School board candidates tout parents as the key to success - Marin IJ - October 22, 2006 - Reporter Don Speich

School board candidates tout parents as the key to success
Marin IJ
Don Speich
Article Launched:10/22/2006 05:16:08 AM PDT

Incumbents seeking re-election to the Sausalito Marin City School District board, as well as their challengers, say parental involvement is fundamental to making district schools - long the worst in the county - successful.

The incumbents - George Stratigos, Shirley Thornton, Whitney Hoyt and Robert Fisher - say they believe significant progress has been made in getting parents involved with their children's education. They point to improving test scores.

The challengers - Elizabeth Todd-Gallardo and Mark Trotter - say, to one degree or another, that progress has been minimal at most.

The candidates offered their views on a variety of topics at a recent debate in Marin City before a standing-room-only crowd of about 50.

Stratigos, Thornton and Hoyt are seeking re-election to four-year terms. They are being challenged by Trotter, a real estate agent and contractor and former board member who lost to Hoyt in 2004, and Peter Romanowsky, a waterfront resident who has run for numerous offices without success. Romanowsky was not at the debate.

The fourth incumbent, Fisher, who was appointed to the board in 2005, is running to serve out the final two years of the term. He is being challenged by Todd-Gallardo, a real estate
agent, who, like Trotter, is a member of the Willow Creek Academy, the district's charter school in Sausalito.

Looking out into the room in the Marin City Senior Center, Hoyt said, "I think this is a spectacular turnout, and it shows that the community does care about good schools.

"I think the district is making some good progress. We still have a lot to do; we really have to change the education outcomes for the kids so they will be successful at high school. We have to create a successful college-bound culture."

As to increasing parental involvement, she said, "I know we have parents who feel dismissed by schools in general." And, she said, involvement does not only mean helping students with their studies. "Maybe you are not the homework dad, but you could help at the bus stop."

Todd-Gallardo stressed that involvement could take many forms. She said single parents could reach out to grandparents to baby-sit "so a parent can be involved."

"Everyone has special gifts," she said. "We should find out what the parents' strengths are and get them to help."

Trotter was sharply critical of the board and the district, saying officials only reach out to the community "after the fact" - after policy decisions have been made.

He pointed to the board's approval in November of the use of dogs to sniff out drugs at the Martin Luther King Jr. Academy middle school, a policy that did not come to light until January, when the dogs were scheduled to visit the school. Civil rights groups, members of the community and others vehemently protested, and the program was dropped.

"I'm tired of hearing everything after the fact," Trotter said.

Fisher said he personally has "spent a lot of time tutoring and meeting with parents."
Fisher, who faces trial in a child-support case, said he frequently asks parents what their concerns are and bringing these to the board.

Thornton said the PTA, which has struggled with attracting parents in the past, "is doing a great job."

"This is not only about parenting but training parents to help their children in school," she added.

The incumbents pointed to a recent meeting of parents of children from the district's three schools as an indicator of how much things have changed. For many years, many parents have not appeared at school events, and the district has been blamed for not taking extra steps to inform them.

District officials say they are making concerted efforts to notify parents this year, and say the proof of this is that about 80 parents showed up for a school event a few weeks ago.

"Getting parents involved is about high expectations," said Stratigos, who is president of the board.

If you let parents know the schools are expecting academic excellence from their children, parents will become involved, he said. New teachers and new administrators this year are evidence of the board's commitment to quality education, he said.

Read more Sausalito/Marin City stories at the IJ's Sausalito/Marin City page.
Contact Don Speich via e-mail at dspeich@marinij.com