Dear Friends-
I apologize for this mass email.
As parents of children in San Mateo-Foster City School District (SMFCSD) you may know that our current Superintendent of Schools is retiring at the end of this year. The school district has hired an agency to lead the search for a new Superintendent.
This transition is critical. The new Superintendent has the ability to make broad changes in the school district (for better or worse). When San Francisco was searching for a new Superintendent, the agency listened to the input of parents and other stakeholders to find a good match for the district. Now is our chance. Thus, I am urging you to take advantage of the upcoming opportunities (see below) to communicate what you view as the important characteristics of our district - those that you would not like changed as well as what you view as important priorities so that your voice may be factored into this very important hiring decision.
For instance: do you feel that raising test scores must be accomplished at all costs (and would you be happy if teachers were pressured to only teach language arts and mathematics using a "drill and kill" style)? Do you want to see more science instruction in the elementary grades? Do you want SMFCSD students to learn how to think critically and creatively and learn how to be good problem-solvers? Do you value the professionalism of our hard-working teachers and their accumulated expertise about how to teach our students?
For those of you who are parents at Fiesta Gardens, I strongly encourage you to advocate for the integrity of our program and emphasize that the successful candidate must be more concerned with the long-term, longitudinal outcomes for our students, which are strong, than obsessed with short-term test score improvement that will compromise learning of our children in all areas. Those of you who are parents at other schools will likely have other important concerns to address as well, both academic and non-academic, such as the overcrowding in Foster City schools.
The search firm, Leadership Associates, is holding individual and small group appointments to solicit community input into the search during the day on Wednesday March 9th (the day after tomorrow) at the district offices (1170 Chess Drive). You may arrange for an appointment by calling (650) 312-7348. They are also holding open forums that evening between 6-7 pm, one at Bowditch MS, and the other at Borel. Finally, you may communicate your thoughts by email (leadershipassociates.upland@gmail.com) or by calling (909) 985-7814 to speak with either Peggy Lynch or Larry Aceves.
I apologize for the length of this email and for the salesperson-like tone. My experiences observing San Francisco go through four Superintendents has shown me that this is not a transition to leave to chance. If we want a Superintendent who will be well aligned with the educational values of our community, we must communicate what those values are, and now is the time to do it. Please feel free to share this email with other parents of children or future children in the San Mateo schools.
Best,
Rebecca Smith
p.s. please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want to talk about this further htims.acceber@gmail.com
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