Board of Education Candidate Questionnaire 2010



Board of Education Candidate Questionnaire 2010

San Francisco Parent Political Action Committee

We appreciate your time and thoroughness with these answers and will be posting them online for voters to educate themselves on your views and experience. Please return this questionnaire by September 1 to sfparentpac@.

Candidate Information

Candidate Name: Margaret Brodkin

Email Address: mbrodkin@

Telephone: 415-794-4963

Mailing Address: 45 Graystone Terrace, San Francisco, 94114

Web Address:

For questions that indicate a written response, please answer in 100 words or less. If desired, you may choose two questions to answer at greater length.

Qualifications and Involvement

1. Why are you running for Board of Education and what sets you apart from other candidates?

I have had 32 years experience advocating for San Francisco’s children, as the Executive Director of Coleman Advocates for Children for 26 years, as the Head of the city’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families for 4.5 years, and currently as the Director of an education initiative called New Day for Learning. The breadth of my experience and the profound impact of my work on the children and families of San Francisco set me apart from other candidates. I am running to bring all that I have learned to the most important institutions in our children’s lives – our schools.

2. What is your experience with SFUSD? (Have you been a student, parent, educator, and/or advocate?) Please explain.

As an advocate, I have promoted policies and programs to improve the schools, including the creation of a Parent Advisory Council and putting a second student on the School Board. As head of DCYF, one of my major goals was to develop and fund programs that supported SFUSD, such as the Environmental Service Learning Initiative. My current experience is heading a partnership between the City, the SFUSD and the SF School Alliance, working intensively with 5 low performing schools, as well as promoting the policy of “community schools” and the development of summer learning strategies.

3. Do you think SFUSD’s Strategic Plan and its implementation is on target? Why or why not?

I support the Strategic Plan and played the major role promoting the Plan in its early stages to a wide range of SFUSD partners while at DCYF – regularly convening meetings to get buy-in to the Plan. At New Day for Learning, I have convened meetings throughout the city to help SFUSD partners align their work with the Plan, particularly in helping SFUSD teach 21st century skills. My favorite part is the goal of “joyful learning.” Like all plans, the key is implementation, and the role of the School Board is to closely monitor that and the usefulness of the “balanced scorecard” as a tool to promote real change.

Student Achievement

1. There is a wide range of student achievement and needs in our school district. How would you allocate resources to best serve all students? Provide an example of how current practices are working or not working.

We need more money – period – to serve students of all achievement levels. I support the weighted student formula approach which allocates more money to children with greater needs, but ensure every school a baseline of support. We also need to examine the systems that we have to allocate resources – such as the “star” schools – to make sure that what we fund is actually what is needed most. The same is true of the cost of AP classes. We need to evaluate the cost and determine whether there are less expensive ways to achieve the same goals without compromising college admissions for our students.

2. How could SFUSD better serve its higher achieving students? What about its lowest achieving students?

According to the SFUSD administration (and I would concur) we need a stronger, more rigorous curriculum across the board for all students. Much of what we need to do for both high achieving and low achieving students is similar in many ways – access to challenging and relevant classes and educational experiences, as well as expanded learning opportunities outside the traditional school day and the traditional classroom. For instance, students of all levels benefit when a school garden allows them to learn math and science in a more compelling way. We need to develop teaching strategies that can allow students of varying learning modalities to respond positively. Many of our low achieving students face barriers to academic success outside the classroom that we have a responsibility to address, so they enter the classroom ready to learn.

3. Should the District goal be to get all students ready for college? Why or why not?

The District’s goal should be to ensure that every student has the opportunity to go to college if they choose to, and create a culture of high expectations and opportunity for all students. Most post-secondary options, college or not, require the skills and background that a strong college-prep course of study provides. I also support a strong Career Technical Education system for all students, using Academies to engage students who will go to college as well as students who will move directly into specific preparation for a career – as opposed to “tracking” some students into vocational studies and others into college prep.

4. Do you think we are serving our Special Education students well? Why or why not?

The SFUSD has acknowledged that its Special Education program is many years behind best practice in many areas and has made a major goal of restructuring and improving the program. I agree. I support: early and better assessments of young children in pre-school and earlier to identify special needs and ensure early intervention; ensuring that children are diagnosed and get the full range of services when they enter school; improving the quality of special day programs; integrating more children into regular classes with the supportive services they need; and not channeling children into special ed who don’t belong. I will work with the CAC and other partners, such as Support for Families.

5. What are the advantages and/or disadvantages to the school district to have charter schools? Should the School District consider increasing the number of charter schools?

