Chris Fite, a retired teacher, is running for re-election to the Area 1 seat on the Grossmont Union High School 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 Fite told us about his. Chris Fite (Courtesy Chris Fite) Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? I am running to promote student learning and achievement. I believe teachers are the key to achieving this since they directly impact student learning, and as a former teacher I know that supporting teachers is necessary for a school district to be successful. Schools are essential for providing knowledgeable and highly skilled citizens, who are vital for a thriving economy and a healthy democracy. What is the most important issue currently facing your school district? Full funding for schools to reduce class size and to avoid staff layoffs. Research shows, and my own teaching experience supports, that lowering class size increases student achievement. Empowering teachers to teach accurate history and science without fear of recrimination, opposing book bans and increasing teacher diversity to provide role models for students who otherwise might not experience this. Opposing for-profit charter schools within district boundaries. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? Promote diverse hiring. Promote academic freedom with clear and open processes for textbook and library book adoption (which I have been working on), as well as providing robust options for parents or families to opt out of specific lessons without impacting other families’ right to exposure to potentially controversial or uncomfortable topics. Make for a more open and transparent governing body by revising board bylaws to allow for agenda items to be added more easily and to ensure that major decisions by the board are fully vetted with the entire community before they are enacted. What would your approach be to district budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? While I think a trustee must be fiscally responsible, I would want to explore every possible alternative, including shifting funds from other areas, lowering the 4.5 percent minimum reserve in GUHSD when needed (state law calls for a 3 percent minimum in districts like ours), applying for grants and other available monies and, as an absolute last resort, cutting non-classroom and site staff. How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? Lowering class size would be paramount. Promote retention of highly qualified and motivated teachers with competitive pay and health packages. Provide rich and high-quality professional development driven by teachers’ needs. Also, give serious consideration to limiting cell phone/smartphone use in the classroom, which would reduce distractions and competition with teachers for students’ attention and focus as well as online bullying. Several states and California districts have shown some success with student cell phone restrictions. Do you think anything currently offered in school curricula or libraries should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? No, I do not. I understand some parents might not want to expose their children to certain books or topics, and they should have that right to opt out — but that right should not impose restrictions on other parents and families who might benefit from these books or topics. I think that teachers and librarians are highly trained professionals who in consultation with all parents are those best qualified to make these decisions. 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 experience stressed the school experience for many students and their families. Many ended up leaving to online charters or non-public school options. We need to provide the social and emotional supports that will bring students back to school. We need to offer more diverse curricula that will attract students including more performing arts and career and technical education courses like nursing, sports medicine and automotive mechanics, etc.We also need to continue to improve our ties with local community colleges, which allows our high school students to take college-level classes with free tuition (GUHSD has a Promise program with Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges). As a result of this program, some of our students take enough lower-division classes that they will earn an associate’s degree at a fraction of the cost. This program needs to be expanded to many more students. Do you think schools should notify parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation at school changes? Why or why not? I would follow state law, which puts the safety of children first. Many students are afraid of coming out or discussing gender issues with their families. Some are at real risk of being physically or psychologically abused for doing so. I know this first-hand from talking to and hearing from student after student at board meetings. This concern for student safety is why I was dismayed at GUHSD’s decision to discontinue mental health services for LGBTQIIA+ students with a provider we had contracted with for over 20 years. Professional psychologists can provide interventions that help these very vulnerable students, who are often at risk of suicide. Moreover, these professionals are also those able to find the best way to help students avoid abuse when they do decide to speak to their parents about their gender orientations.