On February 25, 1995, the Mustang Baseball Team won, a scrimmage Congratulations, Vasquez! The real win was, the students divided their time between building their stadium and practicing! Boston Henry, Carter Fencing, Richard Anderson, Mr. Contreras, Tony Robles, donated the materials and time to support Vasquez. Please support businesses that support students. It is gratifying to see these students are constantly moving on while some of the adults constantly choose to complain.
Students have no bank account and no individual vote. Vasquez and Agua Dulce Elementary students however, do have LAND - 50 acres of it! This commodity has attracted the attention of a wealthy neighbor to their land, who I believe would have otherwise ignored them.
THE FIGHT IS OVER.
The land (Wallace Canyon) now has permission to install a non-conforming private water line, which will properly protect the Agua Dulce community from capping their wells or being forced to pay huge hook-up fees. Mr. Joel Kantor, attorney to this Wallace Canyon "neighbor" fought a good fight, but, THE FIGHT IS OVER.... Whimpering will continue from the S.U.N. committee, but the students have won.
Watt Industries has repeatedly given written confirmation of its intent to immediately install this last utility and install the required roads. THERE IS NO ALTERNATE SITE. Only Wallace Canyon can accommodate "on site" gravity flow water storage to meet fire flow requirements, in case of a fire. THE FIGHT IS OVER.... I'm the little FAT LADY.... SINGING!!! VIVA VASQUEZ!! VIVA AGUA DULCE ELEMENTARY!!
Because of the number of High School students who live in our district, we now qualify for State Monies to build our new structures. A bungalow school, this September or next, is indicated. Moving forward now that the High School site designation is complete is indicated. Fighting for state money for building, which we are now entitled to, is indicated.
THERE IS NO MELLO ROOS TAX!
If you have been told there is, you have been lied to. Any school district can "propose" a tax at any time. No school district can "impose" a tax unless you vote for it on a county ballot.
To date, the district has spent only $23,000 total on the Wallace Canyon site. All other expenses have been paid for by the Unification Committee and CFD # 6 (Watt). Soon, construction of a bungalow school could begin, upon completion of the improvements. Mr. Tom Brown said, "Bungalow schools have less strict grading requirements than permanent buildings." By summer, baseball, football and an adult softball field will be completed at High Desert.
With the addition of the 40' by 60' bungalow at Acton, Independent Studies' new 40' by 60' structure and five large bungalows at High Desert, the district's physical facilities will be ready for September 1995. The reason I have discussed the district's physical plant needs is clearly the communities' need to feel settled and prepared; the first priority in producing a proper educational environment.
PLEASE DON'T ALLOW OUR DISTRICT TO BE DIVIDED.
PLEASE VOTE NO ON RECALL.
Thank you, Laurie Browning To index
Vote For Charles Brink For School Board March 7
I have been a resident of Acton for over 48 years. I came to Acton in 1947 and graduated from our district (1952). I was bussed to the Antelope Valley for High School. After working outside the community, I have spent the last 8 years as a leader in the fight for local control and to keep our community rural.
Naturally I was an early supporter of unification (Our own High School) and for total separation from the substandard and crime plagued Antelope Valley.
I will fight to stop this small self-centered group from closing down our schools and unifying them with the Antelope Valley schools, which is the real goal of "SUN".
We have good safe schools now and are trying to make them better.
I have been active in following the Board and serve on the Construction, Finance, OBE and Curriculum Committees.
A. I will fight for a local High School campus and the best education for our kids. Good schools make good communities.
B. I will fight against and NEVER support any tax that is not approved by the voters.
C. I will fight for full funding by developers of school facilities needed for their developments' children.
D. I will fight to regain local control of our schools and curriculum and will oppose unreasonable attempts by unions, the State and liberals to tell us how we should run our schools.
E. I will support Parents' and Students' rights against this same bureaucracy.
F. I will fight to eliminate the risk to the Agua Dulce Elementary School children from the planes taking off directly over the school and playground.
