Twila Godley, a retiree, community volunteer and former school board member, is running for the Area 2 seat on the Lakeside Union 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 Godley told us about hers. Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? I am a 50-year resident of Lakeside and a former longtime Lakeside school board member whose children and grandchildren have all attended Lakeside schools. My leadership on the school board and PTA at local, district and state levels, with the Rady Children’s Hospital Auxiliary and in church leadership positions has given me experience and community involvement in understanding the needs of the school community. Twila Godley (Courtesy Twila Godley) I am running because I believe that the current board is not transparent in decision-making or in touch with parent or community needs. Decisions are being made without adequate notification to the school community through established school channels or adequate inclusion of parents and staff for input affecting them. What is the most important issue currently facing your school district? Rebuilding trust in public education is essential for our children’s future. After the COVID pandemic, many people lost faith in public education due to the stress of dealing with online learning and isolation. Kids lost valuable learning opportunities and socialization skills, so we need to restore trust in the Lakeside community and its schools. We need to show transparency by working with our established parent groups, churches and youth organizations to showcase our strengths and address our shortcomings. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? Authentic transparency and collaboration in discussions, notification and input on issues affecting the students, staff, parents and community. Contacting local news stations and holding political rallies to promote topics for school board consideration does not build trust and confidence in the function of the school board. Update adoption of curriculum materials in all curriculum areas. Increase student attendance. Chronic absenteeism leads to loss of learning and students falling behind. We need to work with the community to reach parents and students to stress the importance of regular attendance and home-to-school communication. What would your approach be to district budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? The budget process starts with board goals being established based on the needs of our students. The budget is then based on these goals and current budget needs for restricted and unrestricted categories. A healthy reserve must be maintained. The budget must be balanced, so any shortfalls need to be prioritized if cuts are necessary. These should be made away from the classroom. Even during recession times during my past service on the board, we never laid off permanent teachers or cut programs while maintaining a balanced budget. How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? The following areas need to be addressed: Improve attendance Provide staff development and adequate classroom materials Increase staff resources to meet need of low achieving students Develop a policy to deal with access to social media while in class and during the school day Increase parent involvement opportunities and school to home communication Expand community outreach to resources to meet family needs for housing, food, etc. The board needs to develop a focused plan to deal with all aspects of this issue by working collaboratively with administration, staff and parents. Do you think anything currently offered in school curricula or libraries should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? The school district has a board policy and procedure to challenge materials. The board makes decisions to adopt curriculum from the state approved matrix. If a complaint is filed, those materials and complaints are reviewed. A parent has the right to opt out or restrict access of their child to those materials they feel are inappropriate. It is an individual action based on their values and concern for their 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? The COVID pandemic has had a dramatic effect on absenteeism. We need to establish a “new normal” of daily attendance in the hearts and minds of parents and students. Many families are dealing with issues of homelessness, loss of income and child care, and drug and alcohol abuse, and school attendance is not their priority. As a small district, we do not have the manpower or resources to address this adequately, although current staff is working hard to do so. We need to provide additional resources to reach out to these parents. Do you think schools should notify parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation at school changes? Why or why not? The current board passed a parents’ bill of rights resolution, which is not an enforceable policy. Ninety-nine percent of this resolution is already found in current board policies detailing parent notification and rights and has been in force for decades. The only area not currently covered in board policy is the “notification of official or unofficial district actions related to sexual transitioning and modification of restroom and locker room facilities.” The California State Constitution, California Education code 49060-49085 and the recently passed Safety Act protect the student’s right to privacy. Therefore, any changes would require a constitutional amendment and state legislation. These are not changes that can be made at the local school board level.