Leage of Women Voters & Voting Guide

LWV’s Voting Guide (AISD/Dist 2)

Board of Trustees District 2
The Board of Trustees is comprised of Austin community members who are elected to serve four-year terms. Trustees provide public service to the Austin Community without financial compensation.

District 2 composes of the following schools: Allan ES, Allison ES, Brooke ES, Dawson ES, Eastside Memorial HS, Galindo ES, Govalle ES, Houston ES, International HS, Langford ES, Linder ES, Martin MS, Mendez MS, Metz ES, Palm ES, Perez ES, Rodriguez ES, Sanchez ES, Widen ES, and Zavala ES
___________________________________________________ AISD/Dist 2 Sam Guzmán (incumbent)
Sam Guzmán for Children First
sguzman061208@gmail.com ___________________________________________________
AISD/Dist 2 Rev Dr Jayme Mathias
A Voice for Progress | ¡Su voz es su voto!
512-522-4474
info@avoiceforprogress.com ___________________________________________________

Q1. Please describe your specific areas of interest, education, experience, and other qualifications for this office. (50 word limit)

AISD/Dist 2 Sam Guzmán (incumbent):
"1.Interest: Spending as much quality time as possible with my grandsons. 2.Education: BA in Sociology 3.Experience: 40 years of work experience including community organizer and social worker, youth programs, civil rights/equal employment/affirmative action, executive level administration of public and non-profit organizations. 4.Qualifications: Extensive involvement in leadership positions of civic and advocacy organizations."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
For someone who has four decades of “work experience,” including: community organizer, youth programs, civil rights, why do you appear to have issue meeting with your constituents? You certainly failed to do so at the Oct 10 "School Board Candidate Forum" hosted by Coalition SAUS forum.

I'd certainly like an answer. I wasn't able to make it to the AISD televised debate, so I was certain I'd still be able to hear presentations (if not debate) at Space12.

(Ref to PRIDE of the Eastside, Oct 7, 2012 )

When I arrived at Space12, I saw Dr J .. but Sam Guzmán was nowhere to be found! Pity. Don't know about y'all but I *always* expect an incumbent to show, ready to defend seat/position!!

AISD/Dist 2 Rev Dr Jayme Mathias:
"I am a 12-year resident of East Austin and fluent in both English and Spanish. On a solid foundation of public school education, I’ve built a curriculum vitae of two bachelor’s degrees, four master’s degrees, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership Studies. I have served on numerous boards and have founded three local learning centers."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán: N/A

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Q2. Do you believe that School Board members have a responsibility to be accessible to the community? If so, what steps would you take to ensure that you are accessible to and communicating with members of your district? (75 word limit)

AISD/Dist 2 Sam Guzmán (incumbent):
"I already have an established process for communicating with and being accessible to the community via an advisory committee with which I meet frequently. I plan to expand this committee to provide for more geographic representation; conduct town hall meetings; hold community hearings on major issues. Will also establish a website for District 2 specifically in order to inform and communicate with community"

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
Really? Tell me, how are you "communicating with" the community when you fail to appear (FTA) for a community-sponsored school board forum? How can you be "accessible to the community" when you FTA?

Care to clue your constituents in on exactly what this “established process” is? I've heard email to board members is routed through support staff and rerouted to a contact at the school-level. I can appreciate board members having support staff assisting with correspondence, not substituting for them. Please explain how this constitutes “communication with and being accessible to the community”.

Who heads this “advisory committee”? Where does it meet? How often does it meet? Are you present at every meeting? How/when does notice go out to your constituents about “advisory committee” meetings?

What, in your opinion, constitutes a “major issue”? Does this mean you don’t support regular meetings for routine issues?

Establish a Dist 2 website? Establish? Considering you became an AISD Trustee five years ago, in 2007, why have you not already done that? It really shouldn’t surprise me/anyone you don’t have a website for Dist 2 considering you don’t even have a functional website for your campaign.

You stated you’ll create a Dist 2 website “… specifically in order to inform and communicate with community.” Please detail how do you plan to communicate with constituents who are across the digital divide due to lack of computer/internet access?

AISD/Dist 2 Rev Dr Jayme Mathias:
"I wholeheartedly believe that AISD Trustees must be accessible to the community at all times. As the elected Trustee for District 2, I will work with my colleagues to ensure the District's website allows direct email contact with Board members. Additionally, I pledge to routinely hold community meetings in Dove Springs, East Austin and Travis Heights, so that all community members can have a voice in our public schools."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
When you say “District’s website” are you referring to the AISD website? Will there be one specifically for Dist 2? Whether or not a Dist 2 website is created, how do you plan on communicating with constituents who are across the digital divide due to lack of computer/internet access?

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Q3. What are the three most critical issues facing the Austin Independent School District, and what actions are needed to resolve these issues? (75 word limit)

AISD/Dist 2 Sam Guzmán (incumbent):
"1.School Finance and Budget Cuts which will adversely impact the District - need to mobiize the Austin community to become active to influence Legislators. 2.In the face of cuts, ensure that we continue to provide a rich porfolio of education curriculum and programs which will prepare all our students for their future endeavors. 3.Ensure that we continue of close the achievement gap, decrease drop-out rate, improve the attendance rate."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
Here you stated “School Finance and Budget Cuts which will adversely impact the District …” I find this rather intriguing considering your response to the Education Austin questionnaire, specifically Q9 “What do you view as the strengths and weaknesses of the district?” You answered, “… 4. A stable and healthy financial status even in the face of severe budget cuts by the State. …” Change of heart?