G. I will fight for the best possible teachers and pay them in the top 20% of county teachers.
H. I will fight to remove the Union's control of our local schools, rescind the union shop contract and contract out maintenance and custodian duties to local companies instead of paying $14 to $16 per/hour plus full medical benefits for the worker and their family (about $3.50/hr above their salary) for Union custodians.
If you want to know what I think on an issue then call (800-773-5228) me and asked me. I will also come to groups to be questioned by you and your neighbors on the issues.
I have fought against highway businesses, strip centers, illegal signs, Palmdale's annexation and other so called urban "improvements." This has created adversaries amongst the pro-growth elements who will do their worst in mudslinging and lying about me. They will send out anonymous mailings violating the fair campaign practices law to continue their dirty campaign against me.
Typical lie: I am not a resident.
Facts: I am a resident and could not
even run for office unless I was a resident of the community.
Typical lie: I am a criminal.
Facts: I removed thousands of illegal signs from Acton. Fred Fate, serving the Antelope Valley political power brokers, took the local sheriff by the nose and filed the only case in the United States accusing anyone of being a criminal by removing illegal signs.
I pled no contest, and proudly and publicly admitted removing thousands of illegal signs. I received 3 years probation and 960 hours of community service. The real criminals are the companies placing the illegal signs and LA County who refuses to enforce the laws to protect the citizens of rural communities from commercial graffiti.
Typical lie: I have been sued.
Fact: Only a half lie here. In my main business, I protect groups of investors who have been defrauded by slick promoters. Of course, the slick promoters and their equally slick attorneys love to counter sue. In one of the cases, I was sued by an attorney for hundreds of millions of dollars. That attorney was a member of a group called the "alliance" who were charged with insurance fraud. The attorneys were convicted and are now serving time in Federal prison. In that case I saved the investors over 2 billion dollars in improper claims by the IRS and others.
I am proud to put myself on the line to protect the innocent. Just ask yourself what has "SUN" and their candidates done for the schools or for the community? NOTHING!
When Fred Fate and Marty Barofsky were on the school board they voted to give the teachers and classified union a 25% raise by taking away books, repairs, student activities and all services from the schools.
Fred Fate and Marty Barofsky opposed buying new busses even though most of the cost is paid by the State. This left us with 12 - 15 year old busses, placing our kids at risk.
Fred Fate and Marty Barofsky allowed class sizes to go to nearly 50 students.
Fred Fate and Marty Barofsky opposed unification and refused to support it.
Fred Fate and Marty Barofsky approved overpaying and condemning commercial property for the middle school within gun shot of the freeway, on the busiest corner in Acton, located across from a liquor store (AM:PM).
At the same time, a site large enough for a high and middle school was available for nearly the same price. They wasted millions of your dollars on a temporary school and condemnation litigation that could have been spent on the kids.
Duzick, Fate and Barofsky opposed implementing unification
by keeping the 9th grade class in Acton. The decision to keep our kids here saved this district $2 million over the last 2 years and the lives of our kids.
Now the three stooges want us to believe that they are pro-unification.
Ask them why they accepted thousands of dollars from special interest groups? Ask them who's funding their slick campaign and what they promised to do for them in trade for the Campaign contributions and Union's support if they are elected? To index
There are three issues that the voters need to know about before the March 7th election. I am a candidate for the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District Board of Trustees.
First, I was shocked to see that the Teacher's Association has endorsed any candidates in the upcoming election. I think that it is a serious breach of ethics for a union to interfere in a local election. There is a very strong appearance of impropriety when a union endorses candidates, especially for non-paid, volunteer positions on the Board of Trustees.
However, while I was shocked to see the endorsement, I am sad to say that I am not surprised by the Teacher's Association action. They have endorsed candidates - Barofsky and Fate - who granted them enormous pay raises in the past, pay raises that nearly brought the school district to bankruptcy.
These are the same candidates that allowed contract language into the union contract that gives the Teacher's Association equal status with the Board.
We have the tail wagging the dog.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out!
Second, I would like to respond to Lianne Swanson's letter that referred to me. I am the Chair of the Construction Committee and my directions from the Board was to develop and plan a high school at Wallace Canyon. The construction committee is solely devoted to construction issues involving the building and planning process. Ms. Swanson attended three meetings over two years. Ms. Swanson attended her first construction meeting and attempted to turn the committee into a political vehicle for her anti-high school crusade. I directed her back to the Board.
