Gina Dalma, candidate for PAUSD School Board
Why are you running for PAUSD School Board?
What skills and experience do you bring to the role of school board member?
What are the biggest strengths of PAUSD?
What are the biggest challenges of PAUSD?
How can you implement change in a district with a strong culture of school autonomy?
Is PAUSD ready for the Common Core and new California test?
How should PAUSD move forward from the OCR resolution?
Should PAUSD open new schools to ease overcrowding?
What should PAUSD do with Cubberley?
What is one thing you want Palo Alto voters to know about you?
Why are you running for PAUSD School Board?
I believe in the potential of every kid to make our world a better place. We have all the foundational elements in Palo Alto: We have a great community, we have great students and we have amazing teachers. Our community has already changed the world. But we are not taking full advantage of these assets to create a learning environment for our kids to be the change makers of tomorrow. We need to embrace innovation, learn from what works and make sure we are scaling it consistently. And, as in any learning institution, we need to invest in its people continuously. As a school board member, I bring my professional expertise – as the Senior Program Officer, managing the Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s investment in education- in assessing best practices, investing in them and scaling them consistently.
I want to bring this expertise to PAUSD because my kids are here, and because I see so much potential for all our kids. Nelson Mandela said it best when he said, “Let our greatness bloom.” That’s exactly what I want to do for our district.
Considering the three domains of board responsibility- administrative oversight, policy setting and judicial oversight- what are the experiences and skills you bring to be an effective school board member in these areas?
First, with fiscal oversight, this is what I do every day as part of my job at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. When I invest in organizations, I make sure they are fiscally healthy and are aligning their expenditures with their visions of student success. Every day, I work with over 27 school districts in our region and have oversight over our investment but also of how they use their funds to achieve their individual vision for students’ success.
In terms of the policy setting, that’s one of the biggest strengths I can bring to the board. It’s about making sure that there is a clear vision and setting policies to strengthen the ability of the organization to reach that vision. For policies to be successful, they need to be evidenced-based, contextualized to our community, designed in collaboration and towards the district’s vision.
In terms of judicial oversight, it is simple – we have to comply with the law.
What’s your vision for this school district and how is that aligned with from the vision that PAUSD just released last spring?
My vision aligns well with district’s vision. I was incredibly excited when I read the goals and the activities outlined in the PAUSD strategic plan and just approved district board. The new goals are more ambitious than what we had before because of the focus on all kids reaching their potential vs. 85% of kids. I appreciate the work of the board to create this vision for the school district, and believe that Dr. McGee is supportive of it.
I have a vision of excellence for all kids in Palo Alto. We have everything to make that happen, but we are not fulfilling our potential in the district. We know what innovation in education looks like because many of the newest and coolest education companies are in Palo Alto, yet we don’t see that innovation reflected in our schools. Why not?
Every one of our kids should be able to thrive in a 21st century environment. That doesn’t mean just being successful in the workplace, but also thriving as 21st century citizens. To achieve this, we need to build 21st century skills – creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and citizenry, which is giving back – as well as skills that will help them persist. We need creative thinkers who can solve our world’s hardest challenges.
I have seen classrooms that build these skills across the state and the country. In these settings, the teacher comes in with a complex problem and does not give the solution. For example, where would you stand under a streetlight to best read the newspaper in the dark? The teacher groups kids and guides the learning to help the students solve the problem together. This is a much more rigorous way of teaching. Students in these classrooms know how the lessons are relevant to their everyday lives. I would love to see this kind of instruction in every classroom in Palo Alto.
To make this kind of consistent instruction possible, you need an incredible investment in teacher professional development. Our professional development should not be that teachers go to a conference and check off a box. Teachers should be involved in meaningful professional development, come back to their schools, share what they’ve learned with other teachers and create a community of practice.
What are the biggest strengths of PAUSD?
We have amazing students. Every time I go into a Palo Alto USD classroom, I am incredibly excited because the students are ahead of us in so many ways. We have teachers that create magic in their classrooms and we have a superintendent that is forward-looking. We are in the middle of the most amazing, creative community. We have everything to be the best school district in California and the nation. I don’t say that lightly because I travel around the country and I know what great school districts look like.
What are the biggest challenges of PAUSD?
The islands of innovation and excellence in Palo Alto are not connected to the rest of the school district. We don’t have a system in place to look at best practices, understand them, share them and scale them consistently. We don’t have the metrics to measure what’s working. We don’t have the basic infrastructure to create a learning institution across the whole school district.
Another challenge is that the communication between different stakeholders in Palo Alto is not based on trust. We’ve lost the trust between our parent community, our teachers and our leadership. We need to make sure we are all connected towards the same goal of excellence for all students.
