Annette Ross is running for re-election to the Rancho Santa Fe 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 Ross told us about hers. Why are you running for school board? What makes you a good candidate? I’m running because I want to continue to support our new leadership. I think my prior years of service have given me a unique understanding of the district, and most importantly I love our students and want to continue championing their best interests. Annette Ross (Courtesy Annette Ross) What is the most important issue currently facing your school district? The most important issue currently facing our school district is any disruption with our new administration. After a period of unrest, we have landed with a highly qualified superintendent that has historical knowledge of our district and our current leadership team is second to none. My priority is making sure nothing disrupts that. What are the top three specific things you would seek to accomplish on the school board? The three things I would like to accomplish are: developing a more rigorous curriculum for the students, achieving consistency with our discipline and establishing a climate and culture where everyone feels like they are apart of the same family. What would your approach be to district budget planning and spending? What would you do if your district had a budget shortfall? My approach to district budget planning would always be to follow the advice of our extremely competent director of finance, Allison Oppeltz. Overall I think there should be few surprises, but should a shortfall happen we can come together as a board to make the necessary revisions to our budget. The hope would be to never have to do anything severe. We have not had a deficit in the last four years, and that streak will continue this year. How should your school district raise student academic achievement, and what would you do as a school board member to accomplish that? The best strategy for academic achievement is to work with our superintendent, leadership and two principals who know best practices in education to develop a strong and challenging curriculum for our students that addresses the needs of students at every level. As a school board, the best thing we can do is to listen to their ideas and make good choices along with them, not in isolation, as they know best how to serve the students academically. Do you think anything currently offered in school curricula or libraries should be removed? If yes, what, and why? If no, why not? I do not think anything in the library or curriculum should be removed at the present time. However, we’ve had conversations in the past where we decided to stop using Brainpop videos, so we need to continue that vigilance. Another important piece of this issue is that parents should be aware of what instructional materials are being presented to their students. What do you think is driving student absenteeism in your district, and what would you as a school board member do to reduce it? We are currently addressing absenteeism in our district. We are communicating to parents and stressing the importance that every day in the classroom counts and their student’s presence at school makes a difference, so they can participate and not fall behind. Do you think schools should notify parents if their child’s gender identity or presentation at school changes? Why or why not? Absolutely. Parents should be in charge of their children, I can’t imagine or envision a world where a parent shouldn’t be a part of that conversation.