On her second meeting, she complained that the campus would be ugly - according to her - from her hill-side home and wanted some trees along Hierba to block the view. We accommodated her by placing trees and other landscaping between Hierba and the parking lots. She came back for a third visit in the second year of planning to insure that the trees were still in fact on the plans.
To date, the Construction Committee has produced a high school plan for the Wallace Canyon site. From these minimal plans, a fire safety evaluation has been made of the proposed high school. Water District 37 cannot provide sufficient fire flow through the Acton water system to protect the new high school, much less anything else in Acton. As a result, our site design is now modified to accommodate an on-site water storage tank for fire protection.
God only knows where Ms. Swanson dreamed up the idea that I have spent $100,000 on these plans. She obviously does not understand the process that a school board uses in hiring an architect. The architect's contract specifies that they will be paid approximately $140,000 for the design of the high school if, and only if, the high school is built. They get nothing if the school isn't built. Nada. Zip. The architect is taking a far greater gamble than we are.
Ms. Swanson has obviously confused my membership on the Construction Committee with my membership on the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee was given the task of finding a vehicle for funding the construction of the new high school if there were no state construction funds available to build it. At the time (2 years ago), the state informed us that there were no construction funds available.
The committee researched and debated a number of funding vehicles, and a number of study sessions were conducted with the Board to get their feedback. The Finance Committee eventually came to the conclusion that a Mello-Roos type funding vehicle was the most prudent way to proceed. Our decision was based on the need to develop a very restrictive plan that insured that the voters would know exactly how much they would have to pay each year, and that this amount could not change without at least 66% of the voters approving the change.
When the Finance Committee made its report to the Board, I thought that a properly designed Mello-Roos funding plan was the best way to get the high school built and protect the interests of the property owners.
In spite of Ms. Swanson's assertions to the contrary, I still think that this is the proper way to fund the high school, absent state funds. You can hear me say the same thing on the video of the candidate's forum hosted by the Agua Dulce Civic Association on the evening of February 16th, and on past videos of school board meetings.
It is my understanding that as of this date the state would fund the high school on a 50/50 basis - they will match our funds - but there are no state construction funds available now nor will there likely be for the foreseeable future.
So, we are back to square one. Do we house our high school students in crowded classrooms and portable buildings on a campus built to be a junior high school or do we build a proper high school?
How the voters cast their ballots on March 7th will answer that question.
Secondly, you may be interested to know that before I retired from UCLA Medical Center, one of my responsibilities was being the Director of Safety for the hospital, which included developing a disaster response plan in conjunction with other hospitals and agencies. Our assumption at regional planning meetings on emergency earthquake response was that if an earthquake was large enough to effect highway transportation, it would also be big enough to disrupt fixed-wing airports.
Those airports that the earthquake didn't damage in all likelihood would be too far away to be of any value. Our plan involved the use of helicopters using any parking lot that could be reached by truck. Some of the helicopters that the Armed Services have in service are large enough to lift a portable surgery unit, yet can land on a residential street. Our presumption regarding fixed-wing airports was based on practical experience derived from earthquakes around the world.
I hope this has been helpful. I think that the voters are smart enough to see through the teacher's union's attempt to buy an election, and Ms. Swanson's silliness speaks for itself.
Please take the time to consider what is at stake in the March 7th election regarding the future of our school district and the County's plans for the airport. Vote!
1. Background
I have lived in the community of Agua Dulce with my wife Geri since 1972. My two sons attended K-8 in the Soledad- Agua Dulce School District. They have gone on to graduate from college and have families of their own.
I have been involved in the construction industry for 30 years. I was a Building Inspector for LA County owned projects including the Fire Station in Acton and Castaic After Bay Park, and also an Inspector for UCLA.
