High-quality, public education is essential. It’s not only a moral obligation to provide all children the opportunity to learn in a safe, nurturing environment – it also makes good common sense: educated children grow into adults who create breakthroughs in science, make progress in politics, and retain empathy for different cultures and backgrounds. Additionally, a rising tide raises all boats: investment in children’s education has both short-term gains for our community and long-term gains for our society. School quality is a key factor in property valuations, and investment in education results in billions of dollars of social and economic benefits for society at large.

Teachers deserve fair pay. They are integral to the health and happiness of our schools. We are at risk of losing our best teachers to neighboring districts with higher pay scales, and it is proving increasingly difficult to hire new teachers with our current pay scale. I would work tirelessly to ensure we keep our beloved educators.

As a member of the RVSD Budget Advisory Sub-Committee last year, I utilized the skills I’ve honed as a corporate attorney to evaluate the minutiae of the financial projections of the RVSD Board, and I voiced my disagreement with the current Board’s conclusions - but it was clear that subcommittee was purely performative. We can and should pay our teachers a living wage, and we need board members with enough financial fluency to guide the way, As a Board Member I will work tirelessly to achieve a budget management plan that demonstrates how vital investment in our schools is.

We need a board that goes beyond the status quo. State and federal funding for our schools is inadequate, but we don’t have to sit back and accept it. While it's true that the district does some limited outreach to our representatives in higher government, there is more they could be doing - and indeed I have expressed that to them in the past. Substantially increasing the Board's advocacy for improved state and federal financial investment is low hanging fruit we should not forget about. I would keep the pressure on these officials with regular correspondence outlining how vital it is to the health of our schools that funding for California schools starts to match that of peer states.

Families deserve to be able to easily know what the goals and priorities of our schools are and to have input in those goals, and that’s hard to do when meetings are closed to Zoom participation, and the meetings take place while most parents are feeding their kids dinner. I would advocate for an open dialogue with the community.

Teachers deserve tools that work - not tools sold to them by the largest lobbying groups. I would trust teachers to guide the way for what resources best suit our students based on the most recent evidence.

I’m half black, and I’m Jewish, and I’m allergic to tree nuts and shellfish. My daughter has a number of anaphylactic food allergies. I understand first-hand the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and as a board member I am committed to ensuring all students are included in an equitable fashion.

Public health administration has important effects in places you might not otherwise expect. State funding for our schools is in large part based on enrollment and attendance rates. Keeping our classes healthy is a key part of supporting our budgets. We all know kids are germ factories and some illness is unavoidable, but it’s important we listen to health & science experts on how to keep our students healthy wherever possible.