Final Update

Well, Election Day has come and gone and even though I did not win I would like to thank everyone for their support!

I went in to the election with the expectation of getting exactly four votes; me, Nilda, my Mom and my Dad. I ended up with 1,451 votes, not enough to finish in the top three and earn a place on the board, but alot more than I ever expected.

Just because I did not win a spot on the board that does not that I can't still be involved. This was a great experience and it has opened my eyes. I plan to continue to attend the board meetings and remain active in the district.

I hope to see all of you at the meetings!

Thank you again for all of your support!

Patrick

Election Day!

Election Day is finally here!

Thank you to everyone for their support over the past few months. It seems like just yesterday that I decided to run for a position on the Lowell Joint School Board.

Thank you for visiting my website and learning more about me and my postions on the issues facing the district.

I hope that I have earned your vote!

Why am I Running for the School Board?

Now that we have only a few days remaining to Election Day it's a good time to review why I am running for the school board.

There are candidates that have more experience than I do when it comes to being on a school board. You have current and past school board members, people well versed in the political process, attorneys, educators and administrators seeking a position on the board. I'm none of these things, so why vote for me?

First, I am a parent with three children that attend schools in the district so I have a vested interest in the decisions the board makes and the potential impact to students in the future.

Second, I have over 20 years experience working in a variety of positions with Bank of America. While I have not been a member of a school board, I have had to face many of the same types of challenges they face. I've managed a budget, developed staffing plans, created and administered training and education, managed performance and found ways to keep people motivated even when everything around them is changing. I feel that I can bring a unique perspective to the board and incorporate my experience to address the current issues facing the district.

What factors motivated you to seek a position on the School Board?

Like most people, my political experience is limited to voting in elections, not running for office. There were really two things that influenced my decision to run for the board this year.

First, my job responsibilities at work have changed and I have a more flexible schedule and time available than I have had in the past. Second, after attending my first board meeting in June, I realized that this was a critical time for the board and I felt that I wanted to be more involved in the process to shape the future.

The best thing about this year's election is that you don't have to choose one person; you get to vote for three. I invite you to take this opportunity to build a diverse board that brings together people with a wide variety of experience.

What do you consider to be the major issues facing the District?

• We need to revisit the budget process and improve the forecasting of future year revenue projections.

• We need to rebuild the relationship between the board and the teachers.

• We need to increase transparency in the board's operations and increase the amount of public debate prior to decisions being made.

• We need to find ways to increase parental involvement in decisions that impact their children.

• We need to better incorporate the Lowell Joint Education Foundation into the overall district's strategy to address budget shortfalls.

• We need to reduce the variation in test scores across the five elementary schools.

• We need to build a comprehensive plan to address the challenge of meeting higher AMO goals in 2011-2012.

I invite you to review information on all the candidates and if you agree with my positions I would ask that you vote for me on November 2nd.

Letter to the Editor - La Habra Journal

I saw this letter to the editor in today's LaHabra Journal (October 28th edition) from Warren Kraft and although I have never met Mr. Kraft, I couldn't agree with him more.

Here is the letter:

Dear Editor,

Fellow citizens, fear not! For underneath the avalanche of political signs in our city there still lie beautiful lawns, flowers, shrubs and trees. Even attractive fences are still there, believe it or not.

In my 57 years as a loyal and proud La Habran, I cannot remember seeing an election being so visually disruptive. "This is a democracy at work," they'll call out. I say signs are ok, but certainly there is a point of diminishing returns.

Let's think of a way to reduce this extravagance and then aim the money towards the likes of the Children's Museum, The Gary Center, The Boys and Girls Club, PTA, etc.

How about this? If just once voters supported the candidate with the fewest signs, and ignored the one with the most, an important point could be raised. Let's adjust our priorities and start thinking "who do we really want in office?"

Where Are My Signs?

I've had a few people come up to me in the past week or so and ask "Where are your signs?" so I thought it would be a good idea to repost an item from back on September 16th.

By the way, I still think it was the right decision.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign (originally posted on September 16th)

I saw an article in the Los Angeles Times recently that Meg Whitman has now set a record by contributing $119 million to her campaign for governor. You can read about it here.

My first thought, couldn’t she have found something better to do with all that money?

I bring it up because of a recent conversation that I had regarding the upcoming school board election. I was speaking with someone and they commented on how expensive it must be to run. They had heard that it would cost around $5,000 to run for a position on the board. Imagine their surprise when I told them that it actually costs nothing.

You can spend a lot of money, but you don’t have to. All candidates have the opportunity to provide a statement that is included in the voter guide that is sent to all voters. The final cost depends on the number of candidates that choose to participate but for the Lowell Joint School Board election the original estimate was over $1,000. I decided not to participate as I felt that the cost was too high and there were other options available to make my positions available to the voters.

It didn’t stop there. Within days of filing I began to receive calls, emails and letters from a variety of people offering their services. It was touching that so many people wanted to help…………for a price. I could easily spend a few thousand dollars on voter slate mailings, robocalls, campaign signs and even my own personal campaign manager. They all said the same thing you need to get name recognition if you want to win.

What I decided to do instead was start my own website. I went to GoDaddy.com and Blogspot.com and set up the site you are on today for less than $20. I also started a Facebook page for free. I have spent a little bit of money advertising on Facebook (more out of curiosity than anything). I ordered some postcards from VistaPrint.com (they have great deals and some products are free!).