At UCLA, I spent a number of years as a Facilities Manager for the UCLA Medical Center, until I retired in 1989. Part of my duties as a Facilities Manager at the UCLA Medical Center was construction budgets that averaged $30 million a year. I went back to school and earned a Doctorate Degree in Law from the University of LaVerne in 1992. Since then I have been involved in rehabilitating damaged or run-down housing.
I have been involved with both the communities of Acton and Agua Dulce since 1972. I organized and was the first president of the Sierra Little League, serving two years in that capacity. I am a charter member of the Agua Dulce Lions and have participated in many Lion's functions in both communities over the years.
In 1992, my wife Geri and I were recognized as Agua Dulce's Family of the year.
For the last two years, I have been a member of the Acton- Agua Dulce Unified School District Ad Hoc Committee on Finances. The committee has worked on many financial questions over the years, including yearly budgets and financing of the High School.
For the last two years, I have been the Chair of the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District Ad Hoc Construction Committee. Our primary focus has been the development of plans for a new High School. At the direction of the Board of Trustee's, we have concentrated our efforts on building a high school for 700 students at the Wallace Canyon site.
Why do I want to be elected to the Board of Trustees?
A. I firmly believe that everyone in society has a duty to give back something to the community for the benefits received in living in a rural area. Some people satisfy their desire to help by participating in various Lion's, Civic, Women's Clubs, or Youth organizations. I choose now to want to be elected to the Board of Trustees as a continuation of my volunteer work.
B. I want to ensure that the School District continues to be a financially sound district. I have been on the Finance Committee for over two years and I have a pretty good idea of the tough straights that this district is recovering from. There were some Board decisions made in the late 1980's - well intentioned or not - that almost bankrupted the district. What I would bring to the Board is a budgeting expertise of being able to anticipate the consequences in later years for today's decisions.
C. I want to ensure that the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District remains a rural school district. I want to ensure that our children receive all the best that is available in the educational field, but I also want to ensure that this occurs in an atmosphere that reflects both communities' rural setting. As an example, the high school design presented to the Board is a modern facility with a rural facade that will blend in with the neighborhood.
D. I want to ensure that the Acton-Agua Dulce School District remains an independent district that answers to the parents of Acton and Agua Dulce, not some bureaucrats in Palmdale or Santa Clarita. My participation on various committees has been geared to moving forward, to progress. There is a concerted effort to stop the unification process approved by the voters.
This well-financed faction in both communities has attempted to stop the high school from being built in Wallace Canyon by various methods, the latest of which is an attempt to interfere with bringing water to the site along Sierra Highway. When this faction could not intimidate or buy Laurie Browning's vote, they have resorted to lies and subterfuge to have her recalled from office.
E. The next six months is crucial to the financial condition and independence of the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District. Who the voters pick in this special election will determine the teachers' and classified employees' contracts this summer. If the wrong candidates are elected, they will do what they did in the late 1980's regarding these contracts and sell the farm. This will force the bankruptcy of the district. The County will then be forced to take over and assign this district to the closest high school district, Palmdale.
This same faction, if elected, will also reject Wallace Canyon for the new high school and go off on a multi-year search for a new site. This could cost us not only many millions to buy a new site but we would lose all those years. We are now half way through a 6-year unification process. If we do not have a high school by the end of the 6 year period, we will be decertified and our kids will go to Palmdale to High School. I want to be elected to ensure that the best interests of our students are met and the mandate of the voters is fulfilled.
3. Why should you vote for Dennis Dee on March 7th?
A. I have a very strong Commitment to Excellence. I expect the best from myself and I expect that the people I meet and interface with have the same self-concept. I believe that a commitment to excellence for the School District is based on a three-part foundation. If elected, I will promote this commitment to the entire district. This commitment needs a strong foundation.
1. I believe that the 1st leg of the commitment to excellence rests with the administration and staff. They are responsible for the necessary environment to learn in and the teachers are responsible for getting the best effort that each and every student is capable of.
2. I believe that the 2nd leg of the commitment to excellence belongs to the parents of our students. Their responsibility is to promote the education of their own children and the educational process for the other students.
3. I believe that the 3rd leg of the commitment to excellence is the most important and is rarely talked about, and that is the commitment from the students themselves to be the best they can be capable of.