As for your response to the Austin Kids First (AKF) questionnaire (specifically, funding-related questions) ... I had to pull yours from their website since you failed to make it available by the deadline (in order to make it available at the Sept 19 Austin Kids First Community Event) imposed upon all candidates.

Your responses to the following questions:
AKF Q2. “… I will also continue to work to ensure that District maintains its healthy financial status …” You said “maintains”-implying said healthy status is current; you did not say “corrects,” “improve,” etc.
AKF Q3. "School Finance and budget cuts will continue to be an area of uncertainty ... a difficult challenge." Hm, this doesn't sound like AISD has a "healthy financial status".
(Ref to AKF for entire Questionnaire)

Oh, and by the way, since you are currently (and plan to continue) representing an educational/public educ board, can you at least take the time to conduct a Spell Check? At least three errors were found. I can’t speak for everyone else, but while I do not expect everyone to be flawless at spelling, I do expect those with a completed college education and/or representing (public) education in any respect to take the time out to double-check their own work for spelling/grammar errors. I do not want the interests of my children/grandchildren (or anyone else’s) represented by a person lacking common sense!

AISD/Dist 2 Rev Dr Jayme Mathias:
"The first priority is to work with the 83rd Legislature to save our schools. Second, AISD must work to retain teachers and professional staff through longer contracts and more competitive pay. Finally, we must restore public trust and dialogue with the community following controversial decisions where parents and teachers seemingly had no voice. Also, our trustees must work together to provide a comprehensive review of existing board policies."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán: N/A

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Q4. What measures (such as bond issues, tax rate increases, public/private partnerships, or other measures) would you support or oppose to bridge funding gaps facing AISD? (75 word limit)

AISD/Dist 2 Sam Guzmán (incumbent):
"As long as we can determine with some degree of certainty, that the community will support and pass the items, I support bond issuances, and tax ratification elections particularly to provide a permanent salary increase for our employees. In order to get community buy-in, the Distict needs to continue to show that we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars, that efficiencies are in place, and that the District is going in the right direction."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
As this time, is the community (specifically Dist 2 constituents) empowered to make informed decisions at the voting booth? I think not. Far too many are disconnected from the civil/political process, in part because they exist on the other side of the digital divide.

Let me provide you with an example: Austin City Council also speaks of communicating with the community, yet they face the same issue AISD and others face. Reaching those who are technologically disconnected. I made City Council aware of this very issue, even went so far as to provide them with the information (Nov 2010) required in order for them to reach an already marginalized community. They have yet to act on it.

Are you aware of the means of communication necessary to reach them?
Are you prepared to act on them?

Hm, another spelling error.

AISD/Dist 2 Rev Dr Jayme Mathias:
"It does not seem that we will be able to rely on the legislature to step up and take responsibility for funding our public schools during the coming session. In light of this, we will need to eliminate inefficiencies and focus on those services that directly contribute to the education of our students. I support the consideration of bond elections and tax rate increases, but all such ideas must be appropriately vetted by our entire community."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
How do you propose to communicate with Dist 2 constituents? Far too many are disconnected from the civil/political process, in part because they exist on the other side of the digital divide.

Are you aware of the means of communication necessary to reach them?
Are you prepared to act on them?

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Q5. How would you attract, recruit, and retain good teachers in the classroom? (75 word limit)

AISD/Dist 2 Sam Guzmán (incumbent):
"Austin is an attractive place to work and raise a family. We can attract, recruit, and retain good teachers as long as we provide competitive compensation and benefits. In addition, the District needs to provide an environment of fair threatment and show appreciation for our employees. Appropriate teacher training, adequate planning time, and an evaluation process which is not based soley on high stakes testing as a measue of student success."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán:
Surely you meant fair “treatment” … Correct? Or perhaps it was a Freudian slip?

Teacher evaluation – “solely” on high-stakes testing or not (at all) on high-stakes testing? Put yourself in their shoes – Do they have any say in what goes into the standardized tests? Can teachers ensure any/all standardized test is written for the various learning styles/levels of all students? How about tests being written in the native language of every student? All are potential, if not very real, obstacles to a student successfully achieving a sufficiently adequate (high?) score. Why punish both students and teachers alike by making use of one-size-fits-all testing when our students are very much unique and individual learners?

{sigh} … spelling errors

AISD/Dist 2 Rev Dr Jayme Mathias:
"Improving morale through extended contracts and competitive pay is key to recruiting and retaining quality teachers and staff. Our teachers are professionals and deserve to be paid the prevailing wage with benefits. As a trustee, I will encourage our board to move from a top-down approach to governance and provide stronger direction to our superintendent in accordance with applicable policy and laws."

Constituent/Monica Guzmán: N/A

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