Andrew Scott Patterson: Take focus off tests

RACE FOR HUNTINGTON BEACH UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT

Name: Andrew Scott Patterson

Age: 25

Occupation: Businessman, Auto Insurance Specialist

Family: Fiancee, parents and sister.

Community activities: Volunteer mentor at the Orange County

Juvenile Hall; associate member of the Huntington Harbor Republican

Women’s Federation; volunteered in voter registration for Latin

American Voters of America and registered voters for the Republican

Party of Orange County; interned with Congressmen Ed Royce between

1998-99 and participated in breast cancer awareness by sponsoring

annual fund-raisers.

Education: Associate’s from Santa Ana College; bachelor’s in

criminal justice with a minor in political science (cum laude) from

Cal State Fullerton.

Favorite leader: Ronald Reagan.

Contact information:

(714) 841-0590;

Andrew_Patterson_HB

@hotmail.

com.

PATTERSON ON:

* STUDENT SAFETY:

Student safety is of the utmost importance and should be addressed

with realistic solutions. Over-regulation of students is unnecessary

since the vast majority of students are honest hard-workers. There is

an extremely small percentage of students that cause 87% of the

problems and these students should be addressed.

* RAISING STUDENT TEST SCORES:

The first thing that we should not do is overvalue test scores.

Test scores should be used as tools to trouble-shoot for areas to

enhance teaching methods. They should not be used as the only

determining factor for a student’s learning. Most students have

different aptitudes and gifts that cannot be measured by standardized

testing.

* FISCAL IMPROVEMENTS TO THE DISTRICT:

The first fiscal improvement that I would make as a board member

is not to vote for long-term contracts, which reduce competition.

There should be open bids annually, or at the minimum bi-annually, to

increase competition and reduce prices. Long-term contracts reduce

competition, as was seen by Gov. Gray Davis’ energy contracts.

Unfortunately, the current board has followed in the same path and

voted for long-term contracts, which reduce competitive bidding.

* BIGGEST ISSUE FACING THE DISTRICT:

The biggest issue facing the district is the unconstitutional

policies that the board has implemented. These policies discriminate

against children strictly based upon their skin color to prevent

student transfers. We need a new board with fresh ideas that is not

afraid to stand with integrity and refuse to implement policies that

treat children differently based upon their race.