The purpose of charters is to develop schools that can experiment with new strategies and serve students who have not been served by regular public schools. The idea is to then share the learning with the SFUSD to incorporate these lessons – something we are currently not doing, but should. Rather than increase charters, I would prefer to see greater experimentation, autonomy and innovation occur at regular public schools and would support policies to allow that to happen. One problem with charters is that they create space problems for regular District schools.

6. How could SFUSD better serve its Middle School students?

I would like to see the SFUSD have stronger transition programs – both from elementary to middle and middle to high school. While hopeful that the new feeder patterns will prevent student isolation and promote predictability for parents, I will remain open about how best to achieve this. Middle schools could focus more on experiential learning and the arts to engage students – rather than the traditional teacher-in-front-of-the-50-minute class. Improved support services, as well as engaging and educational after-school programs are needed in every middle school, using the Beacon at Denman as a model. Also important – parent engagement should not stop at elementary school.

7. Principals play a critical role in a school’s success. How can SFUSD attract, retain and develop the best school leaders?

The SFUSD should continue to focus on both leadership development and support for principals. We need to identify and cultivate potential leaders already in our system; aggressively recruit (in a timely manner) the best talent; provide PD that is relevant and helpful from the Principals’ perspective; and create a culture of support for principals. Principals need to be instructional leaders, not building managers. One reason I love the Community School model is that it entails having a Community School Coordinator to manage all partnerships and non-academic programs of the school and takes a huge load off principals so they can focus on their core mission.

8. What should we do to increase involvement of all parents in their child’s education?

The SFUSD, parents and community partners have developed a solid roadmap for parent engagement at all levels – I support the plan and want it to be vigorously monitored by the Board of Education. Some strategies to engage parents now not involved include: creating mini-family resource centers at some schools which provide on-site services such as workforce readiness so that parents receive help as well as being asked for help; and providing sufficient support for parent engagement with outreach, culturally and language specific staff, and meeting parents on their own turf. Most important is creating a new kind of parent-welcoming environment in all aspects of school – from the front office to the classroom teacher.

Student Enrollment

1. SFUSD will begin implementing a redesigned student assignment system this fall after many months of hearing from experts and the community. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the new system? What criteria will you use to judge if this system is meeting its stated objectives?

The new assignment system is responsive to a lot of public input and hopefully will be a balance of needs: the need for proximity to one’s home and predictability for parents; the need to give special attention to accommodating low performing students; and the need to have diversity at each school. It will be the School Board’s job to closely monitor whether these needs are being addressed. I want to especially monitor whether the new system will re-segregate our schools, in which case adjustments will have to be made. Fortunately, the process can be modified relatively easily so that it can be improved without starting again.

2. In the discussions regarding the new student assignment system, many people said the neighborhood versus choice wouldn’t matter if ALL schools were "quality". How do we get to a place where every school is a quality option for any family?

I support the path we are on to concentrate many of our best practices, professional development, skilled leadership and instruction on our lowest performing schools; to promote full-service “community schools” starting with our lowest performing schools; and to develop a more consistent and rigorous curriculum that is implemented in every school. I also support providing teachers at the more challenged schools with extra compensation in order to attract our strongest teachers evenly across the system. I want all students to be challenged at a high level, and all schools to have exciting 21st century curricula and experiential learning opportunities.

3. Should SFUSD have competitive entry schools, such as Lowell and School of the Arts? Why or why not?

Lowell and SOTA are two of San Francisco’s prize public schools – both with national reputations. Our goal should be to continue to make these schools better (including moving toward the downtown campus for SOTA). However, very importantly, we need to ensure that all students have access to instructional excellence, high level courses, academic support, ample opportunities to develop talents in the arts, and early intervention when their academic plans go off track in order to open these two schools to a more diverse population. Furthermore, we should provide the students who are challenged once they are admitted with stronger support. And, we need to develop plans to have a strong academic school on the east side of town.

4. What should the District be doing to keep all families in the City and in public schools?

Of course, we need to work to make all our schools excellent schools, and we need to retain diversity in our public school system. We should support community efforts to “build” a school community – such as the efforts at Daniel Webster – when they are consistent with the strategic plan and the values of the district. We should be responsive to parents and listen to creative ideas about how the district can be responsive to their desire to stay in the city. I did the study while at DCYF about parents leaving the city and began the exploration of policies to keep them. It should be noted that parents of all ethnicities and economic situations leave to find “better schools.”

Budget and Finance

1. California public schools have been facing severe funding cuts, resulting in $113M cuts for SFUSD over the next two years. How would you suggest SFUSD restructure and reform existing resources to serve our students more effectively? What do you think is the best approach to the budget process?