The example that stands out for me is the proposal to revamp the “laning” system for English at Paly. The teachers worked for 18 months to develop a pilot project that was focused on making sure all students became more proficient in English. The teachers came forward with their proposal and at the 11th hour, the board said, “This is not cooked enough.” This decision disturbed me for several reasons. The first is that the proposal came from teachers who are on the front lines and their objective was to raise the achievement of all students. Second, the proposal was very well researched, and it was an innovative pilot that was halted before it could begin. The board’s decision communicates a lack of trust to our teachers, and this dynamic has prevented our school district from “Letting our greatness bloom”.
The board could have said, “Why not? Let’s try it and measure results. If kids do well, then we’ll scale it. If not, we won’t.” This approach would have built trust and communicated to teachers that we respect your expertise. We need to make sure we are respecting all stakeholders. I think this was a missed opportunity from the board and from district leadership.
How do you implement change in a district with a strong culture of school autonomy?
I believe in choice. Our diversity of choices is a huge asset that pushes innovation. The failure in PAUSD comes from not learning from our innovations and scaling them to reach more kids. For example, we have Ohlone, a unique elementary school that was attended by both of my children. There limited space at Ohlone with huge wait lists. This system creates winners- for kids and families who get in- and losers, for kids who do not get in. If we have demand for Ohlone, we should scale what the school offers so more kids can benefit from it. Another example is the Connections program at JLS, which was just doubled in size but there is still a waitlist.
To scale a program like Ohlone, you need to document exactly what makes the school unique. What is the culture and what are the best practices in the classrooms at Ohlone? Once you understand that, you take it to other elementary schools and they can adapt the model. But right now we are not creating any of these opportunities for teachers and administrators to learn.
Is Palo Alto ready for the Common Core and new California test?
I think the Common Core is the single most important education reform of the past few decades. It provides an incredible framework for kids to be college and career ready when they graduate from high school because of its focus on skills as well as content knowledge. It has a focused intention to build skills for kids to be the problem solvers and creators of tomorrow.
One of the reasons I’m running for school board is the Common Core and the need for PAUSD to embrace it and take advantage of it. We have seen some Common Core- type of instruction in our classrooms, but it’s not consistent and it’s not benefitting all kids. We need to make sure that the Common Core standards are taught in every classroom.
I’ve done performance tasks from the Smarter Balanced test and have led others through this process. I’ve seen a light shine in the eyes of the people who go try the new test because it makes learning fun. The U.S. is known for our creativity. That’s our competitive advantage in terms of a global economy, and Common Core builds on that.
In our school district, Common Core seems to be implemented very inconsistently. Some teachers are very excited, but I’ve also had teachers say, “We don’t know enough about it yet,” which is a shame. I’ve heard one school board member say “that the Common Core was designed for lower performing school districts” and if we keep thinking that way, we will miss this huge opportunity to prepare our students for tomorrow.
How should PAUSD move forward from the OCR resolution?
I was saddened and disappointed by the resolution. I did not agree with it and I said so publicly at the time it was approved by the board. It was a missed opportunity. It was one of the reasons that I decided to run for school board.
The resolution said that we don’t agree with how the Office of Civil Rights is working to resolve a case with a Palo Alto family. That’s not what we should be communicating to our community or to the world. It sends a message that we are not a learning institution and we can’t get better. And I think we can.
What should PAUSD do with Cubberley?
It is an incredible asset, not just because of its size (almost 40 acres in the middle of PA), but because of the value that it has for our community.
We know we are growing and that we have to plan ahead for our kids and our entire community. First, we need to start by having a clear community vision for the space.
This vision should be for a multi-use facility that can be developed with a long-term perspective and that maximizes the use of the space. We know that this vision will include a high school, which we know we will need and enrichment and other services that our community depends on. Here is the magic – we know that amazing synergies happen with co-location.
Last Year the Cubberly Community Advisory Committee (CCAC) issued a Report after 9 months of hard work with great recommendations. Some of which I would act on immediately: We need a needs assessment and a Joint Powers agreement for it.
With the results of the needs assessment, I would support community conversations to develop a vision for the site and then start planning ahead for optimal use for the benefit of our whole community.
Should PAUSD open new schools to ease overcrowding?
Palo Alto is growing and we will continue to grow, so of course we need a 13th elementary school. We need to build the infrastructure to sustain our growth. Our elementaries are overcrowded now and we should be thinking of students’ needs five to ten years from now. The expectation is that there will be around16,000 kids in Palo Alto schools by 2016. We should be thinking about another elementary or two, and another middle school. We need to think about long term planning.
What is one final thing you want Palo Alto voters to know about you?
I see education as a puzzle, where every piece is incredibly important to create a whole. I don’t see education as a zero sum game where for some to win, others have to lose. We need to assure that the greatness of our district serves all our kids.
Visit Gina Dalma’s website to learn more.