One option I have been considering recently is signs. As you get closer to election day you see them everywhere. I have seen a few already pop up on my drive to work. I’ve done some research and they can be pretty expensive. Sure, some websites offer 100 signs for $100, but if you want something that is big enough to read, has multiple colors, will last for more than a week and want a stand to place it on you are looking at $250 and up.

Then, you need to decide where you are going to put your signs. That’s easy enough, ask your friends to put them in their yards, target areas near the schools and busy intersections. I was surprised to find that even though you see many signs on telephone and utility poles, most cities ban the practice. Many areas also limit the time you can display signs and require that they are removed immediately after the election (with penalties if you don’t).

All in all, it can be pretty intimidating to set up and honestly do you even remember the signs you see every day? I haven’t even mentioned the impact to the environment. Do we really need to see a bunch of signs on every available square foot of real estate for the next 60 days? Then they all go in the trash after the election, kind of a waste don’t you think?

That brings me back to Meg Whitman. Rather than spend money on campaign signs isn’t there something better I can do with that money?

So here is my pledge and my invitation to the other candidates. I am going to donate the $250 I was considering spending on campaign signs to the Lowell Joint Education Foundation. As an added bonus, Bank of America matches employee donations so that will double the amount to $500. I think that is a better use of the money.

That doesn’t mean I won’t be campaigning. You will still have the option to put up a sign to support my candidacy. You can click here to download a sign to display in your window at home or maybe in your car. Not quite up the standards of what you order online, but much more cost effective.

There will be information on all the candidates available in the local media. This week’s LaHabra Journal has a great article on all of the candidates and the OC Register is planning to publish an online voter guide. I have heard that the Whittier Daily News will provide the candidates the opportunity to share their positions prior to the election. You can also read about all the candidates on SmartVoter.org. Voters will have the opportunity to read about all the candidates and make an informed decision even if they never see a sign.

I’ll post my thoughts on this website regularly, maybe walk a few neighborhoods, make a few calls, advertise a little on Facebook and attend the school board meetings. Hopefully the word will get out. At the end of the day any of the eight candidates running for the board would do a good job. Feel free to vote for any two candidates that you like ----- just save one vote for me!

Know Your Candidates for the School Board

Only 13 days until Election Day so time is running out for everyone to learn more about the candidates running for the Lowell Joint school board.

Over the past few weeks there have been a number of articles written about the election and the candidates all have websites or Facebook pages.

It's one thing to read about the candidates but if you really want to get to know them I think the best way is to hear it straight from them.

We had a rare opportunity a week ago to hear the candidate's positions at the candidate forum held at Rancho Starbuck. The forum was videotaped and is available on Time Warner cable in Whittier and La Habra over the next two weeks.

You can also view the forum online by visiting www.LJSDForum.com. It is broken up into three parts for easy viewing: opening statements, question and answers and closing statements. As I write this post there have already been almost 3,000 hits on the website.

You get a different perspective when you get to hear the candidates speak so I encourage you to take some time and view the forum. I learned alot about the candidates and I'm sure you will too!

Only 13 days to go!

Endorsements

Many of the candidates for the Lowell Joint school board have been endorsed by a variety of local school board members, city council members, state representatives and others. I can’t say how any of these endorsements have come about, I have not sought out any of these type of endorsements and have not received any either.

I have participated in a couple of forums with the other candidates. Here is a summary:

Whittier Daily News

Seven of the eight candidates met with Steve Scavzillo and Tracey Garcia at the Whittier Daily News office on October 6^th. Mr. Scavzillo is the paper’s Opinion Editor and Ms. Garcia is the paper’s education reporter.

Mr. Scavzillo facilitated the meeting and each candidate was given the opportunity to speak on a number of topics throughout the 90 minute meeting. The candidates were invited to provide any additional documentation on their qualifications for later review.

Ms. Garcia was there primarily to do research on an article on the campaign which ran in the paper on October 10^th. You can view a copy of her article here

While it was noted that “all the candidates would be qualified to serve on the school board”, Mr. Scavzillo’s final recommendation was for Darrin Barber, Gene Dunford and Anastasia “Staci” Shackelford. You can view a copy of his article here.

Lowell Joint Education Association

Each candidate was invited to a separate 30 minute interview with five representatives of the teacher’s union on October 11^th. The candidates were asked a series of ten questions and given the opportunity to provide any additional documentation on their qualifications for later review.

The panel was also present for the League of Women Voters candidate forum held at Rancho Starbuck on October 13^th. During the two hour forum each candidate was provided time for an opening and closing statement as well as the opportunity to answer questions posed by the audience. You can view a replay of the forum at www.ljsdforum.com.

The panel notified the candidates of their selections on October 14th and they decided to support Gene Dunford, Bill Hinz and Patrick Rockenbach.

At the end of the day the final decision will be made by the voters on November 2^nd. As I have stated from the very beginning I think that it important for voters to learn as much as they can about the candidates and make an informed decision.

I think one of the best opportunities to learn about the candidates was at the League of Women Voters candidate forum on October 13^th. We were fortunate to have the forum videotaped and you can see in on Time Warner cable in Whittier, La Habra and La Habra Heights or at www.ljsdforum.com.

Endorsements are nice, but in the end it is best to make up your own mind who you will support. After you review all the information available, I hope that you will give me one of your three votes on November 2^nd.