Publication Date: Wednesday Aug 18, 1999

ELECTION '99: Large field of hopefuls run for school board

The five-member Palo Alto school board will have at least two fresh faces next year. With three spots open, and only one incumbent seeking re-election, the race is expected to be closely contested. The seven candidates running for a seat on the Palo Alto school board have similar views on the issues, but their backgrounds differ greatly.

Three candidates have experience running for the board: current board member John Tuomy, Mandy Lowell and Barbara Spreng. First-time candidates Shelby Valentine, Gail Price and Joyce Osageide all have years of involvement in schools, while Katherine Rudolph--a 1993 Gunn High School graduate--recently attended the district's schools.

The candidates all pointed to relieving school crowding, attracting teachers to the district, bringing more funds into local schools and finishing the district's $143 million building project as concerns. All agreed that building a third middle school is needed to relieve crowding.

Tuomy, 53, hopes to continue what began in his first term. The network security consultant said the biggest accomplishments during his time on the board include putting the school renovation project back on track and using student data to ensure the district is meeting students' needs.

The incumbent is also proud of helping establish a districtwide goal to place 90 percent of students at each school above grade level in math and reading.

If elected to a second term, Tuomy said he wants to create a five-year plan for the district to help guide the board on decisions concerning educational, financial and facility matters.

The teacher shortage is high on his list because so many veteran educators are retiring as new teachers enter the district.

"The experience of those veteran teachers has not always been passed on," he said. "We need them to share their skills and knowledge."

Tuomy has a long history in Palo Alto schools: Paly High graduate, teacher, parent of two Gunn grads, education technology coordinator, and co-chair of the committees that recommended the $143 million school bond and ran the campaign for the issue in 1995.

Mandy Lowell and Gail Price hope their professional experience will help them if elected to the board.

As an attorney, Lowell says she constantly uses skills helpful for serving on the board: researching issues, talking to all sides and helping broker an agreement. One way Lowell hopes to get more input from parents, students and teachers is by conducting surveys or running focus groups.

Lowell, 42, is a mother of two Duveneck Elementary School students and one preschooler. She has helped organize classroom reading collections in elementary schools and collected books for at-risk students to start a home library. She also leads book discussions with elementary school classes.

To make the middle schools friendlier places, Lowell wants to see staggered lunch schedules and suggests making such improvements as a covered lunch area at J.L. Stanford Middle School, where dry space is limited on inclement days.

Price, 51, works with the community and elected officials as a planner for the city of Sunnyvale.

"A lot of my work is dealing with the public: communicating with the public, addressing the community's issues, and advising policy makers," she said. "I also know what information staff members need."

She has also served on the Palo Alto Community Child Care board, where she was president from 1995-97. During her time at PACCC, Price helped create the pre-kindergarten program now housed at Barron Park Elementary. This program helps students who have no preschool experience, and who do not speak English fluently, learn some basic academic skills before entering school. She wants to expand this program to other schools.

Price has three sons, including one who will be a senior at Gunn and one who is at JLS.

Barbara Spreng was heavily involved with the school system when her two eldest children went though Palo Alto's schools. She was president of the Nixon Elementary and Gunn PTAs, and a PTA Council president from 1989-91.

Since that time she has worked in the nonprofit sector. Spreng is currently chair of the Leadership Midpeninsula board, and is a past-president of the Palo Alto Foundation for Education. She also serves on the boards of the YWCA and Adolescent Counseling Services.

Spreng, 44, again has a child in the district, a son who will enter the first grade at Duveneck this year.

According to Spreng, students should be challenged by rigorous classes that are strong in basic skills and teach them to think critically and resolve conflicts. Spreng said she would like to see community service become a part of a students' education in Palo Alto, though she did not favor making it a graduation requirement.

The district could work with the city to build a shuttle system that would serve the schools, Spreng said, which would help ease traffic problems.

Shelby Valentine would like to see funds restored to programs that were cut earlier this decade.

"Going back through (newspaper archives) I found nationally recognized programs in the arts and music which were cut," Valentine said.

Longtime fiscal stability for the district is another priority for Valentine.

Valentine, 52, has three children who attended elementary schools in the north and south parts of the city, both alternative schools (Ohlone and Hoover elementaries), both middle schools and Paly High. Some may know the artisan better by the last name Molitor, which is her husband's and childrens' surname.

Special education has been an area of concern for Valentine, whose eldest son has a learning disability. She has served as a district representative on the local special education oversight body, which serves Palo Alto, Los Altos and Mountain View.

Joyce Osagiede, 42, is the only candidate to firmly support the installation of lockers at the secondary schools. The Cubberley High School graduate has also been a longtime advocate for minorities in the district.

"I would like to see more people of color teaching in the district," said Osagiede, who is African-American. "It could help (minority) students who have not been reached by other teachers."

Osagiede has also worked with the Palo Alto Adult School to encourage parents of at-risk students to prepare the children for school by reading to and teaching kids their numbers early in life.

While the schools are currently being renovated, some aren't due to be fixed up for two years. Osagiede said some things need to be addressed now, such as broken water fountains and damaged bathrooms.

Katherine Rudolph may not have experience as a parent in the district, but the 24-year old does have the perspective of a person who recently attended Palo Alto schools.

The Gunn and Stanford graduate now works for a Mountain View software company, and would like to see the district tap into the intellectual and monetary resources of the Silicon Valley.

One disappointment Rudolph had during her years in Palo Alto was the lack of college and career training. She said the schools prepared her well for the academic work, but nothing was done to help her jump into college life where she faced many things for the first time, such as living with a roommate and being on her own for the first time.

Help could be provided to those who are not college bound, too. A mentor system could be developed for students who want to work after high school, she said. 

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