Voter guide: Fran Kruss Voter guide: Fran Kruss (October 25, 2002)

By Faiza Hasan

After 11 years as a school board member, Fran Kruss believes she has the experience and commitment to serve the district, staff and community effectively.

The former critical care nurse first became involved with the Whisman school district when her daughter started school, and since then she has seen the district change and grow.

She served on the Whisman and Mountain View-Whisman boards during the district merger, calling those early days a "challenge."

"It was taking two different cultures and blending them together to create one," she said. "It was looking at what both had and what would work for both districts."

Kruss said that a trustee serves many roles: legislative advocate for public education, community leader and role mode. A trustee is also a volunteer and "someone who is the first with the truth," she added.

Kruss is proud of her accessibility to the community during her time as a board member, via phone and e-mail. And to better serve the community, she is, along with other board members, studying for the California School Board Association's masters in public governance.

Throughout her time on the two school boards, Kruss has advocated working with school staff, parents and the community to collaborate on district strategic plans.

"The (new) strategic plan is going to look at what we value and what are our priorities," she said. "We are here to educate all kids and we need to meet them at where they are. The strategic plan will help us focus."

She also praised the Castro School for its efforts to improve test scores and serve as a role model for the district's strategic school plan. "Castro helped develop the strategic school plan," said Kruss. "They have high and low achievement kids at Castro. It's a model for the district because it meets the different needs of the area."

"It is a diverse district," she continued. "We have to make sure that all kids are learners. We should be looking at progress and not just at how the school did and where do we need to go."

With a looming fiscal crunch, Kruss talked about the mid-year cuts the district experienced last year for the first time.

"We need a budget task force starting now," she said, adding that she is concerned about the effects a tight budget would have on staff.

"These are people that students do not see, like custodians and people who man the front office area. They are the pulse of the district and all people who are valued and loved."

"I cant think of one program we would want to eliminate," she continued.

Kruss said standardized testing "looks at different learning needs and how do they learn the best, sometimes it's a way of getting funding. There are also other measures that address different learning needs."

One of the important decisions Kruss made as a board member and is satisfied with was hiring current Superintendent Jim Negri.

"I am pleased and enjoy working with him," said Kruss. "He is open, and very knowledgeable." When picking him, she said, the board looked at what they wanted in leader and who they would follow.

"The general reaction has been (among the district) that we told you what we wanted and you gave it to us," she said.
E-mail Faiza Hasan at fhasan@mv-voice.com