults is a major one in addition to the infrastructure of our colleges… On condition that there are a variety of crises that usually happen exterior of our college campuses, we do have a necessity for emergency response personnel and that’s the function that the varsity police play of their present formation.”
Takeaway from take a look at scores: “There’s been an actual impression of the pandemic on studying, particularly for many who had been most weak to start with, along with the trauma and the psychological well being and socio-emotional impacts that we all know are impacting them as nicely, and I believe it creates a brand new degree of urgency for actually ensuring we’re responding to those holistic and urgent wants of our college students and college communities, and actually using each technique doable.”
Quote: “Throughout one of the crucial difficult occasions in our historical past, I’ve demonstrated the power to make powerful choices for the betterment of our college students and households, particularly those that are most weak. And I’ve delivered for my group right here within the San Fernando Valley,” together with “establishing the first-ever heart for enriched research within the east Valley.
Web site: https://www.kellygonez.com/