Everyone talks about zero-based-budgeting, but it rarely happens. Given the crisis, the SFUSD really needs to do it. We can’t afford to address the budget one issue at a time in a fragmented way. Nor can we deal with budget issues on a last minute basis. Furthermore, I support providing increased flexibility whenever legally possible, so that we target our resources as strategically as possible, and we need to give school sites as much flexibility as possible to use its resources to their best advantage. For instance, a school may not need an LSP (Learning Support Professional), but may desperately need an additional parent outreach worker. We need to consider ways to allow that to happen.

2. What ways would you suggest to increase revenue?

I believe that the current lawsuit against the state for under-funding schools will yield some new opportunities in Sacramento, and I want to be there to seize them, working particularly on revising formulas that will benefit San Francisco, one of the state’s most under-funded districts. I support re-structuring Prop 13 so that the role is divided. And I support local revenue strategies, including an additional parcel tax, as well as ongoing bond measures to create true 21st century facilities (including a central kitchen so we can prepare our kids’ food in the city). I want to promote partnerships because the schools can’t do this alone, as well as private foundation grants and business investments in the schools.

3. When we are able to fill back in the holes of the current cuts, what should our next funding priorities be?

My priority will be to listen to the key stakeholders: parents, teachers and principals – and follow their lead. My preference is to fill holes at the site level first – particularly the classroom level. That includes re-hiring teachers, extending the school year, re-instituting summer programs, adding back counselors, and adding to the weighted student formulas.

Role of the Board

1. Who do you believe are the most important stakeholders to shape the direction of the school district? How would you engage those stakeholders to ensure they have a strong voice in the Board of Education decision-making process?

The stakeholders whose voices must be strengthened are the parents, students, and teachers and other classroom personnel. We need to do such things as support our School Site Councils, train parent leaders, engage new and diverse parents in the process, partner with parent organizations, place students on key committees, use Youth Vote more strategically, and communicate more effectively and transparently with all stakeholders, inviting them in when decisions are being made, and going to them rather than demanding they come to us. Furthermore, the entire community, including our CBO partners, is also a stakeholder (schools can’t do it alone) and should be welcomed into the discussion at the site level and the district level.

2. What is the role of a School Board member versus the Superintendent?

The Board makes policy and holds the Superintendent accountable (including hiring and firing the Superintendent); the Superintendent implements policy. Furthermore, the Board acts as a body, not as individuals in these roles. Some pitfalls of this structure I would avoid: the Board micro-managing and intruding as individuals in the administration of the district; or the Board failing to vigorously hold the Superintendent accountable, including ensuring a robust, annual evaluation (with as much input and transparency as possible). None of this precludes Board members constantly getting input from stakeholders, visiting schools, and having their ears to the ground, but with the goal of identifying policy failures and promoting new policies to address problems identified.

3. What role should the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors have in the school district, if any?

The Mayor and Board of Supervisors have no official governance role in our schools – I support that system. Having said that, they can play a major supportive role – promoting public education, advocating for funding at all levels of government, protecting the city’s funding streams to the schools, providing much more in-kind services and supports to the schools through city departments and community-based organizations. There is also much the city does that impacts the schools that could be done better, such as safe transit to school,

4. How do you plan to strengthen the partnership between the City and SFUSD?

There is a great deal of untapped potential in City/School partnerships. We need a formal and organized way to draw the best from all city departments, such as the Public Library, Department of Public Health, Department of Human Services, SFPD, Public Works, First 5, Recreation and Parks, etc. The Mayor needs to oversee this effort, and demand ongoing accountability from city departments in implementing a comprehensive overall plan. The Partnership for Achievement, our formal agreement between the city and the schools (which I initially drafted) is a good framework, but has not been vigorously pursued.

What should the role of parents be in our school district?

I can’t emphasize too strongly the important role of parents in the district: as the key stakeholders (along with their children), as their child’s most effective educational partner, as their child’s best advocate and as the person/people most often best able to assess the overall needs of their child. Parents need to be welcomed and empowered at all levels of our school district – in the classroom, as a partner to the teacher, on the School Site Council, in creating individual plans for children, on policy committees, and at the Board of Education.

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

Some thoughts about what it means to be on the Board of Education (from my website):

Being on the School Board is not about going to meetings every two weeks to vote the “right” way.

• It’s about helping frame what is discussed – focusing on the core education issues, such as how to make the classroom more relevant, how to keep teachers inspired, and how to get beyond drilling for tests and still prepare students to succeed on the California Exit Exam and the SAT.

• It’s about who gets to participate in the discussion and how and where it takes place – so that it is truly inclusive.

• It’s about how well and how closely the Board actually monitors all of the good intentions and plans and resolutions that are made and passed.

• And it’s about how vigorously and skillfully School Board members exercise their responsibility to make the system transparent and accountable.

The SF Parent PAC may contact you for an interview following its receipt of this questionnaire.

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