General Election 2008
Fremont Council PTA recently hosted a Candidate Forum for Fremont School Board and City Council candidates running in the November, 2008 election. We did not expect to be able to ask every candidate all the proposed questions. Candidates were offered the opporunity to prepare a written response to all the questions to post on the PTA Council website, which several submitted. Click below to download the candidate's responses in PDF format.
City Council Candidates
School Board Candidates
Questions
1. Please state why you believe you are qualified for the position you seek, and what relevant experience you have.
2. What are the organizational impediments that prevent the City Council and the Board of Education from working collaboratively to create more adequate resources for public schools in Fremont?
Do you see any mechanism for a joint City/School District organization to coordinate City/School District plans for growth and development of educational resources?
How can communications and interactions be improved and what specific steps would you take?
Note: When it comes to the issue of the cooperation and coordination of the city government and school district, or lack there of, most of the public's attention is on the aspects of housing vs. district capacity. Are there other aspects of this relationship (city - district) that the public should be equally concerned about? Are there limitations because of the form of our city government, a general law vs. a charter city?
3. Are the current attendance area boundaries working? Yes or No. Explain.
4. Some of our schools are overloaded, why is that? Name at least three schools that have been overloaded two of the past three years. What do you propose as a solution
Educational Funding
School Board Candidates:
Please explain the current funding process for students in the FUSD.
How can this be changed to bring additional resources to students in FUSD?
Do you have any ideas for developing new or improving the funding mechanisms for the school district?
City Council Candidates:
When the local schools cannot accommodate the new students expected from a development, what do you propose as a funding mechanism? Does the form of Fremont’s government, as a general law city, affect your answer? How?
Educational Standards
The Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence, established in April 2005 (EveryChildPrepared.org) published its recommendations in November 2007. Have you read the report, and its four recommendations? What besides increased spending, do you believe could be used to improve the quality of education here in Fremont?
Do you believe standardize testing is the only measure of a student’s success?
Community Involvement
What plans do you have to engage community members and parents as stakeholders in the success of our students and value our schools as a resource of our City?
Site-related questions
South Fremont
Background: The two grade schools in Warm Springs, James Leitch and Warm Springs, are overcrowded and some students at James Leitch are being buses to other schools. Both schools have properties adjacent to them that potentially can be used for future expansion. One property of 60,000 sq, ft. at the corner of Warren and Fernald at James Leitch is abandoned and the Fremont Planning Commission is considering a housing project for that property. This property is likely the last opportunity to expand the James Leitch campus.
Question of the City Council and School Board Candidates:
How do you plan deal with over crowding in South Fremont and will you evaluate options to expand the James Leitch campus and will you consider obtaining or supporting funding, including asking local residents to fund a school bond, to acquire the property at James Leitch? Will the City Council Candidates work with the school board and residents to determine the best use of land next to James Leitch School?
North Fremont
The plans for the development at the Patterson Ranch area in North Fremont have been revised. Is the scaling back of proposed education facilities, especially the elimination of any secondary school facility beneficial in terms of long-range growth and planning?
Release of Classroom space at Irvington High School
Will you commit to combining resources to find an appropriate public space for the preservation and exhibit of the Native American Center collection?
Background: Currently the equivalent of four classrooms at Irvington is taken up with the Native American Center collection- this was displaced from its previous location when FUSD sold off several elementary school sites several years ago.
Teacher /Staff Compensation
Given the current state of the economy, and the budget problems at the state for educational funding, the ability to attract and retain talented, dedicated teachers and staff is a concern. Are there other benefits that can be offered to attract and retain teachers and staff for FUSD?
What incentives can the City provide to attract teachers and staff for FUSD?
What community/staff committees at FUSD currently address staff/teacher compensation issues – to develop resources other than funds from the state budget?
Special Education / Children with special needs
To the School Board Candidates
All school districts face significant challenges with the rising incidence and cost of special education. Fremont prides itself on being a 'high performing' district. How does the quality of special education in Fremont compare to general education, please give specific examples. Do you believe that the quality of special education to be equivalent to that of its general education? How do you propose to allocate educational resources?
To the City Council Candidates
How do you propose to improve accommodation by the City's Parks & Recreation Department for children with special needs? (Please be prepared to address specific barriers that now exist.)
Development/Growth and Builders
City Council Candidates
What are the legal requirements for housing devolpement that the City of Fremont must meet? If the City continues to approve high density housing with an allocation to low income subsidies, have you taken into account how that will impact the schools in the affected attendance area?
Does the City consider school attendance area boundaries in approving Residential and Commercial development?
What steps can the City take to mitigate the impact of additional students and provide resources to meet additional education needs?
The City sometimes requires developers to pay a portion of the cost for new elementary schools, however no new Jr. High Schools have been created or expanded in years. All high schools, but one, are crowded beyond their designed capacity. Should the City require developers to pay a portion of the cost for expanding the Jr. High and High schools?
The argument is often made that if the City requires too much from developers to mitigate the effects on the school system that developers won't build here - do you believe it? Is that a bad thing? Why? Why not?
Should potential residents (home owners or renters) be informed that the local elementary school is impacted and their child may be overloaded to a school farther away?
School Board Candidates:
What are the current mechanisms used by FUSD to project changing demographics in Fremont?
What can FUSD do to inform the City regarding the impact on educational facilities and resources when the City is considering new projects?
Safety
Our schools are increasingly dealing with law enforcement and safety issues.
What resources can be brought together to re-instate the DARE program in our schools? What resources are needed to enlarge the gang abatement program? How do you plan to address truancy? What are the different areas of responsibility for these programs – between the District, the City and the County?
Do you agree with the current FUSD policy which provides no camera or patrol surveillance at our school campuses, merely insurance to cover some of the costs of damage, destruction and loss at the schools? Given the Fremont Police Dept. policy not to respond to alarms, except in limited circumstances, are our schools -which are public resources- adequately protected?
Traffic and Pedestrian Safety is a major concern.
What are the different responsibilities of the FUSD and the City of Fremont in providing safe pedestrian access to school sites?
Background for this question: In spring 2003, Fremont ended its traffic calming program as a cut in Development and Environment Services (reference Fremont City News spring 2003). In March 2007 during the City Council Work Session for the 2007/08 – 2011/12 Capital Improvement Program (CIP), the City Council instructed the City Managers to use the Capital Program for upkeep of Fremont’s streets. In response, City Managers removed from the CIP, funding for bicycle and pedestrian trails, at least some of which would have been located through residential neighborhoods to elementary schools.
In contrast, Milpitas has recently installed count-down timers at many cross walks, speed indicators near schools and pedestrian beacons at some crosswalks. Sunnyvale is now constructing pedestrian and bicycle overpasses across 237 and 101. Fremont has not adopted the use of any count-down timers or pedestrian beacons and has no plans to construct overpasses across any of the heavily trafficked streets.
For City Council candidates:
What will you do to prioritize funding for pedestrian safety programs and especially pedestrian safety programs and bicycle trails near schools?
Safe Routes to Schools is a national program, and the City has made application for specific grants to address mitigations for traffic safety at individual locations, is there a more effective way to address pedestrian/traffic safety in and around school sites?
Management Issues
Conflict and disagreement are embedded in politics. How do you approach conflict resolution? If you disagree with previous decisions or policies made by the FUSD Board, or the City Council, what will you do?