School board hopefuls field questions

More than 100 community members, parents with their children and school district staff attended the only school board panel of the election season.

The panel, held Oct. 11 at the Top of the World multipurpose room, was opened by Thasa Zuziak, PTA Council president.

Sue Lee, from the Newport Beach unit of the League of Women Voters, moderated.

Candidates were granted a 2 1/2 -minute opening statement, a one-minute closing statement and two minutes to respond to each question. They also had the option of a one-minute rebuttal period at the end of the event.

All five candidates — Ketta Brown, Kelly Cornwell, Jeff Elghanayan, Betsy Jenkins and Theresa O’Hare — attended the panel.

In Brown’s opening statement, she cited her years of service on various PTAs, boards and in the classroom. She described herself as a finance geek who is comfortable handling money.

Elghanayan spoke of his volunteering in computer classes, serving as a trustee for Children’s Hospital of Orange County and his experience in New York in urban development.

O’Hare described the various volunteer positions she’s held at the district, including leadership roles at SchoolPower and boosters organizations.

Jenkins listed board and district successes under her tenure, and what she’s learned in her time on the board. She emphasized the experience she’s gained.

Cornwell outlined the financial skills he could bring to the board, and his involvement on the CSP Youth Shelter board. He also told of his future plans for the district.

The first question asked of the group was to list the important criteria for the new district superintendent. Theresa Daem will leave the position at the end of the current school year.

Elghanayan said that experience, stature in the community, listening skills, the ability to assimilate quickly, visibility with transparence, and consensus building skills are necessary for the job.

O’Hare said she wanted to see proven leadership ability. “I don’t think we need to experiment with on-the-job training,” she said. She described the search process intricately, and described what will happen in the future.

Jenkins said the most important thing to her is broad experience in leading a school district. She also described two vital characteristics: “absolute passion and energy” toward the city’s educational programs, and the ability to lead by consensus and heal factions.

Cornwell cited his experience in hiring managers, and noted that integrity, dedication, a passion for listening and a spirit of cooperation were what he and teachers want.

Brown said her ideal candidate would have kindergarten-through12th-grade school district experience, familiarity with programs like International Baccalaureate and Advancement Via Individual Determination, a bottom-up leadership style, excitement about education, and the ability to challenge his or her staffers.

The next question dealt with test scores versus “the whole child.” All candidates said that it was important to support the whole child first; with that approach, good test scores would naturally follow.

The candidates were divided on how they planned to allocate reserves, and what proper reserve amounts should be.

Jenkins, Brown and O’Hare said a higher reserve would be desirable. Elghanayan said that the current reserve amount was satisfactory. Cornwell said that some of the money should be invested in “today’s kids,” and that a higher reserve was unnecessary.

When asked about the top priorities for the new school board after the election, all candidates cited the hiring of a new superintendent as the highest priority.

The moderator then asked what candidates planned to do for underperforming students, sometimes referred to as “middle kids.”

Brown described the decline of the Advancement Via Individual Determination program and said she would actively support the return of the Regional Occupation Program, job training for students, to Laguna Beach schools.

Elghanayan said a lot of funding already goes to the middle, but that job training should definitely be brought back to district campuses.

O’Hare said the PTA had discussed library and Saturday programs in which students can learn skills such as how to write a five-paragraph essay or take an SAT-preparation class.

Jenkins lamented the decline of Advancement Via Individual Determination and said that peer-to-peer and hands-on programs were essential.

Cornwell said that an awareness of their surroundings would help students reach their potential.

They were then asked whether the school year should begin earlier in the year to gain a competitive edge in the testing schedule. East Coast schools are often considered to be at an advantage for national tests, as their school years begin earlier.

Elghanayan, Brown and Cornwell said no. O’Hare said the idea would have to be opened up to the community. Jenkins noted that many students work at the summer festivals, and that the district shouldn’t “teach to the test.”

All candidates agreed that Advanced Placement classes should be opened up to whomever wants to try them.

When asked whether there have been too many unanimous votes at school board meetings, Jenkins described the process, and said that there have also been some notable split votes.

Cornwell and Elghanayan said that healthy debates were essential. Brown said that from the outside, the board often appears to be of one mind, but that the discussion is animated before a consensus is reached. O’Hare said dissenting votes are rare in general and that she’s not concerned with just “being right” while she’s on the board.

All candidates agreed that the district’s technology is outstanding, but Brown noted that training and support need to be better provided.

Regarding class size reduction to 20 students to 1 teacher at the middle- and high-school level, Brown and Elghanayan said that space and funding issues were may get in the way. O’Hare said she supports reduced class sizes and was involved with reductions at Top of the World, but isn’t sure how to go about such a proposal. Jenkins said that some classes do need to be smaller and that lecture classes don’t require a reduction as much as others. Cornwell said that a 30-to-1 teacher-to-student ratio would be a more manageable and still notable achievement.

A question about reworking the kindergarten program to a 20-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio and an all-day format elicited varied responses.

Elghanayan and Cornwell said more information on the effect of the program was required. O’Hare said it would need to be opened up to parents, and that space would be an issue.

Jenkins agreed that public discussion was necessary and that core-subject learning should be done in a smaller setting, while activities like singing and coloring could be done in a larger group. Brown said that the full-day format worked fine for one of her children.