B. I am Conservative. I believe that each person has a personal responsibility for themselves and their actions. Hand in hand with this, I believe that each person should be advanced based on individual effort and merit. The lack of personal responsibility is obvious in the society around us. I believe that this is a concept that needs to be stressed to our children so that they can become functional adults in spite of the very real peer pressure they are subjected to.
I have been on the Finance Committee for over two years and I have a pretty good idea of the district's income and expenses. If the district continues on its current financial path, within a few years it will have weathered a close call at bankruptcy. If elected I will want to continue the same course that the district has been on. As money becomes available, we should buy new equipment, books and supplies.
I want to see Vasquez High School built for our kid's future. That's what we voted for in 1992.
Since I am Conservative, I have accepted no contributions from anyone. I do not believe that I could accept funds for a volunteer, non-paid position unless someone thought that they could buy my vote on some issue.
Further, it is my pledge to the voters that if elected I will vote to keep the Acton-Agua Dulce Unified School District independent and economically viable.
C. If elected, I will bring to the Board of Trustees a large helping of Common Sense, something we have not seen in some time.
A VOTE FOR DENNIS DEE WILL ENSURE A COMMON SENSE BOARD MEMBER WHO IS COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE AND WHO HAS A CONSERVATIVE, PRACTICAL VIEWPOINT.
4. Questions asked of me in the last few weeks.
Q. What's the financial health of the School District?
A. Not bad considering that the district almost went bankrupt a few years ago. The consequences of some bad Board decision regarding contracts in the late 1980's finally came home to roost. The district was on County-Watch because of its financial ill-health, but its reserves are now acceptable. The percentage ratio of wages to overall budget is beginning to come down to acceptable numbers.
Q. Has Vasquez High School been built to too high of a standard?
A. I do not think so. A high school facility is not for just today or tomorrow. It must be adaptable to educational needs for 30 to 50 years. The state has a set of minimal standards that they want in a high school. We took these standards and examined them with our communities in mind.
We anticipate that computers will play a large part in the educational process, so our classrooms are slightly larger to accommodate the equipment. We think that a high school is unique and not just a larger version of an elementary school. Thus, we have provided for teacher offices in each classroom cluster to foster the educational process, and along the way we treat the high school teachers as professionals.
We are incorporating small utility tunnels into the design to connect all of the buildings on the campus, so that as the educational hardware changes, the high school facility can be adapted with little future cost to changes in the educational mission. We will be using a mechanical design that, with the cooperation of the various utility companies, should substantially reduce the utility costs of running the high school.
I do not think that the design we have arrived at is
Q. What about the other issues at the Wallace Canyon site.
A. Well, let's start at the beginning. Sierra Colony (Watt Industries) wanted to develop a large parcel of land in Agua Dulce. As part of this development, Sierra Colony proposed a Mello-Roos District to provide funds for the development. As a condition of approving a tentative development map for the parcel and before any monies could be released from the Mello-Roos District to Sierra Colony, Regional Planning required that as mitigation, Sierra Colony would have to grant a parcel of land acceptable to the district for a high school and elementary school.
Sierra Colony originally wanted to buy a school site in Agua Dulce to help relieve the existing facility, but state law prohibits building a school site within 2 miles of an Airport. This essentially ruled out all of Agua Dulce. Sierra Colony then purchased a 50 acre site at Wallace Canyon and Hierba and gave it to the school district, on condition that certain road conditions would occur near the school site and that Sierra Colony would provide utilities, including water from District 37, to the site.
This site on Wallace Canyon meets state requirements in relation to the 2 mile airport limitation and also has received approval from the State Education Department. The school board approved the Wallace Canyon site on condition that utilities be provided by Sierra Colony. Sierra Colony then deeded this site free and clear to the District and at no cost to the district. With the recording of the deed and transfer of title, the County then released their Mello-Roos monies so that Sierra Colony could proceed with their development. As of the week of February 17, County Water District 37 has approved the installation of a private water line from Red Rover Mine Road to the Wallace Canyon site and has set the fees for setting the 4 inch meter. These fees - around $400,000 - will be recovered from the state.
