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George Shirakawa, Clerk
Clerk George Shirakawa
State of the District Speech and Initiatives Excerpts
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| | George Shirakawa joined our Board of Trustees in 2002, bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and experience. He is a former employee of our district who moved on to serve the City of San Jose as a Councilmember.
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| | “As a Board our goal will be very simple. To get things done. In order to improve student achievement this Board must do a better then Boards in the past.”
“First of all I would like to re-establish the Board Committee System. And that’s very important because it will utilize each Board member’s strengths and interests. It will ensure that the Board has a strong process to develop good policy.”
“I am confident that this Board will have one agenda. And that’s the students.”
“Initiative Number two – the Superintendent will present an Action Plan to the Board of Education to significantly close the “gap”. Including the following…..develop of an Academic Master Plan, which Mr. Superintendent, I know you are in the process of now, you are out there using it as a tool to gather some data. This will identify areas where program improvement is needed. Mr. Superintendent this will include increasing the passage of CAHSEE in our District. Increase the total number of graduates. Increase the number of student that will be accepted to a four year school. Lower the drop out rate. And increase attendance. It will also include expanding the alternative education services offered by the District, such as Foothill Continuation, small but necessary schools, Independent Study Programs. It will re-open a Community Day School. And it will return a “revamped” Vocational Education Program to our District so students are prepared for the work world. This will not be another government plan that sits on the shelf and collects dust. We the Board will aggressively put this plan into action and get results.”
“Initiative Number three – we will transform James Lick into a destination school.”
“Superintendent will present a plan to the Board by the end of the spring semester and consider the following, Mr. Superintendent, possibility a modern media magnet school, international baccalaureate program, and I hope I said that right, small fire science academy, college preparatory academy, a possible partnership with the Alum Rock School District to create a 7/12 Program, that would include visual and performing arts program.”
“Finally, and I think most important Mr. Superintendent, the Superintendent will present to the Board a plan of reconstruction at James Lick.”
“The East Side Union High School is truly a family. I know that cause I’ve been around since 1968 or 69. Our strengths are our employees.”
“And to back that up, I think this School Board by policy should one, work hard to maintain full paid medical benefits to its employees, with the constraints of our funding obviously. Increase all training for our employees to assist in their professional development.”
‘Over the years we constantly ask our employee to sacrifice because of tight budget ties, especially classified employees. And I am not afraid to say that. I think it’s time we show a small token of gratitude to our employees. Say thank you for service, despite the personal challenges, and professional challenges we have asked you to face, and to put it in context, hopefully, and I don’t know the exact date and amount, but I know that this District is owed by the State of California a large some of one time money, everyone has it’s ideas for it’s use, but I’ve got a couple of ideas for it’s use.”
“Let me start off with initiative number 4. I propose a one time payment of $1,000 to every employee.”
“...that we develop an employee suggestion and award policy.”
“We need to re-establish our employee college program.”
“Number 5- We should re-connect with our graduates and establish our own foundation. As you all know, our District has produced many successful students who have gone on to great careers and have continue to serve our community…… So we should establish our own Education Foundation that will help harness those resources to benefit our students. And you will see that in the initiative there.”
(Number 6) “But, I think that one of the things we need to consider in order to accomplish some of the goals that I have talked about tonight is a budget that bring us financial stability…….so I propose, that we, if we do realize some of that one time money, that this Board take into action to create an additional reserve as a safety net in the future if we ever do hit another bump road like we did two years ago.”
(Number 7) “Over the years we have lost formal communication with our feeder districts…..my initiative and my suggestion would be is that the Board President and Vice President would immediately begin a process of formal communications with our feeder districts. And possibility joint meetings and further collaborations in order to work more closely with feeder districts.
“And to conclude tonight ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say as a District and Board we must stay focus on improving student achievement. And I think everyone knows that. But we are going to keep on saying it, and this Board is going to keep fighting and this District is going to keep on fighting.” | |
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