“We need education, business, and [visionary] leaders who know that they have to address the fundraising and infrastructure issues and have to set the goals for the system. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.”
On revenue…
“I understand that we have problems with the fact that we have budget shortfalls because of the misalignment between our expectations and we we’re actually getting… no one has ever stepped up and said, ‘I would like to invest in the budget shortfall. I would love to fill your gap.’ It just sounds like we want something we don’t know what to do with. We must create a vision of what we want our schools to be – our schools are what they are today, but tomorrow they will be something different – what? Can we create a vision of what that looks like? If we can do that, we can get people who want to invest in the schools.”
On Common Core…
“We don’t need a Common Core, we need an exceptional core. The school district is not made of common students; it’s made of exceptional students. If we accept the standard is common, that’s where we’ll lead our students – it’s not a high hurdle. It won’t allow the exceptional to move forward. They have to succeed on these tests, but we have to offer more. Our schools have to become something more than a place kids go to take tests. They have to be enriching, safe places where students are eager to go to learn. And places where teachers are empowered and excited to go teach.”
On overcrowding…
“Kids need a consistent environment where they can be focused on what they’re doing…. What’s our long-term goal? We have to think about North Campus because it easiest – it’s an asset we need to talk about. We can do usual things [like] calendar shifts. We’re so used to thinking about the school day in a certain way, the rest of the world doesn’t have that benefit. How do we shift that? We need to look at our other asset – time. It’s not something we want to do, but we may need to do it.”
On sustainability…
“We need to treat environmentalism as part of a constant cycle. It’s a process to get through and teach our children about. We have laboratories all around us – the ocean is just outside the door. We need to talk about solar panels and shifting energy. We need to talk about getting out of our cars… When we go to new construction right at the base line we have to think about how will this school look and interact differently. It’s not a layer, an add-on, a little paint on the outside- it’s all incorporated into the plan.”
