Published in the September 17-30, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Claudia Rossi
For more than 11 years the response to a very important question has guided my priorities as a mother of two school-age children, volunteer and, since 2010, as an elected Morgan Hill Unified School District Trustee. I have served in those capacities knowing that the spoken and unspoken responses to the question “How was school today?” have a profound impact on the lives of parents, grandparents and others raising children in our community.
To a parent of a special needs child, the question becomes one to be discussed with teachers, therapists, pediatricians and school psychologists. To parents that come from other countries and are navigating an often unfamiliar educational system, the question and responses might exacerbate feelings of frustration and alienation.
To the parent of a highly motivated and academically successful child, the dialogue elicited by this question might be an affirmation that their child is being well served or not challenged enough.
I believe that strengthening our neighborhood schools through responsible stewardship of our fiscal resources and through collaborative practices that engage students, teachers, parents, community leaders, private and public entities is the optimal path to ensuring that our schools support the goals of those that care for children.
I have passionately supported professional development for educators, providing families educational choices such as academies that focus on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, arts and bi-literacy while vigilantly safeguarding our fiscal health.
Recognizing that the work of addressing the needs of an increasingly diverse student population calls for creative collaborations, I have sought to forge partnerships with our police department to create a program that brings law enforcement personnel together with at-risk youth in a sports-mentor program now in its second year of existence. I have also created a non-profit along with educators, businesses and community leaders to bring support to students and parents who would be first in their families to go to college.
I have been honored by the California State Assembly for my work with socio-economically disadvantaged youth.
I am seeking to serve on Santa Clara County’s Board of Education to support successful management of early childhood education, special education and alternative education programs, and to help ensure faithful adherence to their obligation to support school districts.
With your support, I hope to be a fully-engaged and responsive representative of the concerns, goals and aspirations of our children and the adults who care for them.
By Julia Hover-Smoot
In a valley that boasts some of the world’s greatest business success stories such as Apple, Intel, Google and Netflix and enjoys world-class universities like Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, we have a startling and alarming statistic among our youth — between 40,000 to 60,000 students, almost 40 percent, are not working at grade level.
It is no mystery who these children are — they are our children of color, our children from low income families.
To solve this dilemma, the Santa Clara County Board of Education has adopted the goals of “San Jose/Silicon Valley 2020” — the goal of eliminating the achievement gap by the year 2020.
In addition, we have also worked to raise the quality of education for all students, including our highest achievers.
To address the issues, we have developed a multi-prong approach: expanded early childhood education, improved curriculum and teacher training, charter schools and the smart use of technology.
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this county for the past four years. If re-elected, I would continue to support the goal of a quality education for every child.
