Dear Friends and School Supporters:
Welcome!
Like many parents, I am alarmed by the decline in quality education that the School Board of the San Diego Unified School District has allowed to occur. The Board seems more concerned with micromanaging, defending its turf and political posturing than attending to our children’s needs. The current Board seems lost and confused (they couldn’t even figure out what process to use to balance a budget let alone the very details of balancing a budget), they are working without vision, without a clear plan to lead the District in the 21st century. The Board needs to refocus its attention to the needs of our children – period. That means rolling up their sleeves, pulling apart the budget, and re-prioritizing expenditures to develop a strategic vision and plan for financial and educational leadership. Our children and their good steward teachers need to be the priority!
Whether you have kids in the school district or not, you are paying hard earned money into the district and that money is not being managed well. I truly believe that your mandatory tax dollar investment should be just that – an investment into our children and thereby our City, our State and our Country’s future and NOT to special interests or “adults”.
I am not a politician. I don’t owe anybody anything. I’m just a parent (who happens to be an older parent of younger kids in the system) — a hard working dad doing his best to provide his family a good quality of life and education. I would bring to the job of School Board Member, real-world business experience based on an understanding of the real world children of today (my kids are 10 and 8). I have a history of making financial decisions that benefit my company, its employees, and keep us on the cutting edge of our industry and I don’t see any of that with the composition or behavior of the current Board.
I speak from personal experience, not simply news reports. I poured over the District’s budget myself and went to Board meetings, Board budget workshops and Board sponsored town hall meetings to see how taxpayer dollars were being spent. I questioned the District and spoke with a senior district official about discrepancies and just some of the unexplained budget line items I found. The District response was “Steve – Don’t sweat the details.” The current School Board Trustee basically told me the onus was on me to gather any information I wanted and she was unwilling to offer any sort of transparency or participate in any Q&A to my inquiries.
As founder, President, and CEO of a successful local business that has actually done Pro Bono work for the District that resulted in over 9 MILLION DOLLARS of grant money (www.tvmagic.tv), I assure you that I “Do sweat the details” and I sweat them every day. That’s when I decided I would run for the School Board. Clearly, there is no leadership, no vision, and no comprehensive strategic plan to provide for our children and their education either now or into the future. This budget crisis isn’t just one year, but, will continue into the foreseeable future – and we need a plan.
This all said – I look forward to hearing from you on the school issues that are important to you. Please explore this BLOG and check it often for new information and events. I need your vote and your participation. In the coming days we will be launching a comprehensive web site at: www.rosenforschools.com and welcome your visit and exploration of my site as well.
However, most importantly, I welcome your feedback, your input and any constructive ideas you have to better serve the educational needs of our children, now, and into the future. Remember, hope is not a strategy.
Steve Rosen