Q. What about the water issues at Wallace Canyon?
A. Watt Industries through it's CFD-6 has promised in writing to provide water from Water District 37. The line will be installed along Sierra Highway from Red Rover to Wallace Canyon and will cost them about $ 1 million to have it done. Sierra Colony will install the water line once the school district has completed the permit process to have a meter installed and the sized meter is actually in place. The permit to have the meter installed will cost the district about $400,000 but this is reimbursable from the state. It should be noted that the meter cost is the same wherever in the district a high school is built because the meter size depends on the size of the campus based on the number of students in attendance. It is my understanding that the permit application is in progress.
Q. What do I think of the recall campaign against Laurie Browning?
A. Not much! In my opinion, the recall effort is nothing more than a well financed effort to oust the last remaining obstacle - Laurie Browning - to decertification of our unification effort and reestablishment of a K-8 school district that feeds our kids to Palmdale schools. It is also a well financed effort by one millionaire on Wallace Canyon to make sure a high school does not appear in his back yard. As a result, what should have taken one year has taken 3 years.
Q. Are you running as a team with Laurie Browning and Chuck Brink as suggested by another local paper?
A. Mrs. Browning, Mr. Brink and I philosophically have a lot in common. We want the district to progress and get on with the unification process mandated by the voters in 1992. We are on the same page when it comes to goals and aspirations for the school district. However, we three have never sat down and discussed this election or created a strategy together to win the election. We have never talked about newsletters or joint mailings or any of the things that most people would recognize as a "team" effort. The people who dream up this stuff also dream up the negatives about Wallace Canyon.
Candidate for Governing Board Member
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
HIGH SCHOOL
We need a satisfactory high school at the most economical cost to the community, school district and the state. The costs of erecting structures needs to be established, and separated from the site selection issue. Erection costs should not be used to obscure those costs which are variable depending on the site.
A time table needs to be established wherein: a site is chosen, based on its own merits of suitability and cost effectiveness; the site work is completed and the structure erection is begun.
A financial plan needs to be completed and presented to the community that will detail the time table and financing of the High School Project in major stages from raw land to permanent structures.
Using my expertise, I will help develop and implement a time table and financial plan that will be the most economical and cost efficient to the community, school district and state. I will do this as expeditiously as possible in order to alleviate our current over-crowding situation.
EDUCATION
We need a clear cut and concise definition of our school district's educational purpose together with objectives, strategies, methodologies and curriculum (mission statement).
I will work to establish such a district mission statement based on the educational values of the parents and community members, not necessarily the state and federal philosophies.
FINANCIAL
We need tighter control of the procedures in the budgeting and expenditures process as defined by the fund accounting concept, in order to insure that district funds are protected against waste and mismanagement.
We need to develop a formal program that will promote aggressive solicitation of dwindling grants and additional educational funding1
I will utilize my expertise in non-profit accounting and funding to develop such procedures and programs.
Issues
Building a satisfactory and economical high school; Controlling class room and school overcrowding; Maintaining autonomy with high educational standards; Establishing greater financial understanding and responsibility.
HIGH SCHOOL
The costs of erecting temporary or permanent structures are not site-dependent. It costs essentially the same no matter where they are erected.
According to current reports, temporary structures can be erected from current revenue sources.
Actual costs for grading, paving and utilities (except water) and other site improvements are essentially the same for most sites.
OVERCROWDING
Our high school population is growing without adequate or necessary student class rooms and related facilities.
Our students and teachers deserve a solution as quickly as possible.
EDUCATION
Intrusive and special interest theories are influencing federal and state objectives and they are beginning to filter into our district's educational philosophy.
FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
We have a growing student population, together with the related expenditure requirements.
Government funding programs are becoming more limited. The competition for those funds is much more fierce.
Our district budgeting process and controls over district funds are antiquated.
Community Involvement: Served as 2nd Vice President of the Acton Chamber of Commerce. Coached for the Desert Winds Soccer League since moving to Acton.
Education: Received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the School of Accountancy at Utah State University in 1984. Passed the uniform CPA exam in 1985. Received State of California Certification Status in 1990.
