Crystal Trull, a college lecturer and nonprofit consultant, is running for the District A seat on the San Diego Unified School District board of trustees. The San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates running for school board in districts around San Diego County about their policies, plans and priorities. Here’s what Trull told us about hers. Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? I’m running for school board because I’m committed to improving our public schools. I attended San Diego Unified, as do my three children. For the last decade I’ve served as a volunteer parent leader on School Site Councils, PTAs/PTOs and district committees. Crystal Trull (Courtesy of Crystal Trull) As a professor at UCSD and USD, I teach graduate students. I’ve spent more than 20 years working with and researching nonprofit organizations honing my skills managing complex budgets, maximizing limited resources and applying data-driven solutions. I understand the responsibility of taking on a leadership role such as trustee, given my background helping nonprofit boards and executives build capacity. Combined, these experiences and skills make me the ideal candidate to serve as a trustee. We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing and expect different results. I bring a new perspective that focuses on transparency and sustainable strategy so that all students thrive. What is the most important issue currently facing your school district? Leadership accountability. Leadership plays a vital role, as they are responsible for the overall health of an organization. As a parent of three children who have attended SDUSD for more than a decade, I can honestly say that SDUSD is not healthy. Budget deficits, declining enrollment, sustained sexual harassment claims, nearly half of all students failing to meet English and more than half failing to meet math standards, lack of transparency and communication all point to a crisis, specifically a lack of accountability. Leadership must be held accountable for the decisions they make. Yet many decisions are made behind closed doors without enough engagement. For example, in 2021 the board approved standards-based grading, a new framework for grading, without a district-wide implementation plan or adequate teacher input. This decision affected all middle and high school students and caused unnecessary confusion for teachers, students and families. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? As trustee, I would seek to accomplish: 100 percent focus on students: Every decision made about resources, whether by the board or a school site, must clearly demonstrate a direct positive impact on student success before approving. I will not shy away from voting “no” on things that don’t, because we can’t afford to waste resources. Authentic engagement: What’s more important than asking for feedback is being available. I’m committed to regularly meeting with families and schools to learn about their issues, discuss solutions and follow up on how the issues are being addressed. Currently, the last resort for many families is waiting several hours to make a 1-2-minute public comment at a board meeting. This needs to change. Improving district culture: Greater transparency about how decisions are made, why they are made and who is accountable to carry out the decisions, and regularly communicating progress, builds trust. What would your approach be to district budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? My focus would be on transparency, equity and long-term sustainability. As trustee, I’ll include parents, teachers and students in the budgeting process to ensure spending reflects the needs of the entire community. I’ll also provide regular updates and explanations of how funds are being used to build trust and accountability. Long-term sustainability is critical to address budget shortfalls by focusing on expending resources wisely and identifying potential revenues. While it’s true that schools rely on yearly state budget allocations, much of the budget remains relatively the same year to year. I’ll push for a two-year budget where resources are focused on expenses with the most significant impact on student outcomes. Partnerships with neighboring districts or community organizations may create cost-saving and revenue generating opportunities worth considering. Finally, I’ll advocate for additional state or local funding by working with legislators and community partners. How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? As an educator and parent of three kids, academics are a priority. Yet students are struggling to meet math and English standards. These results are not surprising, since SDUSD has no unified strategy for literacy, resulting in some teachers using methods that work, while others may not. There isn’t a common math assessment across grade levels despite spending $1 million several years ago to develop a new math curriculum, the District Enhanced Math Initiative (DEMI) that some teachers won’t support. Standardized state and federal assessments are typically “look-backs,” meaning student results become available after completing a grade or subject. If we don’t understand students’ immediate needs, we can’t provide critical interventions or support. As trustee, I’ll push for proven research-based approaches to ensure that all students are set up for success. And I’ll include teachers and administrators to identify real-time, targeted assessments that help students when they need it most. Do you think anything currently offered in school curricula or libraries should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? As an educator, I work hard to ensure that my students learn from a wide variety of authors, perspectives and genres. I believe our job as teachers is to present information objectively to support student learning and to help them develop their own critical thinking skills. I also believe that age- and grade-appropriate materials are critical. Students who are introduced to subjects like suicide, adultery, sexuality and murder can have lasting negative effects on their emotional development if they aren’t developmentally ready. We must consider the social and emotional wellbeing of students. As a board trustee it is my job to ensure that our curriculum is rigorous and does not favor one perspective over another. Nor can we as a district allow teachers to promote personal ideologies in the classroom, because they play a very influential role in the development of a child. What do you think is driving student absenteeism in your district, and what would you as a school board member do to reduce it? Absenteeism has ripple effects. Students miss out on learning, socializing and building life skills, and districts lose out on funding. Furthermore, a 2024 report from the University of Southern California found that chronically absent students are more likely to struggle with mental health challenges and that pre-teen boys and teen girls may experience elevated signs of distress. External impacts on absenteeism outside our control include the high cost of living and limited transportation options for students who choose schools outside their neighborhoods. However, we do have control on internal impacts, such as ensuring that classrooms and campuses are welcoming and safe for students, families have access to the resources they need and students are inspired to learn. As trustee, I’ll elevate the Capacity Building Framework work the district implemented in 2023 that focuses on family engagement. Students thrive with a strong school to home partnership which encourages kids to attend school. Do you think schools should notify parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation at school changes? Why or why not? I know first-hand what it’s like living in an unsafe environment growing up. And while I recognize that not every home is a place where children can thrive and express themselves openly, I believe that most parents will do all they can to support their child. I also believe that lies and secrets can cause long-term emotional damage. A strong home to school partnership means mutually sharing information. Parents share personal information on school forms. Students share feedback about their mental, social and emotional health in the yearly California Healthy Kids survey. So I expect schools to make information available to parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation changes at school. Parents want to be involved in their child’s education, and that requires schools and families to partner together, not work against each other, to ensure that every student thrives.