A safe return to educational excellence as soon as feasible. The various stakeholders (e.g. parents, teachers, students, board members) are not on the same page and I think it is a challenge for the school board to get them there.

I’ve been working with local epidemiologist Dr. Sidney who recommends a pilot program for reopening schools as soon as possible to work out the issues of student compliance with the new safety protocols.

I propose having a “Safety Summit” bringing together the teachers union, epidemiologists, board members, and parents with the purpose to find scientific consensus on a path forward. I have already started a primer for such a summit.

The school board needs to be taking a leadership role in getting to a scientific consensus by communicating and organizing these stakeholders. This is not easy for non-scientists to do.

The Wellness Center should be shining a light for a path forward. We need their guidance on the root causes of the racial tensions and what we can do to help address them.  The psychologists contracted by the Wellness Center should have the best knowledge and therefore best ideas.

I have also requested that the curriculum be reviewed for racial and gender bias, especially in History and English.  If all the heroes we are being taught are white males then our students will grow up with that belief and this will add to racial tensions. 

As far as racial inequities, the teacher composition is predominately white.  I would like to understand if hiring is merit-based or based on who you know in the school district. Making the hiring process more merit-based has helped improve diversity in corporate America and I would suspect the same would happen in PUSD as well.

Students are very aware of racial inequities and need support for their exploration in this area.  History and Civics classes are ways for students to learn about how we got here.  

This is an expert-level question. We can't solve this problem without deep knowledge of all cases in Piedmont and beyond.

I personally am not that expert. I would favor hiring a well-respected consultant who can be debriefed by Wellness Center psychologists and is legally allowed access to juvenile police reports. 

The current elected board has access to both of these types of confidential information and updated the current policy as recently as 2018. 

Those board policies are BP 4119.11 4219.11, 4319.11 and can be seen here: http://www.piedmont.k12.ca.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/BP-AR-4119.11-Sexual-Harassment-Employee.pdf

School board meetings where individual cases such as these are always held in closed-door sessions to protect the accused and the accuser from public reaction. 

It is hard for unelected candidates for office to theorize about how to improve policies without direct knowledge of the accusations and expert opinion.

I don't see any technique or trick for any board to use to improve its oversight.

I believe a board member can provide oversight only if either a) they possess relevant expertise beyond what the superintendent has or b) they know where to find the best experts who can guide the superintendent as needed. 

Option b) often requires some level of expertise in another area to be able to recognize expertise in the required area.

Option a) requires voters to vote for candidates with relevant expertise or experience in the district.  For this to happen, voters need to have a good sense of what the duties and responsibilities of a school board member are. 

The California School Board Association (CSBA) has a white paper on this topic. I tried to summarize it below:

• Ensure the school district is responsive to the values, beliefs, and priorities of their communities
• Helping establish a long-term vision as to what students need to achieve their highest potential
• Employing the superintendent and setting policy for hiring other personnel (e.g. teachers)
• Overseeing the development, revision, and adoption of bylaws and policies for the school district
• Setting a direction for and approving the adoption of the curriculum
• Establishing budget priorities, adopting the budget and LCAP, and overseeing facilities issues
• Providing direction for and adopting collective bargaining agreements and monitoring progress
• Acting with a professional demeanor that models the district/county BOE beliefs and vision
• Making decisions and providing resources that support mutually agreed upon priorities and goals
• Ensuring a positive personnel climate exists
• Being knowledgeable enough about district/county educational efforts to explain them to the public
• Evaluating the superintendent and setting policy for the evaluation of other personnel
• Serving as a judicial and appeals body
• Monitoring student achievement and program effectiveness and requiring program changes if indicated
• Monitoring and adjusting district finances

If voters elect board members disinterested or unable to provide oversight on these topics, the superintendent will proceed without their guidance.  This may result in the superintendent chasing pet projects or not choosing the best practices.

In my view, oversight is a choice for voters to make.