Experience: Performed audits of numerous non-profit entities,
including schools representing grades from Kindergarten through 12th grades.
Advised governing boards on the needs and implementation procedures for: control
systems protecting and managing funds and assets .To
index
WAYNE A. WILSON
My purpose in running for the school board is to see that everything is being done to ensure that all our children receive the best education possible. Academic excellence and parent satisfaction should be the standards by which we judge our system.
We have good schools, but there are weaknesses. Test scores are not particularly high. Teaching methodologies may not be drawing out the best our children are capable of. There is a concern that we have too many "imports" from other districts. Classes are overcrowded. Behind the scenes, there is too much competition for power and not enough for excellence. The independent study program, truly on the cutting edge, needs bolstering. We need a High School.
Primarily, I would hope to be a voice for parents. Involved parents need to be heard, but are often dismissed because they are not "professionals". Some very controversial and bizarre content has been introduced in some classrooms. Parent concerns are politely listened to and ignored. The OBE Task Force, created to address some of these problems, is plagued by obstructionists. A spirit of cooperation and respect needs to be encouraged. I don't believe we should be content with good enough, but strive to be among the best.
BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS
Pastor of Acton Faith Bible Church for four years.
Directly involved in ministry to elementary and High School age young people in our community.
Personal experience with public, private, and independent study programs.
Married to Laura, a public school teacher in another district, with two school age children and one who will enter kindergarten next year.
Current member: OBE Task Force.
Long term interest in educational issues and theory. To index
PENNIES AND DIMES ARE GREAT BUT NICKELS WILL MAKE THE CHANGE
I know I can work with new and existing board members to communicate effectively, creating a better working environment to start forward momentum and revive community trust and faith in local elected servants of the Acton - Agua Dulce Unified School Board.
I support:
Open and friendly communication.
More than 5% of our district's budget to be spent on supplies for our children's classrooms.
Special Education, Independent Study, and Home School programs.
Strong academic foundations as well as sports, clubs, and the arts.
Parents' rights to have a voice in their children's education and I will continue to be an advocate for children.
Working with the community and other board members to determine what is the most feasible and cost effective solution to accommodate our growing school district.
And recognize all administrators, teach To index
My name is Richard Anderson. I am running for the school board seat which expires in December of 1995. I have lived in Acton for seventeen years. My wife and I have six children all whom have attended school here since kindergarten.
My main concerns are the immediate future of our high school kids. We will need a place to instruct them in September when we expand the high school one more grade. Whether it be bungalows on a new site or current site, or off campus housing, it needs to be ready in September. We will need parking space for the kids who will be driving. We will need improvements and additions to the sports programs, which have the potential to increase school spirit and pride. Wouldn't it be great for the community to have high school football games here at our school?
We need to provide a greater variety of electives. We need a high school that our local kids and their parents will want to be part of. They shouldn't feel that it is inadequate enough to send their kids to another high school. Although it will be temporary until our permanent high school is completed, we must provide these things now.
We need a school board who will act immediately. These things will take time but we need to be prepared by September of this year.
We need a board who will be able to talk and communicate their ideas to one another, that they may reach the conclusions of their goals, not those set by any special interest group.
I have been involved in many community activities as a volunteer. I feel that's where the heart of our communities lay, through volunteerism. Through the years I have seen many good things accomplished by the hard work of volunteers. I would hope this would never come to an end. Lately there has been an effort by a special interest group to try and persuade our community to vote a certain way in the upcoming election. I say to say no to special interest.
Say no to big money. Don't let them buy you. Don't let them buy our communities. Their irresponsible tactics of flyers and mailers which I have seen in large quantities blowing in the streets is uncalled for. Their paid cronies who are distributing their rhetoric at the Acton Center is a slap in the face to our communities. Don't let them persuade you. Study the issues yourself. Go to the source for information. Call Tom Brown or the County Department which is involved. Come to the candidate forum and ask questions. Make up your own mind who you believe would be best.
I am not soliciting your vote. There are many to choose from. Vote for YOUR choice, and hopefully the kids will end up being the winners. To index